Stealing Art

This morning I found this Ted Talk that I so thoroughly enjoyed, I bought the ebook, Steal Like an Artist (which happened to be on sale at Amazon, that’s how I discovered the video in the first place). This short book was a pretty fun read. If you have some time to kill and can get it for cheap, I recommend it. If you only have a few minutes, just watch the Ted Talk.

In his talk he mentions a quote from Picasso, “Good artists copy, great artist steal.” Interestingly enough, the true origins of this quote are unclear. Regardless or whether not Picasso actually made this remark, the statement has a lot of truth to it. We’re all just stealing art and ideas, adding them to others, and making them our own. It’s good to hear someone admit it. Let me leave you with a quote I found on the author’s blog,

If you have one person you’re influenced by, everyone will say you’re the next whoever. But if you rip off a hundred people, everyone will say you’re so original!

— Gary Panter