From One Artist To Another: Your Work Is Part of the Conversation

Creative people, it’s Makayla Binter here, and I want to talk about the quintessential art-school experience for a second.

As part of my studio art assignments at Davidson College (Go, Cats!), I had to research artists who could influence my work, push me to become a better artist and encourage exploration.

What was I making? Why was I making it? Who was I making it for? And where did my work fit within the larger artistic conversation?

ANALYZE YOUR WORK

It may sound simple, but I encourage every creative person to do their own deep dive:

What are you making? Regardless of your medium, consider your process, materials and intention.
Why are you making it? What drives your creative process? How is your approach similar to or different from others working in your style or medium?
Who influenced you? What inspired you to create this way? Which artists led you to explore a particular style, medium or approach?
What is your work in conversation with? Does your work connect to another artist, artwork or idea? Is something else working in tandem with your creation?

To consider these questions, I toured galleries, walked around campus and explored creative cities. Just because I’m not a sculptor doesn’t mean I can’t consider a builder’s process. Just because I don’t use oil paints doesn’t mean I can’t study light, subject and story in my acrylic paintings.

IT’S NOT NEW. IT’S IN CONVERSATION.

Creating isn’t new. Everything we create is connected to something else. One artist sees another artist’s work, takes something from it, challenges it, changes it and makes something new.

That’s why having access to study one of the masters — a “great,” if you will — can truly affect the way you work as an artist. I consider “greats” to be artists who have become pillars of how we study art. As Charlotteans, we are lucky to have one of those artists at our fingertips RIGHT NOW.

At The Mint Museum Uptown, you can see Caravaggio alongside more than 40 works by artists influenced by his revolutionary approach in Caravaggio | Revolution: Baroque Masterpieces from the Roberto Longhi Foundation, on view through Sunday, October 25, 2026.

And here’s the wild part: The exhibition isn’t only about Caravaggio. It’s about what happened after Caravaggio. Artists saw what he was doing, absorbed it, changed it and made it their own.

CARAVAGGIO WAS REALLY THAT GUY.

Caravaggio was ambitious, controversial and constantly pushing against the conventions of the art world around him. His work was so distinctive that other painters began adopting and reinterpreting his visual language.

Basically? Caravaggio was an influencer before influencers existed.

He became one of the most sought-after painters of his time, but his life was also marked by conflict and violence. He killed a man during a street fight and spent the latter part of his life on the run. Look it up!

[PAINTER’S NOTE: At the time, successful artists often lived and worked in the homes of wealthy patrons who commissioned works and supported their process to create. And in this economy, that sounds kinda nice.]

But Caravaggio did something radical with that access. He used models from the street. People with dirty feet, unkempt clothing, wrinkled skin and painted them as biblical figures, saints and subjects worthy of serious attention.

He painted people who were rarely visible in places of nobility, high society and politics. And he didn’t clean them up for the canvas. He showed their humanity.

His influence spread, and other artists began experimenting with his dramatic lighting, realism and emotionally charged compositions.

ROCK WITH WHAT YOU’VE GOT!

Our creative greats worked without modern technology. They were masters of light without digital editing, cameras, LED panels or Photoshop. They had to use the materials, tools and environments available to them.

Caravaggio’s dramatic contrast of light and shadow — chiaroscuro — wasn’t simply a technical trick. It became a way to direct attention, create emotion and express humanity.

In that warmth and glow, he showcased people. Every wear and tear turned muse.

That is what I love about studying artists outside my medium. I’m no oil painter, but Caravaggio and the artists who entered the conversation with him influence how I create.

With modern technology at my fingertips, I can pause and appreciate what these artists accomplished with the tools they had. There was no undo button, brightness adjustment, filters or screens.

GET. OUT. AND. STUDY.

Your work doesn’t have to be completely new to be meaningful. It has to be yours. You can borrow an idea, challenge a technique, reinterpret a composition, study a color choice, respond to a story or completely reject what came before you.

So, what am I really saying?

Pick up that album. Dive into that medium. Tour that gallery. Watch the film. Read the book. Study the photograph. Go see the thing.

Creatives are always in conversation with one another through process, execution, subject, intention and medium. It is a disservice to your creative practice to believe what you make exists in isolation.

Enter a dialogue with artists who communicate across time, eras and styles. It can expand the way you create, talk about your work and connect with other people.

And you don’t have to be a painter to study Caravaggio; or a filmmaker to study composition, or a musician to study rhythm, or a sculptor to study form.

You just have to be willing to look and try.

NOW, GO ASK YOURSELF.

Special exhibition admission is $10 in addition to regular museum admission. The $10 exhibition admission also applies during free museum entry on Wednesday nights.

But honestly? The point isn’t the $10 – it’s the time you spend looking in the gallery.

Walk around the exhibit and ask yourself:

MEDIUM: What does this medium communicate? What does your chosen medium communicate? What does the labor behind your process add to the work?
PURPOSE: Caravaggio used a demanding and expensive medium to depict people who might otherwise have been overlooked. How does that change the way we see the artwork and its subjects? Why choose a difficult or labor-intensive medium?
INFLUENCE: What reminds you of something else? Which artist, album, film, photograph, book or experience comes to mind as you look?
YOUR WORK: How does your work enter the conversation? What are you borrowing? What are you challenging? What are you changing?

Can you study your own work with the same watchful, attentive eye?

Dive into the conversation. The greats are waiting.

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