I’m almost ready to hang art on the walls in the house, but I have one problem: Ninety-nine percent of my art is prints of Japanese woodblocks. I don’t want the place to start looking like the Asian Art Museum of San Fransicso, so I’m considering an abstract painting for above the fireplace. Or more accurately, I’m considering plagiarizing someone else’s art and making my own abstract painting for above the fireplace.
I am in love with a couple of sold paintings from Michelle Armas–I think her use of color is right up my alley and if I had a couple of thousand dollars to spend on art, I totally would spend it on her art. But I could also buy a canvas and some acrylics and not exactly COPY her, but maybe make my own abstract painting in the style of Michelle Armas.
The sold one that I love, “Rosalia.”
Another sold one, “Wise Math.”
What do you think? Do I enter a gray area of taking someone’s intellectual property? Would mine just look amateurish, because there’s a reason hers cost so much? I have her 2011 calendar, so I could always just wait for the year to be over and frame that. But prints of paintings just aren’t as shiny as real paintings, with their real brushstrokes and gobs of paint.
(It’s a first-world dilemma, that’s for sure.)
Cool poster! I haven’t seen one like that before… yes, I think that would make good house art. 🙂
Jason, a movie poster like THIS, perhaps? http://www.flickr.com/photos/signalnoiseart/5471854540/
The big issues of “art” and earning a living from ideas aside, my thought on making it myself are kind of like my thoughts on buying stuff at Antrhopoligie–yes, I could pay $188 for that skirt, or I could make a reasonable facsimile for $18 and get both a skirt AND a project.
I myself would opt for old movie posters. 🙂
Seriously, I don’t know about the ethics of doing your own painting. It seems harmless enough. But Kara’s thought is worth considering. If you really love Armas’ originals, why not start an “art fund?” I imagine it would be quite satisfying in the end…
Whoa. Those are stunning. It wouldn’t hurt to experiment yourself. But maybe this is something you should just save up for.