Connectivity

We could just simply say that there is no original idea any more and if we look at it from one way we would be right. But that’s the whole point; we shouldn’t look at anything from only one aspect. Today as an artist you probably have a harder job to create something new than someone else who lived a thousand years ago. As we went forward in history more and more people started to create artworks for their own pleasure or to reflect their feelings. Although there wasn’t as much impact around them as much we have now, we have more things to think about, more ideas to combine.

1, Benjamin West - The Death of General Wolfe 1770 2, John Trumbull - The Death of General Montgomery at the Attack of Quebec 1786 3, Giotto di Bondone - Lamentation (The Mourning of Christ) 1304-1306

These three paintings all represent the same thing, the death of someone. If you look at the angles and the movement in the two paintings above, they have a lot of similarities, but that’s not surprising since West was Trumbull’s mentor for several years. One inspired the other and they worked together but that doesn’t mean they copied each other. Both were painting about different aspects of the war, they were using the colours differently; Trumbull also put a lot more contrast is his painting. However the position of men, how they surround the dying and the way someone’s holding his body takes after the “Lamentation" scenes. 

What is important when you create something? First of all you need to know about the history, the culture, anything that’s connected to the subject you’re working on. The more you know about it the fewer mistakes you’re going to make. That’s how you can stop yourself recreating existing works.

It’s difficult to get to a wide range of audience. People, the cultures, countries can be so different, if they like something in Europe, they might hate it in Asia, it might even offend them. The things surround us; they way we grow up make the biggest impact in our creative thinking. If you look at art from different cultures, they can be wide and varied.

1, Mihály Munkácsy - Ásító inas (Yawning Apprentice) 1868 – 1869 2, Yair Garbuz – The Yawning man 1968

 

Two artists both worked on the same idea, a yawning man. After all they are nothing like the other, the different techniques, materials and the time they lived in. This is just a simple idea, but it shows in how many different ways you can visualize something.

 

The simplest theme can become a huge success; it can be luck, the audience’s need for change or the artist itself being so exciting and unique that no one can ignore him/her. One of the most known paintings in the world, is just a portrait of a woman, still great mystique surrounds it. If someone else would have painted it, it may have never become as famous as it is now…

Leonardo da Vinci - Mona Lisa 1503-1505

 Links:

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/west/
http://www.nga.gov/cgi-bin/tbio?person=30800
http://www.mihalymunkacsy.org/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/leonardo/