Imitation

[Jocko]

Some people looking at Daly's art in his presense said: "You are very talented man". He said with anger: "I am not talented. I am genius!" Was that conceit?

Not necessarily 🙂 Genius implies something uniquely personal and may not be related to talent in the sense of simple mechanical ability. For example, in many ways, judging by the then accepted standards of excellence, William Blake was a rather bad poet and a mediocre artist, but today his technical shortcomings mean nothing; in being unswervingly true to his own vision he created works of extraordinary genius and value. Contemporaries made similar criticisms of Shakespeare and it would be easy to find numberless similar cases.

It's only conceited if one claims to be a genius and is not! 🙂

Cheers, Ian

 

[Sparrow]

Good to see you back Ian

regards

 

[Jocko]

Hallo Stewart! Thank you! It's good to be back 🙂

Cheers, Ian 🙂

 

[Finder]

Aesthetics is for artists what ornithology is for birds. (Barnett Newman)

Wonderful!! I have to use that!!!!

 

[Paul Jenkin]

You could ask, "is imitation a limitation"? I'm not suggesting that any of us (and certainly not myself) could improve on what has been done by others - so why try?

I think a comment earlier in the thread said that imitation is self-educational. I agree. There are times, I've wondered 'how did he/she do that' and have experimented.

However, if it's such a trademark technique that you're trying to emulate - such as Man Ray's solarise portraits, everyone will say "that looks just like a Man Ray photo". Is that a compliment or a put-down?

There are a lot of new-school photographers of whose photos I ask "why did you bother doing that" and nothing would make me want to emulate their style or content. And yet these guys are feted as being original and ground-breaking. A tale of the "King's New Clothes" perhaps? Who knows?

I'm happy ploughing my own furrow. If I happen to accidentally bump across a defined and recognisable style - be it my own or akin to a recognised "master" then so be it. However, I think there's enough room out there for us not to tread on each-others' toes too often.

 

[40oz]

Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery?

Or is plagiarism the worst of all thefts?

why can't they both be true? Are there serisouly people who can't distinguish between an homage and plagiarism?

 

[craygc]

Whether imitation is flattery, plagiarism or anything else cant really exist as a standalone question with a definitive answer. It falls into the same category of questioning like "which camera or lens is best?". It really depends on why something is/was emulated and to achieve what.