Every artist has to have a muse, that muse so often is related to the environment one is brought up into. Considering the debates between nature and nurture theories, I would say nurture plays an important role in carving the artists’ skills. Since the societal norms of a country is so often mirrored by the artists’ paintings, every piece of art either criticizes, emphasizes or denotes the aspects of life embedded in the creator’s subconscious.
Every touch of brush represents the remains of past events. Every imprint shapes a portion of history. First of the country one is surrounded by and second of its impact on the person’s insight. Nevertheless, no matter how distinct artists may seem from every day-life occupations, they are a very important reflection of it, they embed it in their work, they notice, absorb and repaint the societal norms of what’s happened, happening and due to happen. That is why artists are known to be the critics of society, politics and all norms of life.
An artist is all who sees before he creates, he is all who knows and notices before the whole world does, an artist is he who draws and explains the beauty of the world to the rest of the world, he is who is complicated and miss-understandable, he who utters meaning, finds meaning and creates meaning in everything he encounters. So how would anyone argue that an artist could be seen as anything remotely distant from what the world is all about. The artist is the world, he sees it, loves it, hates it makes it, it is he who creates the history of nations, documents the process of creation and it is he who defines it, by all means.
Whatever form of creation any artist is engaged in, whether writing, painting, music, cartooning cinema, and acting. Including all forms of modern art, it still is nonetheless the mere manifestation of life itself. To an artist, art is all there is to life, he breathes the polluted air of his nation, he absorbs and transfers its suffering, he feels its pain, cherish its happiness. An artist is he who feels the whole world at the bulk of his heart and thrives to create a better one.
Thus, when digging deep into each of us one may discover, it’s not only talent, that makes an artist, it is he who travels through the layers of his heart into himself looking for truth, it is he who searches for meaning, it is he who is blind enough, to see beauty in the midst of chaos.
All in all, what life nurtures an artist creates the artist’s perspective upon life itself, and thus forms the edges of his artistic vision. Therefore, environment is definitely a part, an influence and a reflection of all artistic creations.