TwoCents | Good artists copy; Great artists steal

Now, this is one interesting quote…don’t you think? Unfortunately, I didn’t come up with this. I wish I was cool enough to though but then again, it did say ‘great artist steal’ and I am a great artist if I do say so myself so considered this quote legally stolen by me. As a content writer, I have never been more fascinated by a quote as much as this one by Pablo Picasso (Didn’t I just say I was going to steal it. I suppose the fear of plagiarism is the beginning of wisdom) and so I dug deep into the great channels of celestial wisdom (google) to understand this quote as much as possible. I did it so you don’t have to… So here’s the tea. Many writers or content creators generally get the sense that they are not being creative unless they come up with original ideas or write things from the scratch. I laugh in burnout and eventual madness. How would you keep up as a content creator in the world of fast-paced information and rapidly evolving trends if you have to create from scratch every time you need to deliver? That is why you must apply wisdom and Pablo Picasso has developed the ultimate key: Steal Yes, you read that right If you want to be a great content creator who is able to creatively think and produce ideas at the speed of light then you must master the art of stealing. Now, calm down a little bit. I am not asking that you channel your inner Bonnie and Clyde because that is just you actively seeking prison. What I am saying however is; A good artist will study the work of other artists and attempt to imitate that work as closely as they can. A great artist will choose components from another artist's work and add them to their own special synthesis of influences…let me break this down a little more with a paraphrased quote from T.S Elliot “The ‘great artist’ welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different from that from which it was torn” Basically, the greatest level of originality is being able to conceal the origins. As Einstein once said “the secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources” Conclusively, “Great artists steal” is really about drawing inspiration from other people's work and using that as a springboard for fresh creative effort. To generate new work, artists may reinterpret, remix, replace, or otherwise combine previously published works. Now, this is not an encouragement to use this as an excuse to justify plagiarism or appropriation but rather I am encouraging the mastery of ‘stealing’ pieces from many sources and then skilfully fusing their ideas to produce something wholly original. A well-known example of this is Google. Google was not the first company to create a search engine, in fact, it came late to the party but I suppose there were great artists in their midst. Google instead took the concept of search engines and applied a super simple interface to it, using a special algorithm that regularly produced excellent search results. They created a unique-looking product from a collection of existing ideas. Don’t delay your success by putting yourself under the necessary pressure. I’ll have you know that even your most ‘original’ idea belongs to someone else 10 years earlier or three minutes before you. So take a deep breath, go to Google or your nearest library and just feed yourself with ample information to steal perfectly. Harness creative ideas from your life experiences or other people’s experiences and make them so unique that it becomes yours only. You will be amazed at what you can create when you learn to steal like an artist. For more on how to steal like a pro, Austin Kleon wrote an excellent book on the subject and it has been highly recommended: Steal Like an Artist. Until next time!

Other insights from Esther Omemu