Artist authenticity is the degree to which a creative’s actions are congruent with his or her beliefs and desires, despite external pressures for conformity. To what extent is the art you see on social media platforms like Instagram authentic then? To understand authenticity, it helps to recognize some characteristics of the in-authentic soul:
- Self-deceptive and unrealistic in their perceptions of reality
- Look to others for approval and to feel valued
- Judgmental of other people
- Follow the herd
- Lack humor, negativity
- Unable to express their emotions constructively
- Not open to learning from their mistakes
- Do not understand their motivations
Clearly, item 2 and 8 are killers for creative people – and they are not mutually exclusive. Having first hand knowledge, staying up late at night to see who likes my latest work posted on social media, I’m caught in the recognition trap with blinding speed. You have to keep posting, relentlessly, or you disappear. We are wired to copy, to repeat, to niche and then refine and duplicate what works, until it doesn’t.
So, authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. Picasso is quoted saying ‘Good artists copy, great artists steal’. I’m not famous like Bob Dylan, who got nailed for painting someone else’s photo’s. https://petapixel.com/2011/09/28/singer-bob-dylan-accused-of-plagiarizing-photographs The subject really hit home personally when I was invited to hang some of my work at a local gallery years ago and was called out by the owner. Embarrassed, I started doing my own photo shoots for figure work, buying equipment, hiring models, setting poses, changing lighting, using digital editing software. It became a form of creative expression in itself, very satisfying. So much better than poaching copyrighted material on the Internet. Still, translating photographic poses into a composition and then painting on canvas, doesn’t automatically avoid the authenticity trap. At least the subject is mine.