References are one of the most vital tools an artist has. Equally as vital, is our understanding of where those references stem from.
Our entire lives are built around references. We create an image of the world based on what we have seen, heard, experienced, tasted, read, and been told. Then, we make decisions for our future (and future art) based on what we have learned.
Classic stuff, I know. But have you investigated the origin of your references? Or even known they needed to be expanded?
As creatives, it is wildly helpful for us to be able to frame pieces of our process with inspiration from other works. Now let me tell you where I went wrong for most of my life. Growing up, I watched and heard many artists use references as an excuse for copying other artists. I was completely against references because I didn’t want to do what other artists had done. I wanted to create work from inside of myself...naive, right?
I don’t think I was naive for bucking against the concept of copying work because that is unfortunately ever present in our culture. I was naive because what I thought was my pure internal inspiration, was just what I had been taught and fed growing up.
For most of my life, what I liked was not decided by me. If you relate, you know that growing up in a traumatic family environment rarely even affords you the luxury of asking yourself what you like. You are too busy trying to survive.
To make the concept more complex, I grew up as a girl in the early 2000’s. That meant everything I saw or read was about crushes, celebrities, and how you looked. Naturally, I focused on others. What music does my crush at school like? What is my favorite television character wearing? What is my celebrity crush’s favorite meal, or movie, or sports team? Are my hips too big? My tits too saggy? I liked what media, fashion, and advertising industries spent billions of dollars a year to make me like, and scrutinized what they told me I should hate about myself. Can you blame me? I was hardly up for the task of taking on industry as a whole. Worst of all, I was taught about global history, politics, and art byway of the Virginia eduction system. YIKES!!
Suffice it to say, it took me a very long time to untangle myself from the biases. That separation process was and will always be underway. But it is the best thing I have ever done for myself.
I know it sounds simple. Learn about what you like. Unfortunately we have not always been in control of what we learn to like, there’s a chance you still might not be.
It is only through conscious effort that I have fostered an incredible relationship to references. Now, if I follow a trend, it is with my permission. I decide what I want to spend my time and money investing in. I don’t fall prey to instagram ads or influencer marketing. I don’t pretend to like what my friends do and I try my very hardest not to feel shame about the ways I live my life.
The best part? I am deeply in love with the art I consume and the way it influences my work. My ideas and I stand on the foundation of artwork that I truly adore and believe in. I have gained a level of authenticity that would not be possible without the conviction I have gained by being true to MY taste.
MY TIPS FOR BUILDING A PERSONAL REFERENCE LIBRARY
QUESTION EVERYTHING.
Starting with yourself. Think back, imagine the first vital environment that influenced you. Where were you learning this information? Who was teaching it to you? What do you think their intentions were? Where do you see culture as having been at that time? Was it in your favor?
After you’ve established a process for analyzing the honesty in the source of information, follow anything that sparks your interest. Like a song you heard in a cafe? Shazam it. Find a cool painter? What era did they make their most prolific work in? Who else made work with the same themes? Who were the artists left behind in the initial celebration of that art? What was the political climate of that country during the time? What did the buildings look like? The infrastructure? The agriculture?
It’s that easy, and can be completely tailored to YOU. Reference building is a luxurious process if you let it be. I promise you will get lost (in a good way) in the paths references take you down.
LET GO OF NOSTALGIA
Nostalgia is suffocating your adult instincts. I have found nostalgia to be one of the worst influences on the collective’s taste. We can see how nostalgia bait has tired out industries like film, and wiped it of its resources. Remake, prequel, sequel, reimagining, IP, IP, IP. (This post is not about the horrors of The Walt Disney Company, but I do think they are heavily responsible for how desperately and pathetically Americans cling to nostalgia art).
If you are over the age of twenty-five please do not tell me your favorite movie was one you first saw when you were nine. I’m sure [insert movie about a young boy/group of boys/explorer/badass who saves the world] is a good movie. Does it really hold up against everything else you’ve seen though?
Even if you think I am wrong, try it as an exercise. Remove all your nostalgia picks and see what’s left. Do those pieces of art accurately reflect you? And if you are someone whose references are based in childhood, spend some time thinking about the people who might have been left out or harmed by those works.
TAILOR YOUR ARCHIVE
How you archive your references is half the battle. There is no point in finding new inspiration if you forget about it two days later or forget where you stored it in the first place.
Notes app
Instagram saves
Instagram likes
Filing cabinet
Photo app
Photo album
Folder in your hallway closet
Books
Milanote
Notion
Tiktok
Twitter
Whether digital or physical, there are A LOT of places an archive can live, but it becomes a problem when everything is too scattered. It’s why I first started my Instagram - @the.referencelist
I wanted ONE place where I could dump and access specific art that personally inspired me.
In reality, there isn’t one application or process that works for every medium. Maybe you have tangible collections, large video files, collages, or canvases. Whatever the medium(s), archiving will become much easier through archival trial and error. The easiest way to start is simply to stop mindlessly tossing work into random folders and apps. Label things, try to recognize your habits so you can work with them. The more tailored your system is to you, the more organized it stays when you really begin to expand. Because you will expand.
NEVER STICK TO ONE MEDIUM
There’s nothing like only referencing the medium you work in to block you from new and inspired ideas. If all you do as a poet (musician, filmmaker, painter) is study other poetry (music, films, paintings), you are going to making boring and stale ripoffs of other people’s art.
It is in moving beyond the medium and looking for the soul of the work that presents true inspiration. Work that speaks to you, speaks to you no matter what. That notion is why you should think about your references as a library, one with different sections and subsections.
Along with referencing other mediums, try working in another medium too! I’m not suggesting you need to take it that seriously (no new side hustles here), but there is a world of discovery to be made within the exploration of a secondary or tertiary medium. What does clay teach you about coding? Oil pastels teach you about graphic design? Sewing about soccer? The beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but there is always something to behold. I promise if you research it, you will find that some of your favorite artists were inspired by people you would have never expected.
TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU LOVE WITH OTHERS
You have to learn to read the room a little bit with this one, but there is no better feeling than making a new friend who loves the same niche shit you do. The best part about being confident in the authenticity of your taste is when people connect with what you’re expressing. When they do, you know they are connecting with the real you. We all want to feel seen.
In regards to creative work, strong references help you and your collaborators get on the same page more easily. If you can identify and communicate pieces of work that speak to the world you are trying to erect around your art, everyone can start working from the same place. Then you begin to see that references not only act as a foundation for you to build from, but for others to as well.
Lastly, when you talk about what you love and create space for people to do the same, you learn that other people are an incredible resource for references too. You will attract likeminded friends who introduce you to art pieces, places, food, music, etc. that blow your world right open.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I so strongly believe in the necessity of the above, that I created this little universe, The Reference List, to be a trustworthy tool in the build out of your personal reference library. I am dedicated to sharing the art I love (and don’t) in the hopes of sparking your curiosity. View me as a friend who shares their no bullshit opinions and give you certified Reference List Recommendations™
I can genuinely tell you that my taste acts as my solid core. It is the foundation from which I express my thoughts on the world. I am always working on expanding my personal Reference List and therefore, myself.
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