Sourcing Inspiration- Sophia

For artists, inspiration is the air we wish to immerse ourselves in constantly. We seek to have a constant supply of great ‘a-ha’ moments, and we wait for the great epiphany that can fuel our creative impulse for a life time, allowing us to create artworks with bursting energy and exhilaration. In the article “Sourcing Inspiration”, we examine what inspiration is and the two different kinds of inspiration- the internal sourcing (in which this portion of the article specifically focused on) and the external sourcing. However, after understanding how the three well-known artists each come to be in tune with their inspiration source, it leaves me wonder if it is possible to have an absolute separation between internal sourcing and external sourcing. For instance, the artist Jan Harrison says she believes in Darwinism and evolution, and thus her artworks are to bring out the “real primitive animals [that] are still within us”. Then can we not say that Jan Harrison’s internal source is a reaction to her external belief? And in the case of Rist, can we not consider her internal sourcing works a response to the external culture and history of femininity? While the three artists remained within themselves to find the dormant inspirational muse, their ‘internal experiences’ are still partly influenced by the external elements they daily encounter.

Before the reading, I had this innocent and almost ridiculous perception that artist who create his/her works from internal sources are one that cut loose all his/her associations with the outside world and knowledge that’s not pertaining to the self, and thus create art without building upon any basis of precedent history or facts(or mostly I have the image of a caveman).However, is it possible for artists to create art without having an understanding of the history behind art? And what would happen if the artist neglects all the past knowledge of what art is and create art base upon his/her own perception (the internal source) of what art is? Would the art world accept it as art?

I enjoy this week’s reading because it touches upon a subject matter that is deeply related to us. I look forward to the reading on external sourcing so I can gain a deeper understand of what it is and thus being able to compare internal sourcing and external sourcing with more clarity.