Why did Picasso say "good artists copy but great artists steal"?
He definitely did not encourage/give you the license to steal another soul's thoughts/ideas... he probably meant 'steal' your audience... by exposing your honesty... is what I would like to think.
Pablo Picasso was not known to be a spiritual soul. We all know who he is. I will just stick to the topic here... of stealing... ideas! And how/why does that happen? Why is there an emaciation of ideas? When does artists steal ideas and what does one do when your ideas are stolen. This is not a law-enforcement article... remember it is a bluvian blog.
Picasso was an inspired soul... and he also faced popular artists as well as new artists copying his style... but he did not stop painting. If there was Facebook then he would have been all over the place too with his daily musings... am sure! Imitation is the highest form of flattery... he must have known that.
Stealing is negative karma it will bite back
Who does not know that? But the 'momentarily' clever think they can get away. Not really!
Spiritual lessons... in the advanced soul-realisation [a part of energy-healing classes] offered lot of answers to human suffering. That is where I stumbled upon this too. Those who steal will live and pay for it any how. Even downloading/enjoying/learning pirated stuff is, karmically just that - stealing. It is unfair if somebody steals your creative idea but then that damage is tentative. Sitting and worrying about your ideas being stolen is actually the real situation that can harm you [of course go ahead and sue the person if you have the time/means/enough evidence... and especially if the artist is a rich one don't spare! ;)]. Don't waste your time around negative speculation/thoughts etc is all am saying. Take action but never let anything come in your way/creative process/personal growth. Keep going!
These 'how dare he/she does that' thoughts are negative pit holes... I dare not doctrine what is better - to sue or to sit and spew the negativity... or to continue painting... to continue to draw the happiness you draw while you do the act and staying inspired doing that. [You can read that line again... it is in purpose dotted and long drawn]. Am just telling you what works for me.
I forgive people who steal my ideas [try to bless them as well - damn difficult but doable]... not just because most-often I have no perfect answer to from where and how I got that honest idea in the first place. It was during an interview by a visual art writer from London, who had a session with me following an auction house's inquiry on my thought process for a particular art work... that got me thinking the hows and whys. My ideas are a net result of my life and some complicated thought processes in the bluvian cranium... and the art is just one way of release. Sometimes they are socio-political... but sometimes are just delicate thoughts of a rose-tinted glass wearer.
My argument is that if it is my original idea... there is a higher chance of me continuing the evolution on that path (thought process) than the one who copied. Those who steal only take a bite of a portion of the original thought... for temporary attention/fame/money... remember just a small bit of the wide spectrum that makes you really you! So why worry?
Unleash your Picasso!
Forgive and move on
By the way being your self.... and this forgiving business are not as easy as I make them sound. It is a continuous process. That is why I started this post talking about spirituality. It helps you develop brain muscles to tackle negative emotions better. The thing [spiritual understanding] just helps you ride the happy wave happier than it would be otherwise. Just my thoughts!
I also wish artists are not guilty of being inspired by a breathtaking work... If you feel inspired. Be! Love the moment. Soak it. But do not put your signature on it! If you wish to copy it there is a way to get around this... you will read that below… keep reading.
I request new artists to keep doing what they love until they find their true style/calling... most importantly don't stop at the one style/medium/certain masterpiece that you think you have created... and don't wait until you sell what you have already painted... don't worry about your changing interests/styles... self discovery is a journey don't get interrupted by 'sale' and 'discount' boards... and don't talk ill of anyone who hurts you... the media or that particular writer who got your name wrong or a particular editor who is racial... forgiveness is the key word... or that friend who does not 'like' your works... keep going!
Foolishness is not a disease
You must apply for open calls because they are important. If you think everyone is out there to fool you... then please do not do anything. Don't even go out on the streets, god knows what is waiting there to trouble you!
What Picasso painted in his 20s were not what he painted in his 50s... what is important is that he remained Picasso... he was the change! Be your change.
The spiritual lesson from his life is that... he learned to ride the change defining it in his own... Picassovian ways... like through 'cubism' - that revolutionised art in the 20th century.
