first off...
credit where credit is due...
this is from warren ellis' instagram feed.
i read his stuff...
he says funny shit...
so, i follow him...
you should too.
that said...
when i saw this image, the bastard had to let out a little chuckle...
because all of these words are true...
and artists rarely adhere to any of them.
we all lie, steal and compromise ourselves in regards ourselves as well as to the art market...
the only artist that adhere to these tenants are the artists who have the financial wherewithal to have this level of sticktoitiveness and depending on how they arrived at that state of financial wherewithal they may be the shining beacon for the other sort of artist who adheres to these tenants and dies penniless and insane and them some shitheel like charles saatchi buys up his whole collection for a song from said artist's junkie spouse so they can get another hit of the crack pipe or some such.
but i digress...
leo slatkes was a failed painter, my favorite drawing teacher told me one day right after he told me about his painting teacher's massive drinking habits...
he painted in the style of his muse caravaggio (read a frikkin book you goddam mook) and he loved the man's command of light and shadow...
he also told me about the volume that exists in a painting without lines or borders as if it were just beyond the smoke.
anyways...
he told a story one day about the carraccis who painted years after some of the high renaissance greats and they outright copied some of the finest works of tintoretto and michelangelo...
leo coined the term"systematic eclecticism" and followed up by defining it as, "yes i steal but, look how brilliantly i do it".
so yeah...
originality is great and all...
but stealing is where it's at
—the bastard
