Inspiration

Inspiration is the first factor that drives artists and designers’ imaginations and creativities. Artists in a different era have their own and individual ways to get inspired. . Apparently, every single inspiration affects the style of their artwork. For instance, the artists from Baroque were inspired by a religion, their faith and their belief. On the other hand, the natural surrounding inspired expressionists to express their feeling through the canvas. Pop artists were inspired by a consumerism, which refers to an economic and emphasizes on consumption. From decade to another decade, artists have been changing the way of making and creating artworks base on the inspiration and the way they want to communicate to their audiences in term of “ Style”. Why did they change? “The fact is, it wasn’t just another decade. Something did happen.”(Kim Levin 1) If a social structure or activity were changed, it would affect and inspire artists to produce their artwork differently as Kim Levin had written an article a transition from Modernism to Post-modernism. “ Farwell to Modernism”
“We are witnessing that in the past ten years modern art has become a period style, an historical entity.”(Kim Levin 2) Kim Levin mentions about modernism in the very beginning of her article. Modernists emphasized on the methods and principles of science to produce and create art. Most inspiration in this era came from the society and human being. Artists denied the past. They tried to construct new forms by experimenting different ways of painting and designing. Besides, modernists believed in the technological future, believed in scientific objectivity. For instance, art was produced in factories from blueprints. Many museums around the world exhibited several exhibitions, which is mainly about machines and technology. Kim Levin also gives an example of the modernists’ inspirations in 1960s which is considered a period of Pop art. Pop artists embraced the processes of mass production and Minimalism. They showed the audience about the consumerism through their work of arts. Despite of Vietnam, Woodstock, peace marches, and violence, modernism fell apart. (Kim Levin 3) Modernism was slowly replaced by Post-modernism.
“It began with a return to nature. The future has become a question of survival.”(Kim Levin 4) Post-modernists started replacing the steel and plastic objects in the art magazine by natural substance, Photographic images, and real time system. The artists refused nothing from the past and compromised them together. They concerned about moral responsibilities of life. Moreover, technology is not necessary for life anymore. Audiences appreciate art differently depend on his/her own experience. Therefore, post-modernists created art through the context instead of style. Grid, formality, repetition, and ordering were not used to create art in post-modernism.
Whereas, arts from late modernism and post-modernism were the combination between these two styles. Kim Levin mentions about separating late modernist works and post-modernist is not easy. Similarity, late Roman and early Christian art, or late Gothic and early Renaissance, at this junction of period the styles coexisted. (Kim Levin 5) Audiences could have seen arts from late modernism similarly to arts from early post-modernism because the artists shared the same inspirations. Early port-modernists began to be interested in the new way of seeing the world and represent it to the public. They tried to give new experiences of appreciating arts to the audiences. On the other hand, modernists tried to avoid the traditional way of depicting and presenting their opinions by mimicking and reflecting the society. They reminded the audience to think and realize about their society.
Obviously, inspiration is one of the main factors that shape the style of the artists to create arts in the different period of time. As we can see from the significant artists in the history, Johannes Vermeer was inspired by his mistress to paint Girl with a pearl earring, Vincent Van Gogh was inspired by the nature. He painted Starry Night to express his feeling and present the way that he saw this world. The church gave the money to Giotto in order to paint Madonna and Child. This would be his inspiration to paint this painting. However, from the past to present, artists have different inspiration to produce and create arts which depend on what are they interested in, it might be nature, society, religion, education, or human being life. Meanwhile, in the next ten years we might be appreciating a new style of arts in our local gallery.