Have you ever thought about how your vocabulary changes the world around you? It’s common practice to trust your own judgement (hell, if you can’t trust that what you trust?) – but sometimes, the narratives we have implanted in our heads can cause more hindrance than help. This concept is something that the team at Quarantine have been exploring – in particular, how words can limit the artist. As they put it: there are limitations that can arise when an artist becomes “trapped in someone else’s vocabulary”. But what exactly does that mean?
Here’s a little field test for you.
Look at this Rembrandt for ten seconds.
Notice the LIGHT and SHADOW.
Now look again.
But where you first said light, now say structure.
Where you said shadow, say vagueness.
The painting didn’t change.
You did.
Next round:
Take in the details, such as the hair. Where do you see harmony, or texture? Now:
Where you said hair, say field.
Where you said harmony, say negotiation.
Where you said detail, say frequency.
Where you said texture, say friction.
Look again with these four new words. Did the way you look at the painting change at all? Did you find yourself, perhaps, analysing more with certain terms and feeling more with another?
What different ways did you find yourself absorbing Rembrandt’s painting as you moved through the different words?
If you’re interested to learn more about this concept, we encourage you to read their fun 5-page field test for artists trapped in someone else’s vocabulary. It could be the spark you need to see a problem you didn’t realise existed. If this is the case, then it’s time to celebrate! Acknowledging a problem exists is the first step to overcoming it – and if this resonates with you, the Quarantine team are here to help. Perhaps it’s time to release your own Nocturne, rather than another insult.
Quarantine: not another art school
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Quarantine exists as a safe space to release from the bonds often implemented by traditional forms of art education. They don’t focus on what is correct or incorrect, and they aren’t there to help you fix what you think needs to be fixed in your art. Instead, the Quarantine team want to focus on you: the artist. To help you grow beyond the limitations that have unwittingly created a prison around your ability to create.
You haven’t lost your spark. You haven’t lost what you had. You’ve just hidden it behind too many rules and ideas about what is “correct” and what is not.
And there are many reasons for the hidden cage to slowly creep around the artist. If you’re comfortable with your artistic vocabulary, then perhaps you are more familiar with the dreaded Chronic Preparation Syndrome? Or perhaps you don’t quite know what’s causing you to feel like you’ve lost your inner spark?
Don’t worry; you’re not expected to have all of your problems ready and listed. Quarantine’s 7-day experiences are designed to help you unblock as an artist and access new levels to yourself and your art. And their next event, Hunter’s Moon, takes place this October:
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Interested to learn more? Check out Hunter’s Moon: Quarantine Experiment #7. Taking place October 19-25, 2026, on the island of Lazaretto in Menorca.
Quarantine Social Media Accounts + additional blogs
Website | Instagram |Escaping the Artist’s ‘mental prison’ | How an Art Retreat Becomes a Social Experiment | Quarantine Events Brutally Honest Oracle
