Sometimes the art we make can look like someone else’s art. We all want to be original but the fact is we are all seeing and getting inspired from the thousands of images we see. How original can we be? Recently I was working on a painting and saw how similar it was to another artists work. It surprised me and made me wonder about originality and influence. I was reluctant to talk about this because I saw how attached I was to being so original.
We are all unique but we also share the same world. How original can we be? Why are we so attached to being so? And in the end are we?
I am curious and would love your feedback.
In gratitude, Nicholas
PS By the way, here’s a link to the amazing artist’s work I mention in the video: https://www.artsy.net/artist/caio-fonseca
PSS I’m starting my free online workshop soon and I would love to have you participate – plus it’s a great way to kick off the new year! To register, just go to www.artlifejoy.com
64 Comments
Hi! I’m
Nicholas Wilton
the founder of Art2Life.
With over 20 years experience as a working artist and educator, I’ve developed a systematic approach that brings authenticity, spontaneity and joy back into the creative process.
Join me and artists from all over the world in our Free Art2Life Artists Facebook Group or learn more here about Art2Life.
I don’t know, I think that there are billions of people on the planet, and who knows how many painters, and just because someone thought your painting was reminiscent of Caio Fonseca or someone else’s work doesn’t mean that your work is any less worthy. It’s being funneled through you and winds up being your expression. In science, there’s a concept called “multiple discovery,” whereby two discoveries or inventions are made more or less simultaneously but independently by multiple individuals. The odds of an artist’s work never overlapping or resembling some aspect of another artist’s work seem pretty slim, considering time and history and other influences. Not articulating this very well . . . anyway, his name is pronounced KYE-oh!
I really agree what you’re saying, Medusa and I find you’re saying it well. We all are influenced by what we see and believe, including our whole conditioning…maybe what matters in art is less the result than the ‘place’ it is coming from? Like: do I paint from being present and connected to the emerging painting, or do I paint with the hope that this will be a good painting – which is completely a different world.
Yes I think you are on to something – and I think you articulate it fine. -your perspective feels right to me. Thank you.
That is a great concept, “multiple discovery”, Medusa. I believe this. There have been times when my husband or self thinks up an idea and then we say, “someone else has probably already thought of this too!” 😉
Love this one Nicholas. And yes it has happened to myself and I am sure others. Out of the blue, seemingly. I have to say that when I began painting more abstractly, that I noticed..wow, this is a mark or a line or design that I’ve seen before, somewhere? Thinking that there are so many intuitive things we do with abstract that morph into the next and the next…yes…someone else morphed there as well me thinks. And I really don’t know if that makes sense. You made perfect sense to me! Thank you!
Yes it does happen or can happen probably more in abstract work. Interesting…
I was told recently that I sound just like Mel Robbins (who I don’t know well but what I do know – she’s very cool)! I took it as a big compliment! I love your art, Nic.
Susie, yes this is reframe for sure. I know you and I know me–neither of us are interested in being anyone else regardless of what might be said or perceived by others at a particular point in time. It is about intention…
I can see that you and Caio Fonseca might be artist-cousins, but no closer than that! I would not mix the two of you up, for sure.
Abstract paintings have been around for a long time now. It’s impossible for there to not be similarities or to not be influenced, subconsciously, by work we’ve seen. I think by the mid sixties Kandinsky to Tapies, Mondrian to Warhol, it’s all been done. There’s no new, just you.
Finding an authentic voice is difficult when seeing so many artworks on social media and in galleries. I had a similar experience and wrote an article in ProWax Journal for Open Call. The title for the article is Copying versus Finding a Signature Style
http://prowaxjournal2.blogspot.com/2017/12/open-call-copying-versus-finding.html
Thank you for addressing this. I think all of us (even those of us painting for decades) find this happening now and then. It’s to be expected if we see a lot of art, but the problem is when people do not question themselves and make the changes when they see it. Maybe the real problem is that some people don’t see it. LOL
I’m not sure we should be so hung up about being unique or even original. We are perpetually bombarded with so many visual images that one could argue that nothing we do is actually “original “…in fact I think it is a Western obsession ( arrogance ? ) to want to stand apart and/or perceive ourselves to be “unique”. I suspect that most cultures, historically, have had strong visual traditions that individual artists emerged from, yet this does not make their art any less worthy.
