28th September

As visual communicators we are constantly being influenced by our surroundings and therefore by what others have done before us. They may not be very apparent and can be very subtle, but any artist would have to be quite ignorant to think that their work is original.  Any decision made within your work will have come from thinking that for example a certain layout would work well for this piece or even down to what materials you use to make your final outcome. To emphasise my point I will use Millais’s 1851-1852 painting of Ophelia. At first this received very few praise, but since then it has found its way into modern culture and is the concept to Kylie Minogue’s video for “Were the Wild Roses Grow” and Vogue Girl’s Korean addition.

As seen in the pictures above Minogue and the model in Aprils addition of Vogue Girl is in the same pose as Elizabeth Siddal (model for Millais Ophelia) and they even has the same vacant look as Siddal had.  The vogue edition is almost an exact copy of Ophelia, but has been shot head on to emphasise the clothes more as that’s the purpose for their work. Even when trying to make a new and innovating video people like Rocky Shenck (director for Where the Wild Roses Grow) end up using somebody else’s work to influence theirs and these two examples of an modernised Ophelia show that nothing is completely original, but as long as you realise where your concept has come from, then you can create something that, all though may have been inspired by someone else’s work still has your own touch to it.

Using the above examples shown, I am going to discuss how relationships develop from existing forms of historical culture. A classic example is Shakespeare's play Hamlet. From this, the tragedy that befell Ophelia has been transformed and developed again and again in many different mediums. Many artists have painted this iconic scene, but i believe Millais's is one of the most known. The minuscule details he has added such as the red poppy help emphasise the story he is depicting. These details show that he is following the zeitgeist of the Victorian era. The next example shows how just as Millais took a piece of literature and developed it into a painting, Shenck took Millais painting and developed it further transforming it into a digital piece, which with the MTV generation today, brought this story to a new audience. I believe these examples show how through time art is created using one significant piece of culture to form a new idea and from that artists can then explore theire creativity and develop it further. The main point is that inspiration may come from the same source, but depending on the spirit of the time (the zeitgeist) it will change how the art is delivered and how it engages the audience.