As Thoreau put it so well “The world is but a canvas to the imagination.” Today it seems that all contemporary art, portrays the world we live in, and say something about the state of being. If we pay close attention to these art pieces, it would seem that the future of mankind is bleak.

The art of today depicts the horrors of war, of hunger of poverty, of mans disparity toward each other. What is the purpose of such art, one might ask? The purpose of the artist in showing us this despair and negativity is to provoke a reaction from society, a reaction to change the world around them, to make things better. The purpose of this art is to show us how beautiful the world is and how we manage to destroy it. It is a way of inspiring us to bring about change.

In essence art is not made just to imitate life, inspire hope, or to show beauty, although it can certainly do this too. But art is also made to inspire change, give us a glimpse of what our future might be, and warn us of things to come.

Art of every type is made to inspire, give hope and remind us in the beauty that can be and that is in all things.

This also depends largely on the type of art that the artist is inclined to. If he is a landscape artist, the outdoors will inspire him, but if he is a portrait or still life painter he will get stirred with different objects. There is a mindset involved in the painters thoughts which gives motivation to what attracts him.

Dull days for creativity

Every artist will have dull days when he is not inspired to do or start a new work of art or even to work on one that he has already started. This is a burn out of his energy and he would have to reenergise himself before commencing his painting once more.

An artist has a visualisation that is like a third eye for him that gives an ingenious depiction of what he perceives and this is what he portrays to the observer by way of his creativity. Landscaping paintings which might be of astonishing locations or harsh reality come alive with the artists view of what lies before him. It is the artist’s perception that he lays before the observer. The viewer is transported into a dream world where he can loose himself to his fantasies and forget about his own humble dwellings. He travels on wings to distant lands and places of untold beauty and with a little imagination can weave a tale of visions and be in a trance until he awakens when he wishes to awaken and not before that.

As far as the pop art scene in America goes, food seems to have been given a central importance. It represents a major outlet for spending income, while also doubling as a leisure and fun time activity. Thus, the emphasis on bottle feeding as opposed to breast feeding in America! From French fries, to burgers, cakes and beer – food has remained an all time favorite inspiration with American pop culture portrait artists.

Most often the inspiration for most oil portrait artists came from everyday instances and people around. Often flowers in a painting were used for more complex purposes. In paintings such as the Pre-Raphaelite by Millais of Ophelia the flowers present around her aren’t just for decorative purposes. They have been used to convey much deeper meaning. To name a few, crow flowers symbolise ingratitude, the weeping willow represent forsaken love, the nettles symbolise pain and daisies floating near her right hand represent innocence.

Thus oil portrayers of those times created a mental imagery of complex emotions and used everyday people to represent these.