The Art of Stealing

One of the most memorable characters in English literature is the Artful Dodger from #CharlesDickens book #OliverTwist. A dictionary search defines the word artful as skilful in a clever and cunning way, as well as skilful in a tasteful way. More often than not, the negative connotation takes precedent. But in the evolution of an artist’s style, stealing isn’t such a bad thing. Its actually necessary for development. As long as the artist is able to rise above and beyond the stealing to evolve beyond the influence she or he has stolen from. If an artist gets stuck in the stolen style, they become mere copyists.

Ok, I confess, I am a thief. As an artist, in my lifelong career one of my most troubling challenges has always been: how to be original. Till I came upon a little book called “Steal Like an Artist” by #LeonKloen. Suddenly it clicked and the pressure was off. No artist is truly original. Every artist feeds off other artists who preceded them or who are contemporary novelties who hit the headlines with some innovative presentation of artistic expression. Maybe two of my favourite artists, diametrically opposed in style: #Cezanne had no precedent, maybe #Jean-MichelBasquiat had no precedent. More perhaps which I can’t think of right now. But these trend setters are few and far between. Did they leap forth out of a vacuum? I don’t think so.

Is this style I have developed original? No. I have crafted it from picking up tips from other artists’ works. #FrancoiseNielly was my first influencer. But while I love her dynamic scale and bold knife application, I find her colours too fluorescent for my taste. Then I discovered #Lionelsmitt, a #southafrican artist. In his work I saw something enticing about breaking up the boundaries, letting the face dissolve partially into its background, and applying broad strokes to define the structure of the face. I had for many years been doing this merging between form and background with my mixed media portraits, but somehow the style of pure painterly strokes spoke to me differently.

I would like to think I have made this style my own by investing the faces I paint with a certain something, drawn from my unique experience of life. Which makes them different. It really cannot be anything other than, since they are speaking about me. Painting is a form of expression which cannot be anything but autobiographical. Consciously or unconsciously, when an artist paints, she/he is engaging in the act of self-revelation. This is why I am always reluctant to explain my faces. I’d rather not dictate the narrative. of greater interest to me is, what do they tell YOU?
Do you get “it” (it being what the portrait is about)? Does it resonate with you? Yes? Then we are bedfellows, knowingly or unknowingly, and need no further explanation to support that connection.

Throughout the years, from many of the responses I receive to my faces, I have come to regard them as mirrors. Through a visual medium, I am verbalising common threads which we share: the same hopes and fears, the same thoughts and anxieties, the same losses and gains. It’s a language which is universally inclusive.

“A good composer does not imitate; he steals.” reputedly spoken by composer Igor Stravinsky

A good read on this topic:
https://lifehacker.com/an-artist-explains-what-great-artists-steal-really-me-1818808264