Robert Genn's Twice Weekly Letter
Insight and inspiration for your artistic career.

Dear Artist,

Yesterday, Roger Asselin of St. Petersburg, Florida wrote: "I always see 'Original art only' as a prerequisite to entering art shows. A definition is seldom forthcoming. Is this like one of those rooms you are not supposed to enter until the preacher comes to visit, or do you make your own rules and endure the consequences if you're wrong?"

Thanks, Roger. It's been my thought that some juried shows need an appointed ombudsman to draw a line between copying and research. This person needs to be knowledgeable, professional, impartial and accountable. Working with or without fellow jurors, his or her decision needs to be final. Some ombudsmen will be tougher than others. In throwing things out, there will be errors of both commission and omission. Entering artists need to understand it's just a juried show. They need to know that juried shows generally reflect conventional wisdom and that long-term careers seldom hinge on them.

That being said, the history of copying has had its ups and downs. When it comes to loose definitions, 'original art' takes the cigar. Trouble is, copying other people's work and other people's subject matter is a traditional means of gaining proficiency. In the 15th Century, the granddaddy of all art teachers, Cennino Cennini, asked students to "Take pains and pleasure in constantly copying the best works you can find." Nowadays many instructors tell students to drag it out of the inner man at all costs, even if there's not much of an inner man to drag it out of.

In 1890 Paul Gauguin noted, "Out in the sun, painters are lined up. The first is copying nature, the second is copying the first, the third is copying the second." Nowadays painters actually take printed reference, even shaded laptops with popular images, out into the sun. The lines between copying and research lie in the shade. "Paintings are but research," said Pablo Picasso. For both little and big name artists, research can turn into plagiarism. Andy Warhol made a big success of proliferating prints from someone else's copyright photos of Marilyn. And Picasso had something to say about that too: "Success is dangerous," he said. "One begins to copy oneself, and to copy oneself is more dangerous than to copy others. It leads to sterility."

Best regards,

Robert

PS: "Every conceivable aspect of painting has its roots in copying. Painters are by nature copyists." (Leonard Niles)

Esoterica: Good luck to Mary Jones should she enter a copy of a well known photo from the National Geographic. Come to think of it, people break the speed limit every day, and only a few are noticed, let alone caught and fined. These days we aspire to justice, idealism and the rights of individuals to private ownership. We just don't enforce them very well. Maybe we can't, because the nature of art demands freedom. These days we honour freedom and abhor control. "Art," said Marshall McLuhan, "is what you can get away with."

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