Nothing New Under The Sun

We've all heard it before: You must be Unique! You must be Original! If someone doesn't actually say it to our face that we're not being unique or original, we still feel the admonishment internally. Some are more blunt: I showed some recent work to some students and one slyly asked whether I was worried that what I was doing wasn't completely "unique." It's what's drilled into our artists's brains: If we can't be totally unique and original, then we're slackers, failures.

Well, I've got news for you. There are no new ideas. Really. Images can't be created that have no other contextual source. Just try doing it. What we as humans visually ingest on this planet, and can dream about, has been filtered through a brain and a consciousness that has a common DNA structure and origin. However, what can be quite new are innovative juxtapositions and connections that hadn't been made before.

You may be decried as a plagiarist if you copy someone else's style directly, but this is only something to worry about if you're selling your work "professionally" as an illustrator or fine artist.  Stealing from one artist may be considered plagiarism; however, stealing from many is considered art. This method of synthesizing influences is what makes a style unique. Therefore, a student should feel free to copy, copy, and then copy some more. Take everything that inspires you and run with it. Your style will be generated where your ambitions collide with your skill level and this changes and shifts over a lifetime. So many young artists fret about "not yet having a style." You should worry more about not having any ideas.

But what about the "professional" artist?  You have probably already seen these two images together: Michelangelo's Prophet Isaiah from the Sistine Chapel ceiling (1508-1512), and Norman Rockwell's Rosie the Riveter (May 1943 issue) for The Saturday Evening Post:

Dude looks like a lady...

Make me a sandwich...?

So what did Rockwell actually "steal?" The pose, and fairly directly. However, Rockwell improved upon Isaiah's posture (see the tilted shoulders? the defiant chin?) and added believability and a solidity to Rosie's anatomy that wasn't there in the "flattened" medium of the fresco. Rockwell's Rosie has the same nobility and stature as the saint, but casting the figure into this modern context changes everything. Rockwell has completely stolen it and made it his own. It is Rockwell's idea that transforms it.

So does an artist ever stop "stealing" from other artists? Not really. If you want to continue to grow and make your practice sustainable, you will need to keep experimenting with new styles, foreign designs, and taking risks with new ways of thinking. So don't just borrow and skim ideas. You will really need to try them on and perhaps buy them. And then don't be afraid to break them.

Hey, just so you know, I was partially inspired to write this blog entry from the writer and artist, Austin Kleon. Buy his amazing book, Steal Like An Artist and get inspired.  (: