It was about 11 years ago that I first was invited to come work at Three Tides Tattoo in Osaka, Japan.
I also hate television.
And while I am on the topic I have no respect for people who fancy themselves "creative" or dare we say "artists"...at least I can't respect them for being creative because they are not but maybe I can still respect them for being something else...maybe he is a great father or maybe she is a fantastic daughter? a good samaritan?...who knows but that is a different discussion.
What the heck am I taking about?
Well you must continue reading my friend.
Okay, Japan. So It was to be my first trip to Japan. My friend Jason Kundell, who had visited Osaka numerous times, had been kind enough to take me with him for the first part of the trip as to get me acclimated with the country. The precursor to any long work-trip is intense. Lots of extra work to save for bills and such. Lots of packing and preparation. I do believe that I am better with this process now that I have been tattooing and traveling to tattoo for 15 years but at first, well, it had a aura of anxiety around it. The kind of anxiety that makes me a jerk. Okay, so it's the day of my big trip…i fly out in a few hours and I'm running around frantically to ensure everything is pack. I'm running around like a total stressed out moron. Then I notice my son, Berkley, watching television. Television. For real. Real deal, television. I honestly can't recall what it was that I was watching but I remember I didn't approve. Long story short, it sparks a fight between me (jerk) and my lovely wife (not jerk). I grew up with this imbedded in my head:
I think now, being older, maybe I took it to literal (how ever I still can't stand television).
So our fight escalates into me (pompous jerk) lecturing my wife (incredibly patient) about the television and ultimately I transcend into a rant of material possessions. "If you love your 'stuff' too much, one day it will own you", it's an old hat but I was young (and a jerk) and thought the logic was brilliant.
Flash to 12-13 hours later, I land in Osaka w Jason. Masa, who owns and runs 3tides, meets us at the airport and we board a train….20-30 minutes later some punk had lifted my luggage and in an instant I had lost everything material in this world that I cared about. All my tattoo equipment was gone and the words I so eloquently pitched at my wife were echoing in my ears with deafening strength. If you care too much about your "stuff", own day it will control how you feel about your life. So I stayed in Japan a bit longer than expected, borrowed equipment and had a life altering experience with some of the best people I have ever known. Ultimately nothing was lost.
Okay, so that was the first time I gave a grand lecture and then had to eat my words.
Today is the second time.
Yesterday I was talking with my buddy, a fantastic artist. He was talking with me about the anxieties of being an artist. Of constantly striving for perfection and countless hours of work just to see some jerk round the block to roll over and steal his style. thievery, glock and rubber Nixon mask style. To sum it up, he, thinks that eventually he will lose out on all his hard work because some plagiaristic pretender is doing such a good job at stealing from him that people will no longer have the need to continue buying his art. He has anxiety over it and as much as I can't blame him, I told him "I cant relate". At this point he replies "well you haven't had anyone steal your style then". My response: "Actually there is a guy in town that was called 'the phil holt clone' and I often help him and have confidence in his ability to improve." This "clone" of mine, he and I sat down on day and we had a little talk about the wonderful world of being a hack biter. I laid it all out straight and clear and told that as much as it bums me out to have someone blatantly ripping me off, at the end of the day it's not going to destroy me. I refused to have anxiety over it. however I did tell him "You can continue biting me as much as you wish, however you got realize that in the end, the people that you are trying to gain respect from will never respect you. All a clone can do is impress people that have no clue. You are simply speaking to people with my mouth." I think that about sums it up. Being a biter is cheap. Its a knock off but not a fake Prada hand bag or imitation Rolex... it's different when its art. Art is personal. It take so much to get to a place where you can draw or paint or tattoo and have it completely individual. The effort is countless and countless hours. But as i told my buddy, in the end, it all burns. It is not life or death. It is not even noticeable outside of our bubble. I know from where I've been and where I am, that it is God that control where I end up and where my life leads. I can no more control my destiny and this world of madness around me than I can control my ability to see or breath air. There is no point of stressing over it. Consider the lilies.
That of course was yesterday, today however I was alerted by a friend that another artist is blatantly using my my style to sell himself.
In case your unaware of my work (I only assume you know my work because you are actually reading this on my blog). this is the style I am referring to:
It started off for be in 2001. I start working at NewSkool Tattoo in San Jose (actually tattooed this guy around the same time). First time I did anything "cyber veined" was for a skateboard art show in nc called "Abrassions". I did three decks and one looked way too much like Doze Green. (Here I am not going to post gobs and gobs of my old work as I assume most of you are familiar with it but I have painted this style dozens and dozen of times creeping over to the hundreds mark...here are a few.)
I bugged me (that this one piece looked too much like Doze) so I stopped doing it that way and tried to make it more "me". (I actually blew it one more time a few months later and made a piece that also looked like Doze and havent had that problem since)I started taking a figure drawing class at the local college where the instructor pushed me harder and harder to be creative. Working at NewSkool was a huge motivator as well. During this time frame I did this painting for my art class, it was then the biggest one I had attempted:
literally dozen and dozen and dozen of paintings later I felt I came up with my own style. Troy Denning (awesome) actually coined the term "Cyber veins" and it stuck…That was actually at my solo show in NYC in 2007.
