1. Painting Level
   This means the Painting in particular targets a certain audience and requires that the viewer knows one or two things in order to understand the meaning of the references. The best example for this is the Forgotten Spaceship at the Meadow, I encourage you to visit the link and scroll down to the oldest comments on this - it is just pure gold what people have to say about it!
   The first thing to note is the title, it mocks the most iconic spaceship in science fiction history as something that might be forgotten in about 100 years from now on. The next level of context-creation is that it is crashed, which polarizes opinions in the fan-community per se, people discuss it. The next level is that it is painted in an existing landscape from around 1870 which as a result helps me to stand out because I'm the guy who mashes pop-culture with classical paintings, can't argue with that, and why bother, it helps me to get found.
   
   
2. Curation Level
   This refers to the curation of one work on display hanging in close proximity to another for a certain reason. One reason at a convention is to be easily found! When someone asks you at a fair with 100k visitors and 1000 booths; where did you bought this? How do you manage to describe the content of the booth and is it possible for the person to then find the artist easily? In most cases not, but when the content is so focused such as crashed starships in landscapes next to an arcade game still life in a flemish painter style, it gets a lot easier.
   
   Another reason is to stop visitors in their tracks. On every occasion I observe visitors who scan the art on display, the sheer amount and variety of references forces them to stop and sort things and after a minute they realize that there is no drawer for this and either get closer or they decide to come back later.
   
   
3. Series related Context
   This means a work is part of a certain series and can either stick out or fit in this particular series depending on the intended use. A quick explanation of this is the Still(A)Life Series; it started with Star Wars related Still life paintings, then went into retro arcade games and now features over 30 pieces related to movies, anime and games. The categories can serve as a way to make output appear more than it actually is on a curation level! For example I have a landscape painting of a certain franchise, and also a still life and one portrait painting as well. The context created in the viewers mind is that I created three different takes on one franchise which are far more weighted than just 3 portraits from that franchise or 3 landscapes that tackle the same subject. It has a different impact if you try to create a universe or just one world.
   
   

Expecting the unexpected

So how does this context thing help you?

On Conventions I see many artists who focus on one subject, lets say portraits. This is very common. To stand out many do fanart from a favorite character or franchise. Yet this is still something many artists do. If an artist likes Genshin Impact for example, it would be a low hanging fruit to do portraits from the most popular characters but that would not help you to stand out in a crowd.

So what would you do?

One step would be to focus on overlooked or niche aspects of the game, doing gender-swapped versions of characters is a good start for example. My suggestion then would be to add counterparts so that you have pairs to showcase. Another idea could be to focus on colors - only do characters in one color like the following example by Raides Art: 

It is such an amazing idea, another great concept is the Hulk vs. Saitama painting in the composition style of Phil Hale by Jason Kang, this is right up my alley and if he did not do it, I might probably did that ;)

It requires you to know both characters and franchises to appreciate the effort and is a showstopper at any Comic Convention for sure!

With the examples shown above, there are countless more possibilities to express yourself with the help of context-creation. 

We are moving into an age where quality and hard work will be appreciated again since Enshitification and planned obsolescence has become the norm. True artists and hand crafting people who are in for the long run can truly benefit from these techniques as they help you set yourself apart from others - even in your own niche!

It just requires you to ask yourself a few questions. In the creation process it could help to ask yourself "What if..."

The "What if..." scenario forces you to think outside the box, it helps to push you further and yes, sometimes it can be uncomfortable but that is where the magic happens. 

It can be simple questions that lead to funny ideas, such as:" what if the Hulk would be red? 

And a follow-up question could then be:"Would he be Hellboy's brother?". Et Voilá you now have a base for plenty of ideas for paintings that can come from this!

One other good starting point can be the "10 Seconds approach"; for any idea you might have and believe it falls flat or lacks something - go 10 seconds before the scenario in your head , or 10 seconds after that. We are often fixated on this one idea that we forget it could be a game changer if we apply these simple questions.

In the best case it leads to better ideas upfront and it leads you to become a person that talks about ideas more often. I always talk about ideas and it is wild to see how talking with others can twist and turn your ideas into something even better - if you are open to it.

I hope my explanation helped you to get a better idea of what "Context-Creation" can do for you.

If you have questions or suggestions don't hesitate to comment.