Raul mentioned a book called Retromania, by Simon Reynolds. They explained that the book presents nostalgic-thinking as thought process that humanity has pondered for ages through questions akin to – is nostalgia stopping our culture’s ability to surge forward? or are we nostalgic precisely because our culture has stopped moving forward and so we inevitably look back to more momentous and dynamic times? I found this thought to be a beautiful yet troubling standard to work with – I found it inspired a foundation for the artwork as well as the composition for my piece. Reynolds rightfully believes that nothing is new – even referring to every avant-garde movement as arrière-garde. Reynolds presents this thought by using the renaissance movement as an example as it drew heavily from Greco-roman art.
I have always loved the thought of trying to fight human nature and create something totally original, but due to nature, this would be impossible. Nature and emotion are fundamental in every human and every human experiences these elements similarly, regardless of intensity or complexity, therefore a piece of art, no matter how separated from influence would always draw from these natural fundamentals.
This thought furthered the respect I have for what I draw inspiration from, I feel like we all felt this, and it became elemental in influencing the artwork for this project.