Hey great point– I think you have really reminded me of how better to frame this… I have learned something quite helpful from you…thank you.
Interesting… The more primitive the better.
This is SO TRUE! I have to remind myself of this today in fact. Thank you!
You set a good example of how to address this kind of (yes) embarrassing situation. Listen, look, and face it head on. I see similarities but also differences. And what you posted looked like one stage in one of your paintings, ie. not completed.
well it felt juicy and little weird to talk about so then i KNEW i had to…ha!
Love this discussion ‘cuz I’ve been there myself. Thanks
GREAT topic and post, Nicholas.
First of all, thanks for teaching me a new word “grocking”:
1. to understand thoroughly and intuitively.
2. to communicate sympathetically.
I just love it!
Secondly, thank you so much for being so transparent.
I was talking to an artist yesterday about this very subject.
She told me about an artist she knew whose paintings look similar to a well known impressionist,
but her pottery and textile pieces are entirely her own individual style.
So perhaps this impressionistic artist she fashions her paintings after is just a base for her,
before she starts climbing to her own individual style in her other artistic ventures.
Austin Keon in his book Steal Like An Artist writes
“Every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of one or more previous ideas.”
He then goes on to say,
“You don’t want to look like your heroes, you want to see like your heroes.”
I relate to both these points.
I did a painting of my dog called Picasso Cowboy. I feel that this painting doesn’t look like a Picasso painting, but perhaps it is how Picasso would see my dog’s face and body. Grant you I don’t think he would have put him playing guitar on a red, white and blue flag duffle bag, with a guitar playing the song I’ve just Seen A Face by the Beatles:)
It is very clear in your case that your painting looking like Ciao-Fonseco’s paining is mere coincidence.
As always I appreciate your teachings and look forward to each and every one. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1a13adcf458809a9e51530f72b8f4bfe841a9c4cd6f930685acdd25369de83d0.png
Great points — love too what Austin Keon says about re mix. I agree..
Nicholas, have you thought it could work the other way around also. His work could be influenced by yours.
I had that same thought.
well there you go..great re frame!
This is a wonderful topic. I know when I am stuck, I might begin a painting which has a strong influence to another artist, but it quickly goes in a different direction. When something does end up looking like another artists, then I too change it. The great challenge is when I come across someone who is painting similarly to me! Then what? Typically, I tell myself, “if my work is strong enough, it will stand on it’s own.” When I paint and show in good conscious, I feel that is the key. In the end, I have to answer to myself and that has become my great guide. Thank you for opening up this topic. It is critical.
I appreciate so much your transparency and even your admitted embarrassment. Someone said my work also reminded them of Squeak Carnwath, whose work I love but hadn’t looked at all that recently. I had to look really hard at my painting in question. I guess I saw something there, but I realized (with the help of Cheryl, one of your team coaches) that there were way more differences than likenesses. And then it became a compliment, not a negative criticism.
Well. How interesting is this? You were so obviously uneasy and embarrassed in your video. I love that about you.
Yes. I do see a resemblance to Ciao-Fonseco’s work in yours. No doubt about it. And yet, up until this moment, I’ve always admired the fact that your work is so distinctly unique.
I have a Brazilian artist friend who once said that it was inevitable that parts of my work would ressemble the work of others given that we are forever bombarded by visual images and that these become part of who we all are. I was trying to find my own, unique voice at the time.
I am curious to see if/how this will impact you in your future work. A fascinating discussion that I am certain will continue to resonate with me for quite a while.
