What is an inspiration? The work
„inspiration” itself seems to be the power word of sites like
Pinterest or Etsy – even this blog promises to „inspire”. But
many people misunderstand – and, therefore – misuse the word, to
the point where it became nearly meaningless.
Wikipedia defines inspiration as an
„unconscious burst of creativity in a literary, musical, or other
artistic endeavor.”. This refers to the act of being inspired as
something sudden and unconnected to outside factors, like BAM! I feel
inspired, I need to create! And this is how artists and poets
understood it – sitting under a tree and waiting for this divine
bliss giving instant ideas to them. But my definion is that
inspiration is taking. Taking from anything actually existing and putting that fragment into our own creation. That's why artists
consume art.
A non-artist watches art (in any form,
be it photography, poetry, performances, design etc.) to either
understand it (the classical visual arts) or feel it (modern art and
music). John Smith goes into a museum once a blue moon to watch
pretty paintings of people living long time ago and that's fine –
if he wants to, peace on him, most people don't even do that. But for
artist, this feeling of awe of the creator's skill is just the first
phase. Then, he tries to get inspired – seeks small details and
deconstructs the work in order to fully understand how it works. Much
like a watchmaker taking apart your Rolex to comprehend little
machinery behind it, artists try to see why his colleague (or a
competitor!) succeeded.
It might be the technique – how did
someone obtain such smoothness of marble, a sculptor might wonder. Or
colours, for a painter. A designer might wonder why this special
chair is so comfortable, but all of them need to know their own
craft. You won't get anything out of seeing „Gioconda” in a means
of learning if you can't see the difference between oil and acrylic
paint.
This is why there is a very thin and
very vague line between inspiration and plain stealing. But there is
a difference, and it matters! Let's take a look at two paintings of
van Gogh and two other paintings which were his inspiration.
Paul Gauguin - Les Alyscamps (1888) |
Vincent van Gogh - Les Alyscamps (1888) |
„Les Alyscamps” is painted in style
of Gauguin, with whom van Gogh lived for a short period. But the
change of style is justifiable – it is his original composition, an
artistic challenge and a tribute to his colleague.
Vincent van Gogh - Pieta (after Delacroix) (1889) |
Eugene Delacroix - Pieta (1850) |
„Pieta (after Delacroix)” is
another, yet different example. Here, van Gogh took the composition
of a famous painting, but remade it in his own style. Very risky
move, but he did point out the source of his inspiration.
I have chosen pretty borderline
examples – a very famous artist who copied someone and added his
own value to that. As I said before, it is quite difficult to
distinguish between what is fair and what is not. One helpful tip –
if the source of inspiration is a piece of art – you need to know
whether the value lies in the technique or in the idea. Painting like
Botticelli is all right – it requires a lot of skill. But painting
like Pollock is not. I'm not saying he was not a great artist – he
most certainly was. But the power of his art lied in his idea of art
and aesthetics. You can't just use different colours to be another
Pollock.
A final note. Inspiration isn't always
(and shouldn't be) literal. You can reverse it, subverse it,
lampshade it, do pretty much you want – because that's the point.
It must make you think, make you look for a new ways to express
yourself. If you do not put your own thoughts in the process of
making, you're merely a crafter, not an artist.
Picasso said that good artists create
but great artists steal. (Later the quote was stolen by Banksy). And
that's true. Steal. But don't do it blatantly.
No comments:
Post a Comment