Inspiration comes from a variety of sources. For many artists it can be human beauty found in a special someone (or for Van Gogh, a prostitute... tell ya later). Love is huge and powerful. Masterpieces have been created because of twitterpated individuals. But, it is also very broad. It can flood the senses and cloud the mind. And heartbreak... well... in my opinon, has been behind many fantastic moving pieces involving chiaroscurro (the use of mostly dark and some light) and expressionism. nature inspired cave art from neandrothals and others since. Music and bodily senses are other huge sources of inspiration. And throughout history, religion/diety has been the patron and almost forced the inspiration. The earliest amoung the religious art could be the Neolithic period (neo = new, and lithic = stone; around 4,000 years before common era) They created temples out of large pieces of cut stone and later during the Cycladic period the famous Stonehenge was created. The Roman Catholic Empire adopted Christianity, by way of Constantine, which later led to a lot of patronage for tons of famous architecture, sculptures and frescos. I am very grateful for these remaining works. They have inspired musicians over the centuries and other artists. I say this because i have got my inspiration from other artists' work and music. I also have been motivated and driven by love, religion and nature.
And so the cycle continues. Inspiration and creation. So, like the famous chicken and the egg question; Which came first? Inspiration or creation? If you can figure this out you probably know how history itself began. (feel free to let me in on that mystery!) I would also like to pose this question; What inspires you?
This piece is an oil painting on gallery wrapped canvas that I did last spring. I feel it needed to be posted for this blog especially. Notice the colors are complementary hot and colds. The rust slowly taking over the walls and darkness creeping to meet it. Notice the blank look on the figure, who, in this case, is a robot. The heart seems to be waiting yet lifeless. I don't really have a title for this work but, I enjoy hearing what people think of it and their thoughts on my inspiration in creating it...