I do see vague similarities , but it still looks like your work to me, your authenticity and honesty never cease to amaze me. He’s a great painter, but am still a bigger fan of yours.
I agree though, and am only a novice painter though a professional full time artist. We definitely want our work to be all our own, but influence can help our work to move in a new direction and tripping over something , even a derivative , can propel your work into a new vein. I say keep the parts of that painting that you love & don’t try too hard to make it less “Fonsecaesque”
I think you may be the only one acussing yourself of “copying”
I am consistently inspired by you!! I am a very new emerging artist and you teach me about things i wouldn’t even know to consider. This video affirms my gratitude for you. Your authenticity is refreshing and touching. Thank you for your generosity of time and spirit
Hi Nicholas
I was visiting a collector of mine a few days ago to see the installation of a work recently purchased from me. Next to my work was another painting that could have been one of mine. It was not an exact copy but the size style composition handling and medium was like it was one in my series. Some recent paintings I have seen in Italian and Japanese galleries are very like works I did 20 years ago. My work is an overlay of contemporary onto medieval which is a form of copying but in my particular combination. There is nothing new under the sun and I for one am grateful got all the information and images available via the internet. That does present the issue of using someone elses image by error but a recent webinar with Jason Horejs suggested that we keep a journal of our studio production to document each work. This would help show that we were in fact not copying intentionally but simply working our own process.
Did you see the recent exhibition at the SFMOMA: Diebenkorn/Matisse? It was a spectacular pairing of similarities: form, shape, texture, subject, color, dynamics and the similarities were striking-painting to painting. Art itself is often my inspiration because that is what fascinates me the most, yes, occasionally the landscape, a piece of fabric or combinations of fabrics (obi and kimono come to mind) but other paintings often plant the seed for me….how can it be helped?
Another year of your Molokai workshop passes me by, but next year I will be living on the island @ milepost 15 east end. If you travel to the east end, you will see my turtle graphic drawn on a tiny shed, not an original work, but interpretation I found on the internet as a tattoo. Our house build about 1/2 done. Hubby heading back to resume building in February. Hope to meet you in person next year on Molokai.
I guess there is a fine line between looking and absorbing other artist’s work and being authentic and original. I know I steal ideas but when it comes time to replicate them in the studio…well these ideas flee and I am doing something that is mine. I do look at a lot of art. I have a gazillion books and I use instagram and pinterest to give me inspiration along with nature. I think this is way more helpful than harmful. I have an artist friend who refused to look or study other artists. She has technique down pat but her paintings not only look the same but there is very little originality in her work. You might think that she should be very original in her work because she is not influenced by any artists. But it is because she can sell that same ol same ol work that she has never progressed beyond it. Just think how more conscious you will be in changing up that Ciao Francesco look alike to make it your own. How much you will learn in the process!
We should be learning from other artists. We all can progress and change. I embrace change that seeing other art brings to me.
You bring up a great point Nicholas and will have to agree with others here, that it would be safe to say most artists experience much the same at one time or another. From our college years on forward we are constantly encouraged to study and observe other artists’ work, to go to galleries and museums and of course are bombarded with tons of literature and videos about artists and art… These images/memories leave an imprint in our mind we can and do access at any given time as we work and not even know that is what we are doing. Your paintings and Caio-Fonseca’s paintings may be similar but first and foremost his work seems to deal with the idea of motion and in your paintings I see a greater focus on relationships between shapes and space. Each unique in their own way. Both beautiful! Why are we sooooo hard on ourselves??! 🙂
Did you know that George Harrison was sued for “unconscious plagiarism” for his song “My Sweet Lord” – in reference to “He’s So Fine”. I always found this quite interesting, he claimed it was an innocent coincidence, and that makes total sense to me. Personally, I feel we absorb everything around us, and we’re all digesting our environments in one way or another, through our own unique filters.
