Kate's Inspiration

Reading Sourcing Inspiration made me consider where I find my own inspiration.  I used to be really uncomfortable when someone could trace the inspiration of my art right back to its original source, but I have begun to see it differently lately.  The reading divided artists into two groups: those who are inspired by their surroundings and those who find inspiration from within themselves.  I don't know what made me believe that the latter was somehow a more creative process.  I suppose I just assumed that relying on yourself that way would translate to a more original piece.  I am beginning to see how stupid that distinction is.

Here's a great example.  You all know that I am

 incredibly fascinated by Michel Gondry's work, specifically The Science of Sleep.  

(Here's the trailer if you're unfamiliar with the film)

If you know what to look for, in that clip alone, you'll see the inspiration, whether intentional or not, of maybe five of my pieces.  I'm still a little embarrassed by that, but I can't help it!  It's as though my work just belongs in one of his films.

Here's something even more shattering.  This week I googled "cardboard art" out of idle curiosity and it resulted in an existential crisis.  Apparently there is a dude in England named Chris Gilmour who exactly replicates objects (a bike, wheelchair, dentist chair, cars, musical instruments, and yes, even a typewriter) using only cardboard and glue.  As you can probably imagine, I developed a debilitating inferiority complex as a result of looking at his impeccable craftsmanship and hyperrealistic facsimiles.  Now that I've had a chance to digest it, I've realized that my disappointment at discovering that someone else makes cardboard sculptures of everyday objects is like a painter being bummed to find out that another artist paints portraits, no matter how different the two styles are.  Ultimately, our work looks similar, but the content is entirely different.  But maybe we should still get married and have cardboard babies together.

This can be our house.