Blog

Steal Like An Artist
Several years ago a book came out by Austin Kleon which was titled "Steal Like An Artist".  I read it and loved it.  The idea spoke to me because, as an educator, I know that every idea is connected to something before it.

Somehow it got onto Facebook and people either loved the title or the idea as I had or hated it because they felt that Kleon was saying that all artists steal their ideas and nothing is original.  - They hadn't read the book, obviously.  Here are a few quotes from his book:

• “Draw the art you want to see, start the business you want to run, play the music you want to hear, write the books you want to read, build the products you want to use—do the work you want to see done.”
• “Plagiarism is trying to pass someone else's work off as your own. Copying is about reverse-engineering.”
• “Imitation is about copying. Emulation is when imitation goes one step further, breaking through into your own thing.”
• “The trouble with creative work: Sometimes by the time people catch on to what’s valuable about what you do, you’re either a) bored to death with it, or b) dead. You can’t go looking for validation from external sources. Once you put your work into the world, you have no control over the way people will react to it.”
• “People love it when you give your secrets away, and sometimes, if you’re smart about it, they’ll reward you by buying the things you’re selling.”
• “Seeing yourself as part of a creative lineage will help you feel less alone as you start making your own stuff. I hang pictures of my favourite artists in my studio. They're like friendly ghosts. I can almost feel them pushing me forward as I'm hunched over my desk.”
• “What to copy is a little bit trickier. Don’t just steal the style, steal the thinking behind the style. You don’t want to look like your heroes, you want to see like your heroes.”

Fast forward several years and one of my classmates in David Gallup's class painted a series of successful bird  paintings.   Now this classmate is a veterinarian and has a very good eye for correct anatomy etc.  While accurate, her paintings went beyond accurate rendering and were compelling and inspiring.  In every class, David will bring out examples of artwork which illustrate various ideas and lessons he wants us to assimilate - (steal?).    Many "favorites" are pulled from the shelf or, now that we're online, from the internet, to demonstrate a color progression or how blue or purple or orange skin is "just right".  Maybe he'll show some of the various types of edges or a series of choices about design.  Since I have virtually no art history education except through David, I've totally embraced this method of teaching.  David knows about artists from history and also more contemporary artists and shares this information regularly.   I learned about design in Bob Kuhn's animal work and more recently about the unusual designs in Ron Kingswood's work.    Years ago David introduced me to Dan Pinkham's work.  I have to admit that I didn't like it at first.  Over the many years that I've studied with David he has helped me to see differently.  Now I love Pinkham's work.  I have always liked Dan McCaw's older work and now really like his newer, more contemporary work.  

Zoom class discussion
We had a wonderful class discussion last week (on Zoom) about a whole series of contemporary artists as many of my fellow students are exploring less traditional ways of expression than I wish to use.   We discussed Jean-Michel Basquiat and Sy Twombly.  We've seen Rocky Hawkins' work and lots and lots of Alex Kanevsky's.  We look at work from Fred Cuming who has a foot in abstract and another in realism - all at the same time.  David always laughs at me and says that I come kicking and screaming into his teachings.  Maybe that's a little true.  It does take me a while to warm up to some of the less traditional work but I DO see how I can learn from these works.  I see how I might take a little from here and a little from there.   Is that stealing?  Is that borrowing, channeling, learning or is it simply growing and developing?

  

• The painting called "The Lookout" came from a scene I saw on my hike, but it is also altered in many ways for design, for color, for putting it in a different historical time frame.  Did I "steal" the bird idea from my fellow student, Kathy?   Maybe I loved the quail idea because I absolutely love George Carlson's and Len Chmiel's quails?  Did I move the various quails around in the picture plane because I "stole" how to use Adobe Illustrator to make a more compelling design from Ray Roberts?  Did the abstract squiggles of Sy Twombly influence my design?  Did I steal the beautiful use of color transitions from Dan Pinkham or from David Gallup??  How about the brushwork?  Is that stolen from David Gallup?
  
  
  
  ****
  
  Whether we steal from one another or learn from one another, David always has stressed the importance of studying great art.  Sadly, with my lack of art education, I would have tended to stick to what I already know, and that didn't enable me to grow.  I know what I like, but wouldn't be able to expand out and realize the possibilities of other types of "great art".  I realized again last week how important it is to have a great guide along my path.   -- Thanks, David!
  
  
• What do you think?   Should we all simmer in our own pool or should we steal, borrow, absorb and grow?