Leaning up against the wall in the Chicago museum of contemporary art is a sculpture that makes me question a lot of things. Untitled (red plank) by John McCracken is a piece of art that I have trouble calling a piece of art. It fits its title to a tee being nothing but a red plank. If you were to stare at it from every angle possible, looking as close as you can you will find nothing out of the ordinary. It's just some lacquered up red plank made in 1969.

This plank leaned wryly in one of the main showrooms of the museum when I saw it, the same art museum that holds works by Jackson Pollock, Richard Hunt and Francis Bacon. That really confused me. Why is Untitled (red plank) held to the same prestige as some genuinely masterful works of art? What do people see in its seemingly tasteless simplicity? Why did McCracken even make Red Plank?

Courtesy of The Art Institute of Chicago

Searching for the answers to these questions may have you running in circles, but regardless of if we know the answers or not, there's plenty of Red Planks out there. There's always going to be pieces of art that fall outside our definitions of art.

Art can be ridiculous at times. An unfavorable piece of art can raise you just as many questions as a favorable one. We’re always trying to deconstruct the narrative, we are always trying to find out the artists ‘why?’

Why is the artist making this, where does it come from? The simple answer might be that they had an idea and they saw it through, but art has been a significant cultural keystone throughout all of human history. Art allows us to convey, connect and express in ways that traditional forms of communication cannot.

The reasons we make art are so often spontaneous, yet deliberate. There is this feverish temptation to fully realize these symbolism in a more tangible form to those outside of our own headspace. Even if the concept at hand is something like Untitled (red plank) the artist’s intentions exist regardless of if you can see it or not.

The fleeting feeling to create is the vital point of any artists' creation. The surge of inspiration feels endless- it can reach you anywhere at any time, for any reason. This was evident to the oil painter Bit Modica one night as she slept in her Chicago apartment. Modica, a self taught painter whose works can best be described as personal and alive, had a moment of inspiration.

Her art cuts the fine line between what is real and surreal, with her canvases capturing perspectives of quiet moments dense with emotional sanctity and a yearning aura of mystery. In reference to one of her paintings she says, “I had a dream I was painting it and consciously knew I had to start painting when I woke up.”

The colors and shapes are identical to the ones she saw in her dream; the warm maternal look and embrace between red and yellow envisioned to mirror what she witnessed in her sleep. “I like it because it’s different than the other stuff I was doing and it felt like the most natural thing I’ve ever painted.” Modica says about the uniqueness of her latest painting in comparison to her other painted works of the past.

Inspiration can come from anywhere, and when it hits everything else seems to stop in its tracks. But can we chalk up every piece of art’s creation to an 'aha' moment? Given that, a plank leaning up against a wall is considered art as much as something that vividly appeared in someone's dream, like a divine message to create, I would assume so. The stories of these pieces may be vastly different, but as long as the artist can justify the existence of their work it is art.

Inspiration isn’t just an intangible force that comes and goes- it’s an accumulation of personal drive, perceptions, encouragement, occurrence, mental state, all fundamental entities that contribute to the revered what we know as inspiration.

For some the drive to create comes from history and support. Growing up hearing his father's personal journey of making beats, producer and label owner, RXPHY was destined for his craft. “My dad had a passion for music when he was younger, he used to collect records. He had a beat machine he let me play on and I made music for a garage band. Overtime he got more equipment and I used to play on his machine when he went to work and that inspired me to get my own stuff so I could make music.” Says RXPHY. With the seed of inspiration planted early in his life making music is second nature to him. “I do music work and music for myself, so I'm always working at it every day.” RJ says about the frequency at which he works on his music. Having his life intertwined with his passion since a young age, music has found its place in his life, being not only a job or a hobby, but an anchor to his identity.

The artist’s identity is another key contributor to why we make art and how we go about doing so. We tend to derive our inspirations from things that we associate with our lives and perceptions. RXPHY pursued music because it was what he was surrounded by. Hearing his fathers beats in his youth was an influential part of his emerging self-identity and with such a powerful connection such as family and memories of youth it is as if there was no other medium for him but music and it shows.

As a vehicle for culture; entire communities can be built around the creation and display of art. These communities, whether they pertain to a beloved book franchise or television series, in hand give art the ability to help people find a sense of belonging, bringing together like minded individuals who see the world in similar ways. “Seeing the stuff that people would create just because they enjoyed these stories really made me want to make art like that. So I could inspire people the same way, ”says Vic W, a digital artist and Charlotte student who goes by the Instagram handle @erroreyes_art, in reference to an art community they happened upon in middle school. “It made me want to make something of my own, you know, like my own story that I could share with the world.” They answered when asked how their witnessing and inclusion to this community had influenced their creative direction.

Inspiring people to the extent to which they want to make something of their own, something just as inspiring as the things that made them pick up a sketchpad in the first place is yet another valid reason for why we make art. Between RXPHY and Vic it is clear that being an artist may be something we learn to be from others. Perhaps we could characterize inspiration as something we give to each other, a gift between those we connect with. We may get ideas from things and experiences in our lives, but the people who keep us going, urging us to create are just as vital to the creative process.

While the energy and consideration we put into our works may lead to a finished piece that is only half the side of what makes something a work of art. It is the perceptions of the audience that interact with it that tend to develop a realized piece. It matters not if it is met with praise of controversy, just that it provokes thought. Leaving beauty in the eye of the beholder. A concept evident in the reactions that works such as Untitled (red plank) evoke. When it first hit the scene in 1969 I'm sure it raised eyebrows and there were probably plenty of people who shared the same testamates as I, but Untitled (red plank) found itself in the middle of the minimalist movement and helped bring John McCracken to the front of it all. It turned out that people saw its simplistic design as bold and extraterrestrial. It sat leaning ever present, with its surface touching the floor and the wall blurring the lines between painting and sculpture. People connected with the plank, the same way Vic connected with the fan art they saw in middle school, the way RXPHY connected with his fathers music, and the same way Bit Modica connected with the imagery she found in her dreams.

‘Why do artists make the things that they make’? Is a question that should coincide with ‘what do we see in the things that they make?’ The connections that we establish between art and ourselves may as well be the answer to the artists ‘Why?’ To take you away from the mechanical thought processes of everyday life and let your mind take you somewhere. Art allows you to ask questions about the world around you, it cares not about borders or impossibles, it’s universal. There is no language in art or a correct interpretation of a piece, but there are the feelings that grow inside you as you listen to your favorite song or find yourself lost in a painting. It's a demonstration of human ingenuity and a display of complex emotion, it can bring people together regardless of who made it or what it is. Art somehow ends up being exactly what it needs to be.

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