"Picasso at the Lapin Agile" Reflecting from the Twenty-First Century

So I recently read “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” which is a play by Steve Martin. It’s about Picasso (obviously) and Einstein meeting at a bar called the Lapin Agile (Nimble Rabbit) in France. It’s a very entertaining play, I’m not a huge fan of Steve Martin comedy but this was very clever and interesting to read. One huge part of it is the discussion between the two of them about genius and creativity and how they are not so different, despite the fact that Einstein is a physicist and Picasso is a painter. They both create “beauty” and look for inspiration for it. What is pretty remarkable about this is that it is possible that it could have happened; both were alive and in that area around that time. However, it is a fictitious meeting, there is no indication that it ever took place.

One other aspect of the play talks about how it is the early 1900s and they are ushering in a new century. Martin wrote this play in 1993, so it was almost a look back at the twentieth century and the people that brought the most change. A Visitor (readers can assume that it is Elvis Presley) also shows up in the bar, so really all of the most influential people are there, at least in spirit. So what would the twenty-first century equivalent be? This play takes place in 1904, Einstein will write his theory of relativity in 1905 and Picasso will paint “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” in 1907, bump them up by a hundred years and these events have already occurred. So who and where would this play be taking place now? Of course, it’s impossible to tell, but here are some guesses (feel free to comment with your own ideas):

People: Beyonce-She is definitely an influential artist, having won 17 Grammy awards and become one of the best-selling musicians of all time. She also describes herself as a feminist and brings that activism into her work.

We’ve already had another physics breakthrough with the Higgs-Boson particle. The scientists who discovered it certainly deserve a place on here.

Riusike Fukahori-A Japanese artist, Fukahori creates art that looks 3D, but is actually layers and layers of paint and resin. The results are stunningly realistic, and quite a different innovation in the art world.

David Mitchell-Mitchell is one of my favorite postmodern writers, having written number9dream and Cloud Atlas. If there’s anyone who is reinventing the novel, it’s him.

J.K. Rowling-I mean, she did inspire an entire generation, and most of the Harry Potter novels were published in the 21^st century. And The Cuckoo’s Calling was an excellent book as well. What she will carry on to do is anyone’s guess, but I will definitely be reading it.

Richard Linklater-A movie director who thinks outside the box, he had one boy play himself for 12 years in “Boyhood.” Also known for “Dazed and Confused” and “Before Midnight” I think he’s innovative enough to be going somewhere.

Place: Probably America somewhere, Europe is no longer as central as it was in the early 1900s. New York is a definite possibility, although Houston has been growing at an insane rate lately. And then there’s the Silicon Valley on the West Coast, another hub of innovation. Of course, what makes Paris such a great meeting place is that both scientist and artist can come together, which I think makes New York a more likely spot, since Broadway and universities are all right there.

One last idea: Picasso states that the twentieth century will be great because artists, scientists, and musicians will have be “more glorious” than any political movement. Is this still true today? Of course it’s hard to measure the glorious-ness of certain things. It’s a subjective subject, and depends on how the individual feels about the art and politics lately. Personally, I feel that the twenty-first century isn’t going to have art over politics or politics over art, I think there will be an even mix of the two. I feel as though current art (music particularly) isn’t being valued as much anymore, or at least, isn’t starting a huge revolution as it did in the twentieth century. And politics as always is influential, we already had incidents like the War on Terror and the Arab Spring. No one can say for certain at this point, but that’s what I feel.