He traveled a lot despite it being not an easy thing during his time. Not like a lot of us do these days.... he did not check into hotels and check out the place like how Lonely Planet readers do. He travelled to study... and lived to witness and explore what came by. While in Africa he absorbed the culture. He could absorb because he was pure in his intentions... that were 'to emit what he found' through his own web of thought mixed with life around him representing the time he belonged to. That made him Picasso.
Picasso's African Period, which lasted from 1906 to 1909, was the period when he painted in a style which was strongly influenced by African masks/sculpture. That is where the inspiration behind cubism came from.
Did the African tribes run after him with spears and daggers? No one civilization or culture 'owns' their art... art is for all. And I guess social media helps spread that word... like wildfire. Lucky are we to live in this world of open opportunities... that allow pitfalls and help us get wiser/awaken faster than our previous generations.
More About Picasso:
Pablo Ruizy Picasso, also known as Pablo Picasso (Spanish; Born on 25 October 1881 – Died 8 April 1973), was a painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer, poet and playwright who spent most of his adult life in France. As one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture, the co-invention of collage, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore. Among his most famous works are the proto-Cubist Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907), and Guernica (1937), a portrayal of the German bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.
Picasso, Henri Matisse and Marcel Duchamp are regarded as the three artists who most defined the revolutionary developments in the plastic arts in the opening decades of the 20th century, responsible for significant developments in painting, sculpture, printmaking and ceramics.
Picasso is also the most quoted among all masters… for the right reasons… Just google!
PS: About Picasso information is from Wikipedia [now that is one last line that will help burn a part of the negative karma when you can't stop yourself from doing it... Attribute the part to your source(s)... it is the right way to get around it. And the good news is that it is professionally acceptable.]
He definitely did not encourage/give you the license to steal another soul's thoughts/ideas... he probably meant 'steal' your audience... by exposing your honesty... is what I would like to think.
Guernica is a painting by Pablo Picasso. It was created in response to the bombing of Guernica, a Basque Country village in northern Spain, by German and Italian warplanes at the behest of the Spanish Nationalist forces on 26 April 1937 during the Spanish Civil War.
Pablo Picasso was not known to be a spiritual soul. We all know who he is. I will just stick to the topic here... of stealing... ideas! And how/why does that happen? Why is there an emaciation of ideas? When does artists steal ideas and what does one do when your ideas are stolen. This is not a law-enforcement article... remember it is a bluvian blog.
Picasso was an inspired soul... and he also faced popular artists as well as new artists copying his style... but he did not stop painting. If there was Facebook then he would have been all over the place too with his daily musings... am sure! Imitation is the highest form of flattery... he must have known that.
Stealing is negative karma it will bite back
Who does not know that? But the 'momentarily' clever think they can get away. Not really!
Spiritual lessons... in the advanced soul-realisation [a part of energy-healing classes] offered lot of answers to human suffering. That is where I stumbled upon this too. Those who steal will live and pay for it any how. Even downloading/enjoying/learning pirated stuff is, karmically just that - stealing. It is unfair if somebody steals your creative idea but then that damage is tentative. Sitting and worrying about your ideas being stolen is actually the real situation that can harm you [of course go ahead and sue the person if you have the time/means/enough evidence... and especially if the artist is a rich one don't spare! ;)]. Don't waste your time around negative speculation/thoughts etc is all am saying. Take action but never let anything come in your way/creative process/personal growth. Keep going!
These 'how dare he/she does that' thoughts are negative pit holes... I dare not doctrine what is better - to sue or to sit and spew the negativity... or to continue painting... to continue to draw the happiness you draw while you do the act and staying inspired doing that. [You can read that line again... it is in purpose dotted and long drawn]. Am just telling you what works for me.
I forgive people who steal my ideas [try to bless them as well - damn difficult but doable]... not just because most-often I have no perfect answer to from where and how I got that honest idea in the first place. It was during an interview by a visual art writer from London, who had a session with me following an auction house's inquiry on my thought process for a particular art work... that got me thinking the hows and whys. My ideas are a net result of my life and some complicated thought processes in the bluvian cranium... and the art is just one way of release. Sometimes they are socio-political... but sometimes are just delicate thoughts of a rose-tinted glass wearer.
