You read the title and thought I was talking smack. But in fact, I’m trying to give advice.
The history of the world is one of shared spaces, shared food, shared water, shared DNA, shared lives. The history of art is the same. It is a history of an evolution of ideas, of appropriation and application. Therefore, if you’re looking for inspiration, look no further than 1. inside you; and then 2. to other art work that fuels your soul. Apply your own story to what you see. Make it relevant, make it yours. Remix it all and you’re underway. Filmmaker Jim Jarmusch says it best:
“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent.”
The above image plus the reminder that all of life is a collage, via the uber talented Austin Kleon.
This totally explains Lady Gaga.
I was at Memphis State when Jarmusch had recently finished “Mystery train” and I was an Art major at the school. I would enter paintings and get into the yearly school art competition. and a few shows Jarmusch and I would run into each other at the showings, I have a white streak in my hair and he has all white hair. I had no clue to who he was, other than a film professor.
What struck me as the most fun was how we went through a show once discussing some of the art and we came to my piece and he asked me way i choose what I did, and why I displayed it the way I had; Six abstract images the we to represent light and the cross that you can see when you pupil dilates down to a center…aperture. But I also told him I did it just because I knew it would get me in the show….And he laughed and said that was a good enough reason as any.
real like life
i steal from Chase all the time 🙂
Plagiarism is the biggest form of flattery