A few weeks ago, I completed a new painting, which I titled Xtra (above). The piece focused on using paint as a means of illustration. It was an exploration in uniting two different disciplines, painting and illustration, which I often practice separately. Each of these artmaking modes has its own materials and mindsets, and I worked in this piece to marry the two.
Days later, I was on the T (the MBTA's red line, if you're wondering). I was outbound, and already tired. I looked up and was confronted with the image that's on the right: the promotional poster for Puccini's Madama Butterfly, the new production by the Boston Lyric Opera.
I have juxtaposed the two images of my painting and this promotional poster above. I was so surprised to encounter this image of Madame Butterfly. My painting, done days before I had even seen this image, was a shocking echo of the poster. And they had never even met. I, the medium, had not been overtly inspired by an image, and yet, here it was. The works may have well been sisters, birthed from the same mind.
This encounter makes me think about the flexibility of creativity and inspiration. How intricately are ideas, experiences and the environment connected? We are constantly influenced by subconscious sensory experiences and desires, and I suppose it is in art that they manifest themselves. I'm still curious as to how I got the inspiration for Xtra...the painting was, after all, more of an exercise in form rather than content. Of course, the whole situation may be happenstance...Or, perhaps the image of a woman with thick black tears dripping down her face is actually quite common.
