East ≠ West?

Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet ... But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth. So goes the beginning (first and third lines) of Rudyard Kipling's famous poem The Ballad of East and West (1889). One may then ask, how to best juxtaposition East and West in contemporary art? In examining history closer to our time, in the context of post-colonialism and globalisation, artist designer Jeffrey Choy says, 'the term “East” and “West” fail to address many of the nuances and interaction of cultural development in human history.' He quotes Vincent van Gogh: 'All my work is based to some extent on Japanese art'  (in a letter to his brother, 1888). He concludes that '“East” and “West” is one of those words that had meaningful usage at the time it was invented, but simply too clunky and inadequate to use to describe something as specific and important as culture influences and art. Eastern/Western as definition is simply not going to evolve into anything useful as different cultures continue to merge and develop in our contemporary world.' Source: https://medium.com/hidden-keileon/the-pointlessness-of-east-west-in-art-and-culture-7dcf7642fecb