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (The Young Ladies of Avignon, and originally titled The Brothel of Avignon) is a large oil painting created in 1907 by Picasso. The work portrays five nude female prostitutes from a brothel on Carrer d'Avinyó (Avinyó Street) in Barcelona. Each figure is depicted in a disconcerting confrontational manner and none are conventionally feminine. The women appear as slightly menacing and rendered with angular and disjointed body shapes.
My argument is that if it is my original idea... there is a higher chance of me continuing the evolution on that path (thought process) than the one who copied. Those who steal only take a bite of a portion of the original thought... for temporary attention/fame/money... remember just a small bit of the wide spectrum that makes you really you! So why worry?
Unleash your Picasso!
Forgive and move on
By the way being your self.... and this forgiving business are not as easy as I make them sound. It is a continuous process. That is why I started this post talking about spirituality. It helps you develop brain muscles to tackle negative emotions better. The thing [spiritual understanding] just helps you ride the happy wave happier than it would be otherwise. Just my thoughts!
I also wish artists are not guilty of being inspired by a breathtaking work... If you feel inspired. Be! Love the moment. Soak it. But do not put your signature on it! If you wish to copy it there is a way to get around this... you will read that below… keep reading.
I request new artists to keep doing what they love until they find their true style/calling... most importantly don't stop at the one style/medium/certain masterpiece that you think you have created... and don't wait until you sell what you have already painted... don't worry about your changing interests/styles... self discovery is a journey don't get interrupted by 'sale' and 'discount' boards... and don't talk ill of anyone who hurts you... the media or that particular writer who got your name wrong or a particular editor who is racial... forgiveness is the key word... or that friend who does not 'like' your works... keep going!
Foolishness is not a disease
You must apply for open calls because they are important. If you think everyone is out there to fool you... then please do not do anything. Don't even go out on the streets, god knows what is waiting there to trouble you!
What Picasso painted in his 20s were not what he painted in his 50s... what is important is that he remained Picasso... he was the change! Be your change.
The spiritual lesson from his life is that... he learned to ride the change defining it in his own... Picassovian ways... like through 'cubism' - that revolutionised art in the 20th century.
He traveled a lot despite it being not an easy thing during his time. Not like a lot of us do these days.... he did not check into hotels and check out the place like how Lonely Planet readers do. He travelled to study... and lived to witness and explore what came by. While in Africa he absorbed the culture. He could absorb because he was pure in his intentions... that were 'to emit what he found' through his own web of thought mixed with life around him representing the time he belonged to. That made him Picasso.
Picasso's African Period, which lasted from 1906 to 1909, was the period when he painted in a style which was strongly influenced by African masks/sculpture. That is where the inspiration behind cubism came from.
Did the African tribes run after him with spears and daggers? No one civilization or culture 'owns' their art... art is for all. And I guess social media helps spread that word... like wildfire. Lucky are we to live in this world of open opportunities... that allow pitfalls and help us get wiser/awaken faster than our previous generations.
"It is not what the artist does that counts. But what he is. Cezanne would never have interested me if he had lived and thought like Jacques-Emile Blance, even if the apple he had painted had been ten times more beautiful. What interests us is the anxiety of Cezanne, the teaching of Cezanne, the anguish of Van Gogh, in short the inner drama of the man.” - Picasso
More About Picasso:
Pablo Ruizy Picasso, also known as Pablo Picasso (Spanish; Born on 25 October 1881 – Died 8 April 1973), was a painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer, poet and playwright who spent most of his adult life in France. As one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture, the co-invention of collage, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore. Among his most famous works are the proto-Cubist Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907), and Guernica (1937), a portrayal of the German bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.
Picasso, Henri Matisse and Marcel Duchamp are regarded as the three artists who most defined the revolutionary developments in the plastic arts in the opening decades of the 20th century, responsible for significant developments in painting, sculpture, printmaking and ceramics.
Picasso is also the most quoted among all masters… for the right reasons… Just google!
PS: About Picasso information is from Wikipedia [now that is one last line that will help burn a part of the negative karma when you can't stop yourself from doing it... Attribute the part to your source(s)... it is the right way to get around it. And the good news is that it is professionally acceptable.]
