Art Inspiring Music: Fine Art In Today's Music Videos

Ever look at a movie, an image, a painting and swear you’ve seen something like it somewhere else? Yeah, it happens to me all the time. I tend to connect pop culture images with fine art. Sometimes, I connect my own imaginary dots as in the case of the movie Moonlight and photographs by Kerry James Marshall.

Kerry James Marshall / Artsy + Moonlight Movie

Others times, the artists themselves connect the dots and make beautifully obvious the art inspiring their art. Kanye’s Famous video , particularly the aerial view, is almost exact an replica of Vincent Desiderio’s painting Sleep.

kanye west/ youtube + vincent desiderio

And then there’s Rihanna’s Rude Boy video and her nods to Andy Warhol and Keith Haring which I almost missed thanks to the hypnotic beat and in your face graphics.

rihanna/youtube + andy warhol/ art.com + keith haring photographed by annie lebowitz/vanity fair

But perhaps the most endearing instance of art inspiring art is Solange’s Don’t Touch My Hair and Lynette Yaidom-Boakye’s portraits. The video itself is a work of art, but knowing it's inspired by some of the most brilliant and beautiful portraiture made in the past few years, makes me love Ms. Solange a wee bit more.

solange/youtube + lynette yiadom-boakye/ jack shainman gallery

Whether imagined by the viewer or expressed explicitly by the artist, there’s no denying that art  inspires art. That art is everywhere. There are many dots to be connected.

Have you connected any lately?

in love and art,
christa davids

Black art lovers unite. Click here to get your issue of CRWN and discover up-and-coming Black artists that will shake that world.