Homework 5

March 16, 2016

I believe that everyone has their own perception of what is stealing and what is appropriating. I believe that stealing is taking the use of someone else's artwork and not making any changes to it and repurposing it as your own work. Whereas, appropriating is taking someone else's work and changing it to be unique and to have a new added perspective. Personally, my standards of stealing falls directly under taking something for exactly what it is and using it without incorporating other elements into the piece. Appropriating is used for incorporation and collaboration of a multitude of ideas.

Steal like an Artist challenged the idea of postmodernism and redefines what it means to be an artist and necessarily how one should go about being an artist. The text is entirely based on a different perception of truly what art is and how it has changed overtime to adapt to the way society is now. The perception and reasoning behind the creation of art is a large aspect of the makeup of what is actually, physically is being created from the artist. It is unbelievably interesting to see the perception of artists willing to give their work for others to learn and grow from their thought processes and methods, which is different from modernism and the ideologies and set of basic principles that were in play for the artists during that time of the growth of art.

I found the idea of "Nothing is Original" throughout Chapter 1 to be rather depressing and freeing in both retrospects. It is ultimately depressing in the sense that there is no perception of creation or originality. That the human hands are simply a tool of invention of the next idea that was already predisposed. Contrarily, I think it's ultimately freeing to know that nothing is original in the sense that it is okay to use inspiration from other artists and look at other places and ideas with the same eye someone once did before you. Thinking logically, the world that we share and the space we share with millions of people everyday has been seen by so many human eyes. It is not something that is seen for the first time by someone else, therefore, usually, photographs are just recreations of previous work or elements and ideologies from previous works.  It ultimately provides a sigh of relief for not having to worry of repeating or reusing another artist's idea.

As simply stated by Austin Kleon, "Garbage in, Garbage out". It truly is that simple. Creative holding is done by hoarders, they are not artists. They collect indiscriminately. Whereas, creative collecting represents artists who collect selectively. They only collect things that they truly love and find value within opposed to collecting things that are just simply things, that don't serve a purpose.

Marcel Duchamp said, "I don't believe in art. I believe in artists." He meant that by admiring the physical artist that is the creator it represents everything that art truly is. An artist is a complete make up and mashup of multiple ideas and influences, one which is art. So instead of studying the art, he focuses his idea on studying the artist. Therefore, the individual becomes more experienced and influenced in creating their web of inspiration between different artistic ideas.

They explained "faking it until you made it" as pretending to be something that you simply are not until you are and that you should fake it until you're successful. Also, they interpreted this as pretending to make something until you actually make it. This allowed them to continuously face the aspects of trial and error until eventually they achieved their overall goal of what they wanted to achieve. Additionally, it continued to push and motivate them to create and discover. However, it is not necessarily authentic, but everyone aspires to be like someone, so why not play the part? It's like the saying, dress for the job you want, not for the job you have. Let the world be your stage and just dress the part and play it.

Plagiarism is trying to pass someone else's work off as your own and taking full credit for it, whereas practice is copying someone else's work with the purpose of reverse-engineering. It will allow the artist to pretend to be their hero and learn by playing this role. It allows the artist to develop and discover throughout the entire process.

Imitation focuses on the realm of copying whereas emulation is when imitation goes one step further and breaks through to the discovery of something that is your own.

Additionally, one of my personal creative thinking heroes is Steve Jobs. Although he is no longer with us today on this Earth, I have always admired his determination and skill for creation within the technological world. Steve Jobs in particular admired the work of Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Edwin Land. Steve Jobs admired Thomas Edison for his inventor and entrepreneur nature that allowed him to lay the basis for America by changing the world with his use of brilliant devices through the first industrial research lab. Secondly, Henry Ford was admired by Steve Jobs for the way he spoke about what he did. In particular, he would often quote, "they can have it in any color they want as long as it's black." which is an element that ended up being developed through Apple. Lastly, he looked up to Edwin Land particularly for his way that he dropped out of Harvard to start Polaroid, which was a similar experience for Steve Jobs since he dropped out college and he created Apple.

I believe that I can apply what Austin Kleon is stating throughout his book to everyday life. It is an inspiration to look up to people and take their experiences and learn from them. Particularly, being a photography minor, it is incredibly beneficial and helpful to look for inspiration through the work of other photographers, even your peers, because sometimes an added perspective or provoked emotion they can achieve is incredibly helpful when creating my own ideas. Within my major of Communications and my dedicated field of Public Relations, it is incredibly beneficial when he says how to "steal right" vs. "steal wrong", since that field of communication is entirely based on working with other people and collaboration. It is bound to look for ideas through the use of others and to take them and grow from them.