There are obvious similarities there Nick but, for me, the predominant and involving feature of your work is the breaking down, through layers, and the sense of time and age that give the works a history. Although caio-fonseca’s works are good they don’t embody those aspects.
There are similarities between your art and Caio Fonseca’s, but there are distinct differences too, even in the piece you think looks like a copy. Your paintings are generally more colorful and layered. How do you know Caio Fonseca is not following you, just sayin.
This is a good discussion, but I think it’s also worth noting that even if we try to copy someone else, our own distinct style always rings through, unless perhaps you’re a forgery expert. As long as we respond to our own intuitive impulses while we’re creating art, I don’t think it should be a problem if the outcome resemblances someone else. And if it is, you’ll get a cease and desist letter. Gulp.
oops, I meant to say “resembles someone else” in the last sentence.
What a great post! It is on my mind a lot because as a new artist I feel I NEED to look at all the work that is going on around me. I just watched the Caio (KI-O) Fonseca movie 3 times in one day last week and was positively ignited by the way in which he is involved with his art. But I am no Caio Fonseca and I am no Nick Wilton – even if I try to go down that path it will always be just mine. This is exciting – Nick’s comment about wanting to spend his time in his own conversations – that is where I want to go. What are Jamie Madison’s paintings going to be like? This was a great video and Nick’s modesty was kind of heart rending. Don’t worry about producing a Caio Fonseca – it is actually a Nicholas Wilton. Thanks!!
So interesting you should be talking about this!! There is a show at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. of Vermeer and his contemporaries (the story was featured on CBS Sunday Morning TV show January 7) and how similar their work/subject matter was at the time. For the first time these different artists’ works are displayed side by side for us to see the similarities. The word “copied” was mentioned but a better word was injected…”inspired”. If you can find the segment it is worth watching! Nicolas, let me know what you think!https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/514d8aae4a9b39112ec0c51dd0b3c19a11ffd55cb71ed6ed6a103dffccc9f43a.jpg
Maybe he’s been copying YOU!!!
Thanks for your honesty and vulnerability on this!! Thanks for being brave enough to put it out there for all of us to learn from. What you said is so true but we’re all too afraid to admit it.
i don’t find them similar at all. there is a clear Italian discussion about form in the picture by fonseca.
Your work tells more of a story, it’s layered, sanded and shows history. Thanks for the thoughts on this.
Hi Nick: After painting plein air landscapes for 7 years, I am now moving on to abstract the landscape that I love. I have a pinterest board where I have been (for years) collecting images of other artists’ abstracted landscapes that I resonate with, hundreds of them! What I am doing with the lot, is thinking about what ELEMENTS of the work I am most attracted to. Then I made a list (just using words) of those things and have it posted in my studio. This directs my efforts in the studio. I am still working on what my new work ‘should’ look like, and I bring lots of experience of different methods and styles with me. I don’t want to be TOO derivative, but realize that we ALL stand on someone else’s shoulders.
I recently saw a gallery show where one of the artists’ work had a very ‘Nicholas Wilton’ feeling. I asked her if she had taken a workshop with you. She said, yes she had taken several. She was quite surprised that I noticed a similarity as she thought her own work to be quite unique. It was beautiful work, and very different from yours, but the influence was definitely there. I recognised it because I know your work, but John Q Public may not. Who is our responsibility to; ourselves or our public? I think artists will always face this especially when dealing with other artists. There are TONS of artists producing work and putting it up on social media today. And if you, as an artist, are looking at artwork online, you will probably spot similarities. However the public has no clue and are free to resonate with artwork they love. Thank heavens!!!
Love your post. Pls see mine posted this morning (about 2 hrs ago). I was going to apologize for not addressing the issue, but you and I are doing the same thing. Studying others’ art in order to understand the elements that speak to us.
I think it’s important to know your ‘artistic lineage’ and pay homage to it from time to time. When it shows up unconsciously like it has for you, then it can be an eye into those subconcious lineages that you might have forgotten about or weren’t concious of.
