Creativity from Without

Self-expression is what most consider to be at the root of art, and much of creation in general.  In actuality, however, inspiration does not always come from inside, and art doesn’t need to be a method of self-expression.   Sometime things outside of ourselves can inspire us on a greater scale than anything inside us ever could.  Sometimes it is objects, found or new, that catch our eye; other times its nature in its purest form. 

Many artists are inspired by man-made objects around them.  On my quest for inspiration for this blog I came across a found-object artist by the name of Victoria Fuller out of Chicago, IL.  In her artist statement, she explains, “The way I employ ordinary everyday objects is to take them out of their normal context and expected use, eliminating their original function, so they can be seen as a form of interest and beauty.”  The approach she takes to objects such as light sockets, plugs, door knobs, shoes, and traffic cones, just to name a few, is intriguing. 

Image from http://victoriafullerart.com/current.html

Quotes from http://victoriafullerart.com/biography.html

Fuller find’s inspiration in the shapes and usages of the most everyday items and creates tributes to each object’s unique beauty, proving that inspiration, if sought out, can be everywhere.

Nature, however, is perhaps the easiest to be inspired by, but the most difficult to pay homage to.  Andy Goldsworthy, in my opinion, is an artist who succeeds.  His natural creations are meant to be ephemeral, as fleeting as any given moment in nature - captured only by a camera’s lens.   He is inspired by what he sees… walking in a forest, near a river, through a meadow of fallen leaves.    He works with whatever medium is present.  In his own words, “I take the opportunities each day offers: if it is snowing, I work with snow, at leaf-fall it will be with leaves; a blown-over tree becomes a source of twigs and branches.”  At the core of his art is the understanding that “Nature is in a state of change … Each work grows, stays, decays.”  His goal is not to reflect an emotion he is feeling inside or a way in which he wants to be perceived, it is to capture the essence of his surroundings, through a piece of art, with the knowledge that “When I leave it, these processes [of life within and around it] continue."  Nature is left unaffected, that’s the magic.

Image from http://www.rwc.uc.edu/artcomm/web/w2005_2006/maria_Goldsworthy/works.html

Quotes from http://www.rwc.uc.edu/artcomm/web/w2005_2006/maria_Goldsworthy/philosophy.html