19 May 2021
Irina Baturina/Alamy Stock Photo
Why is it easier to copy a picture of an apple than to draw the apple itself? Wouldn’t the image on my retina be the same whichever one I looked at?
Nina Dougall
Advertisement
As an artist and art teacher, I am always dumbfounded by the differences in how individuals perceive something. Within a class of 20 students, there will be 20 interpretations of how to portray an object.
What you portray is determined by your observational powers, degree of perfectionism, natural ability, training, culture, age and personality.
Then there is the factor of the artist’s mood. There is always something of the personality of the artist in the moment that they are capturing in their art. This is what makes the difference between a mere reproduction and a “work of art” a topic of endless discussion in the art world.