I like to add something else that I just thought of - it has to do with "artspeak":

If you really like the style of an artist you admire, and you appropriate that style for yourself, then 2 things can happen when critics look at your work.

• If a critic hates it (you, the style, the artist you emulate, some or all of this) he would dismissively call it DERIVATIVE and in addition to this find other faults.
• If a critic likes what you've done, he would call it INSPIRED BY and add other words of praise.

The bottom line is that they are looking at the same work, the same artist. But they are expressing an opinion.

But as the saying goes:
Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one, but they think each others stink. ~ Simone Elkeles