Hello blog! Sorry you've been neglected for the entire duration of my MA dissertation. Well, that's done now, so hopefully you'll get a bit more attention.
As I intended to do five months ago, here are the images I created for the exhibition I plugged in my last post, inspired by Andrey Kurkov's Death and the Penguin. I was completely bowled over by the amount of people who ordered prints and bought my lino-print cards. Thank you to everyone for your support! The response was great motivation for me to continue with my illustration work.
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| Misha |
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| Alone |
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| Contact |
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| Adoption |
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| Crisis |
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| Transplant |
However, all that motivation to illustrate had to be put to the side for the summer, while I completed my dissertation (on the potential role of the library in artistic inspiration), and mentally prepared for my new exciting library job! For the past month since I started the new position, I've been lucky enough to wander around the stacks, finding the most beautiful, amazing books. I was shelving in the exhibition catalogues yesterday, and The R. Crumb Handbook caught my eye (it's very yellow), and I was reminded how enamoured I used to be with that guy. As cheesy as it sounds, I realised that yes, the library is basically the most 'inspiring' place for me (although my writing is all about how that term is weighted with different meanings, not all of them helpful to artists and designers).
Although it's probably already a part of art and design education, I think everyone should seek to further understand their personal conception and experiences of what they may term 'inspiration'. In particular, I found Robert J. Sternberg's Handbook of Creativity a great resource for an authoritative, accessible, and wide-ranging overview of the current psychological research. Perhaps the most personally compelling conceptions of 'inspiration' are those of the Asian subcontinent and East Asia. Influenced by the Hindu, Buddhist, Toaist, and Confucian beliefs, these traditional ideas are much more about the process of creating art, rather than its product. In fitting with the psychoanalytical ideas of the ego's expansion, there are some fascinating accounts in Ernst Kris and Otto Kurz's Legend, Myth, and Magic in the Image of the Artist about ancient Chinese artists who felt, or believed that they actually had become, the animal or object they were painting.
Maybe this view is just another way of artists' self-aggrandisement, which is so prevalent in Western ideas of creativity and inspiration. However, I think this is actually the best explanation of inspiration I have come across. There is something very meditative about creating art, and by concentrating on a subject, I think you come much closer to understanding it. However, regardless of the supposed quality of an artwork, I think the real importance should lie in the artists' experience of creating it. The Western art world is so commercial and product-focused, sometimes to the detriment of the actual artist.
Prior to the exhibition, I created a subject guide for ukiyo-e, Japanese Edo-period 'floating world' images best known in the form of cheap woodblock prints subjects such as Yoshiwara-district courtesans, kabuki theatre actors, and popular figures from folklore. I had about a week between my coursework deadlines and the opening of the exhibition, and I ended up being very influenced by the ukiyo-e I was looking at for the subject guide. I even placed a Hokusai print into the character's bedroom, which also serves to foreshadow the next image. I had an interest in the topic for a while, but writing this subject guide was like taking a crash course. I'm so excited for the British Museum's upcoming exhibition on shunga (because of the ukiyo-e, not because I specifically love old Japanese erotica with its graphic depiction of genitalia). There are some amazing looking talks planned, with some of my new favourite figures of Asian art history. My plan for the future is to eventually do a masters in art history, hopefully with a focus on Japanese art.
Well, for the time being, I'm going to concentrate on my new job, a whole load of new free time to illustrate again, and ... planning a wedding! Yes, my boyfriend proposed on 27th May. Technically, we already tied the knot in August, but the real celebrations are next summer. He already has a foxy blue-grey suit, and there's going to be a lot of Prince at the reception (who couldn't resist putting 'Let's Go Crazy' on a wedding playlist!).
