For me, the First Law of Art is: "Do anything you can, but don't do something someone else has done." Stated simply, "Be First!"
I did not come by this law early in my career. I couldn't. To begin art, any artist needs art skills. Art skills come from practice and mistakes and trying to make something look like something--anything.
Almost every budding sculptor has been encouraged to copy some portion of Michelangelo's David. I chose his eye. The trope goes, "Copy the masters so that you can become like them." Mike and I made a nice eye.
I remember tearing out magazine pages (remember magazines?) to save art ideas to copy. It was my job. Or so I thought.
As I learned the ways of art, I learned that The Idea, The Metaphor and The Truth make The Art. As a neophyte, I was just expanding my tools to better express those ideas, metaphors and truth. The tools mattered, but The Art mattered more. You need a 'voice' to go with your skills.
Huh? Voice? Do I sing as I sculpt? No. It turns out, the voice just happens if you concentrate on being you. So, then, what does being you mean?
I did not come by this law early in my career. I couldn't. To begin art, any artist needs art skills. Art skills come from practice and mistakes and trying to make something look like something--anything.
Almost every budding sculptor has been encouraged to copy some portion of Michelangelo's David. I chose his eye. The trope goes, "Copy the masters so that you can become like them." Mike and I made a nice eye.
I remember tearing out magazine pages (remember magazines?) to save art ideas to copy. It was my job. Or so I thought.
As I learned the ways of art, I learned that The Idea, The Metaphor and The Truth make The Art. As a neophyte, I was just expanding my tools to better express those ideas, metaphors and truth. The tools mattered, but The Art mattered more. You need a 'voice' to go with your skills.
Huh? Voice? Do I sing as I sculpt? No. It turns out, the voice just happens if you concentrate on being you. So, then, what does being you mean?
 Picasso self-portrait at age 15 |  Picasso self-portrait at 90 |
Then I saw it. Anyone dripping paint on canvas had to answer to Jackson Pollock. He was first. Anyone sculpting skinny rough figures had to answer to Alberto Giacometti. He was first. Anyone painting sexy flowers had to answer to Georgia O'Keeffe. She was first, and so on. First matters in Art. The rest is all second-hand.
It was then I changed my approach to magazines. I combed them closely to be sure nobody else was doing what I was doing and vice versa. And man, there is a lot of sculpture out there to comb.
The result of my search for The Art is the unexpected discovery of Me. Now I live in every sculpture. Unavoidably now, my sculpture has me imprinted on it--everywhere.
Still, I have not done a self-portrait. But then I am not 90--yet.
It was then I changed my approach to magazines. I combed them closely to be sure nobody else was doing what I was doing and vice versa. And man, there is a lot of sculpture out there to comb.
The result of my search for The Art is the unexpected discovery of Me. Now I live in every sculpture. Unavoidably now, my sculpture has me imprinted on it--everywhere.
Still, I have not done a self-portrait. But then I am not 90--yet.
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