Learn English – Word to describe something that is about to become trending

Depending on the context or connotation you have in mind, I would say that the artist is either

• borrowing material from earlier work (or even work from other artists), assuming the connotation is that the common material was not intended to be an overt reference

or

• referencing earlier work, if the connotation was that this act was intentional

One could also talk about the intentional use of common themes throughout the artist's works, or state that their work is thematically linked, in which case you would just state that they're returning to that theme or you could talk about theme re-use.

If you're measuring the time it takes a runner to run 100 meters, you are timing the runner, or clocking the runner.

From Merriam-Webster dictionary:

Clock: transitive verb 1a: to time with a stopwatch or by an electric timing device

Time: transitive verb 4. to determine or record the time, duration, or rate of