CONNECTIVITY

Cultural Context within your chosen medium.

Art is the most personal practice there is. Whether you look at music, paintings, or photographs, the artist always reveals a part of himself in his or her work.

The main source of inspiration of artists is, first and foremost, themselves. The final work can either be a reflection of their opinion towards something, their protest, their feelings or any number of things; that said it is always a reflection of one particular moment in time, event or circumstance.

There is never a random piece of art; at least not one that is worthy of the name. It may seldom be obvious to those who see the work, but there is still a story behind it and it is the context in which the piece was created that brings a whole new perspective to it.

The cultural context is crucial in both understanding a work of art, but also in the making of it; talent is one thing to possess…what matters more though, is the emotion that went into the work, and why.  By understanding the cultural context he’s in, the artist creates a connection with the audience that is powerful and goes beyond simple aesthetic appreciation.

Helen Wilson, standing by one of many paintings depicting
the aftermath of the Rwanda Genocide of 1994. Having met
survivors and visited the genocide sites, she revealed
through a series of paintings both the beauty of Rwanda
and "the resilience of its people in the face of a massive
human tragedy"

For example, if artists don’t know in depth the cultural background of what they’re depicting and get facts wrong in their final piece, it ultimately reflects poorly on them as creators and perhaps even nullifies their work. 

Pastiche, Synchronicity or Conceptual Appropriation

There are so many amazing works of art: photographs, paintings, illustrations, sculptures, and even films. When an artist pastiches another artist’s work, there could be several reasons for doing so:  he or she wants to make meaning by merging motifs or techniques borrowed from other sources, pay tribute to the original creator, or perhaps merely for satirical intent. They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery...

David Tribe's adaptation of Paul
Cezanne's "The Card Players",
transformed into a cartoon
by the addition of the speech
bubble. 

Sometimes, it is obvious an artist has based his work on a particular creation of another. Other times, the work is inspired by the original artist’s style, which is defined as Conceptual Appropriation. The question is: where do you draw the line between inspiration and theft?

When a piece of work is actually duplicated, instead of noticeably followed the distinct style, then it is thought of as theft whereas when only certain shapes or techniques are borrowed in order to create a new and original piece of work falls into the category of imitation.

Be that as it may, there may be extreme situations where the similarity between two productions is purely coincidental. When you think about it there are scores of artists around the world whose minds always wander in thought of new and unique ideas but coming up with a completely unrepeatable one is near impossible. 

All in all, though it may be difficult to tell the difference between original, pastiches, conceptually appropriated or synchronized oeuvres, the artists always leave us clues, whether it is the date of creation or a simple brushstroke for us to find.

Van Gogh's Sunflowers.

Homage to Van Gogh: Sunflowers, by Jane
Elizabeth Perkins