I was working on a still life today, and as the session ended, I was completely struck that the colours had so much Gauguin in them without me once thinking of that while painting. It made me happy that so much Gauguin is there with me that it sneaks in and brings me affinity to him. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2030c1ee4b2f784ee9439a57338efc4b8473e0ac1f56828e6f53f18b0d39e8de.jpg
No artwork is created completely in a vacuum unless it is done by true Outsider artists. Many of us look at a lot of artwork just see what clever ideas other artists have come up with. I like the way you sand off a top layer to expose the under layers, but does this mean only you can use this technique and no one else can? Are you the only one that can scratch lines into the paint? You could easily say also that the this other artist saw your work and was inadvertently making marks that were reminiscent of your artwork. Or maybe you both saw a third artist that had some influence on you both in some way. I pride myself on making work that people say they have never seen anything like it before. (I do think my current work is dancing too close to the work of other artist, and I hope I can develop it further to be unique.) But there is always some one who says to me my work reminds them of someone else. When I look at this other body of work I scratch my head and wonder how my works looks anything like this other work. There are other times when I realize the artwork that mine was being compared to was actually work I had created a few years earlier. I will say that anytime I see one of your paintings I know it is yours, and I have never been wrong, and I have never thought a painting I ran across was yours and turned out to be by someone else. Your paintings have a strong individual personality so don’t worry about comparisons.
Thanks for sharing all your info, techniques, ideas, and insights.
I been working in isolation away from other professional artist for the last several years and your emails, posting and videos have made me feel connected again.
Addison Paige
I always thought that “your art looks like so-and-so’s art” was a lazy compliment. Probably because in the past, one person had said my art looked derivative of Tim Burton’s, simply because a doll I had made for the piece had stripes on the legs! Another artist compared my work to another local artist who also uses patterns in her work. But mine was completely different. It’s more offensive to me than complimentary.
If I feel bad if my work accidentally looks similar to another artist’s, and I’m totally in love with it, I will actually contact the artist, show them the painting and ask them if they feel it’s too similar to theirs and if they would mind me showing the art. Every time, they’ve told me that they don’t think it’s similar (because they know their art so well) and that it’s absolutely fine to show!
I’m not sure that a person is giving an artist a lazy compliment by comparing it to another’s work. I think if someone compares artwork, it’s because they have an interest in each piece of work and find joy in interacting with them together in their mind’s eye. It opens the door to more fully exploring both works. In my experience, seeing the similarities of two pieces of art usually ends in gaining further understanding of ourselves. All sensory experiences are actually just a mirror to see ourselves in. That might sound like an insult, but it’s not meant that way. To produce a piece of art that allows the viewer to understand themselves a little better would be the ultimate compliment I think. The artist is a facilitator. Making art opens doors for us, viewing it, opens doors for others. Also, the only way you could ever produce totally original art would be to live completely apart from other people. Even then, Mother Nature is a master artist and it would be impossible to ignore her influence, lol!
I think we all copy and are influenced by well known artists and fellow artists who are friends and I also think that this is a good thing.
Paraphrased Picasso: All artists steal from each other but the great ones make it their own.
I was originally attracted to your work because there was something in it that touched me in a similar way that Caio Fonseca’s work touched me — not that you were saying the same thing as him, but that the language is similar, like you both speak a similar dialect. But you’re not saying the same thing, that’s for sure.
Hello! Nicholas Wilton. My point of view is that you started new paintings questions with this piece. Discovering another artist’s work who had already worked on those paintings questions can open up and help clarified those questions. At the same time discoverong his work can cut down your taste to discover it by yourself. The point is: what are those’painting questions’ you were intuitivelly working on? Best regards, Saulo Portela
This piece by the inimitable Maria Popova about poet e. e. cummings is good reading for any artist. While the message is about being a writer, if you substitute painter, the content addresses this subject that you’ve raised here. I believe that when we make decisions in our art making the impetus comes from allowing our feelings to come forward. We can know the rules of color, composition, etc. but what makes our work our work are feelings. At least that is true for me, particularly at this point in my life. http://www.dailygood.org/story/1839/the-courage-to-feel-e-e-cummings-on-art-life-and-being-unafraid-to-feel-maria-popova/
I recently watched 2 documentaries. one about Jackson Pollack and the other about Mark Rothko. In both documentaries it was suggested that near the end of their creative lives, both artists became personally troubled because they were not coming up with the next idea, another original breakthrough. they felt they had failed in some way. granted, each artist had his own reasons for feeling failure. what struck me was that they both felt they were not enough: pollack for not creating the next unique creative style; rothko for not being able to express an ultimate spiritual stillness. what hit me was that this may be an ego worry, not an authentic heart worry. i also wonder if that feeling of shame for creating a painting that resembles another artist’s painting style is also an ego obsession. from both a spiritual and scientific perspective, we are all energetically connected. if i accept that truth, believe it, then of course in our process of exploring and creating, we will bump up against and maybe absorb another person’s vision. it is what we do with that, without judgement or shame, that defines a person’s uniqueness.
I would not rework this painting to satisfy one opinion. It is your work without a doubt.
Yes, I agree, if you had to make sure every shape had not been used somewhere you would be unable to create freely. The colour, the composition etc is yours
Yup, I see the comparison as I admire Ciao’s work, too. I like yours, too.
Never paint a second-class Rockwell, PLEASE. Actually , it might be hilarious…
As an artist without a teacher (very frustrating, and yes, I’m looking), trying to move from representational art to abstract, all I can do right now is study the art that really speaks to me and have faith that once I learn several different methods, my own style will emerge. Believe me, that requires a LOT of faith, and plenty of times I leave my studio in despair, believing I just don’t have that “natural” talent that some abstract artists have to produce what I have seen. And the process is so slow. And I am impatient. But isn’t that how students used to learn during the Renaissance, by copying the Masters? So right now I have a small acrylic work in progress based on a pastel by Debora Stewart. I’ve done some small pieces following a video by Jane Davies. And later I want to try a grid with lots of scraping a la Gerhard Richter. Eventually things I learned in the past will seep through into my own creation. That’s the plan, anyway.
Nick, I have met Caio Fonseca. He’s delightful. I see the influence but I also see that your painting isn’t finished and you will have your own “signature” upon completion. We all paint with our own “hand” but it’s comforting to know that other artists, including you, go through the same struggles emulating other artists. It’s a process.
I think it’s a great painting. You should keep it as it is!
Ah! Don’t feel badly Nicolas! This happens to everyone and you could just feel complimented that you have arrived at making something that is so admired. I do think that there is a creative visual consciousness that happens globally just as political and social movements do seem to rise up. I love that.
The world is now so much more connected than it was even 25 years ago that everyone can see what artists are doing everywhere. Those ideas just fly around the world and you might do something very original and inventive but it will be seen and copied 10 seconds later then wHamO! Its out there. Besides one CAN NEVER really copy something even if you have seen it, as we have our own way of doing things. Just the way your bone structure hangs will make every mark different. I. am glad you brought this up bc I have always wondered if its a good idea to tell people that their art work looks like someone elses. You might mean to be complimenting them, or hoping to lift them up by the influence of a more recognized painter whose work could be of influence but sometimes it hurts to be told this as you think you are doing something different. The world is getting smaller and its getting harder to be original. As a body of work, yours looks much different and your personality and ideas start to become known in the mix.
It’s all about collective consciousness! Carl Jung wrote extensively about the energy that we are all a part of at certain times. Weather isn’t a song or a painting, artists tune into energy that’s available, sometimes it looks similar, but it makes sense! I did love this video, Nicholas. Always appreciate your vulnerability.