I have no choice but to be honest and admit, it stings and who ever called it flattery had to live the most pragmatic life void of all passion. It really has a bitter pinch in it. Eating my words aint a whole ton of fun but, if nothing else, it inspires blog talk and it really makes me think about all the great artist that get so blatantly ripped off. I did a little digging:
You will not find me losing any sleep over it. Going to war over things as this is as wise as chasing the wind. Between my family, work and multiple projects, I can handly believe I found the time to blog about it. Still, emotions aside, it would seem that it is a good place to start and have an open dialog about it. Im interested in what you guys think, leave comments but lets be kind and leave name bashing out of it (unless you want to bash my name, that i can handle or if you hit a sweet spot, i can delete it...ha) Im in no way hell bent on warring over it, clones exists and they aren't going away but that hardly means we should idly sit back and let it happen. It seems it is all about finding that sweet spot of balance in life. Not going to war and not ignoring the situation. I believe it is called "shooting straight".
I also found a blog enty from Jeff Soto (2007) whre he address the issue from a more professional stand point and i felt it good to copy and paste it...here is jeffs thoughts:
Jeff Soto 2007-------->
"I’m dealing with artists who are imitating mine and other’s work. They say imitation is a form of flattery but when people are doing stuff very similar in style to what you’ve been doing for years and they’re selling it, it’s more of a slap on the face. I am not naming any names but I’ve seen alot of imitation the past couple of years and it’s getting worse. The good thing is that for some reason people tend to copy the stuff I was doing right out of school- sun rays (hehe which I copied from Alex Gross), robots, boxes with wings, etc. It still sucks. I don’t know if the artists are to blame or the galleries that show them. Or it could be the buyers who are supporting this. So here’s some advice for everyone...
Artists- if you find yourself with a lack of ideas or have trouble finding your style, DO NOT take the easy path. Don’t look at who’s successful and steal their ideas. Do not copy them. Do not imitate them. This might help you sell some paintings, you may even sell out a show or two. But in the long run it will come back to bite you in the ass. You’ll be but a flash in the pan. A one hit wonder. If you are a serious artist and you make art because you have to, it’s in your soul, it’s in your heart, you will eventually find your own style. I’m not saying it will be easy. It takes sacrifice, dedication, and experimentation. And once you think you found your style, throw it all away. Because your shit will get stagnant if you don’t keep evolving. The artists who are copying will not be around in a couple years. Watch. *Note- it’s alright to be a little derivative right out of school, no one can help that. But if you’re out of school for a while and selling your paintings and deep down you know it’s not totally original, then it’s time to refocus and get onto a better path.
And..
Galleries- You have a responsibility to show original work. When you show work that is overly derivative, it cheapens your gallery and the entire “scene”. This scene is small. Really small actually. If you are showing work in this genre you should have at least an understanding of who the artists are, what their work looks like and where they have shown. You have to have the backbone to be able to tell artists to come back in a year with new work if it’s derivative. Galleries used to be tougher. It was special if your work got in. It meant you were making original, thought provoking work. Realistically not everyone is going to be able to show Viner or Camille Rose Garcia, but that doesn't mean you should find someone who is making similar work. There are tons of young artists out there who are deserving, hard working, eager and super original. Go find them. Promote them. Teach them. There are tons of young artists out there who are copying. They will come to you. Educate them. Push them. Be honest with them. They will return better artists.
And...
Buyers- You’re gonna hopefully buy a piece of art because you love something about it. Investing in art is not bad either. I hope you also really research the artists you are interested in (especially if you're looking at it as an investment). It’s hard to keep track of everything but try to stay informed. Most of the artists being copied have shown at some time at La Luz de Jesus (now Billy Shire Fine Art), Jonathan Levine Gallery, Merry Karnowsky, New Image Art, BLK/MRKT, etc. They have higher standards and will never show anything derivative. Research some of these galleries that have been around for a while (there are more, don’t limit to those I mentioned), get back copies of Juxtapoz, Giant Robot, check out American Illustration, there are also some great books on the subject. Most artists also have their resume’s listed on their websites. In short, do your research. Unless you don’t mind buying work that may be derivative, and that’s your prerogative (cue Bobby Brown here)."
End quote.
Honestly I do not even know what I am going for here. Im not completely sure why I've spent so much time writing this. I guess it bothers me more than I think because my "veins" have felt so much like my own voice for over a decade now but I know deep down that it is a part of life and in the grand scheme it is a small part of life. I know everyone rips someone off from time to time but it seems sad to me when its constant and/or blatant. I can't say I have any hard feelings...ahh, screw it...life goes on and it's a good life to live.
(((*****It was my original intent to leave the names out of this post but I had several people, most friends, email me confused because the likeness of the images iI had posted were so similar that they couldnt decipher what I had done originally and what had been ripped off. The use of names started to pop up for a second and then it dawned on me today that as much as "biting" is an issue that I feel needs to be addressed its not really about me or about who ever may be biting me but its really about the future of art as a whole, it's about integrity and about moving forward...so I removed everything I could referring to that specific artist I was previously addressing because at the end of the day I dont want people to hate on him as much as I just want him to move forward. I also cant foresee a silly little blog having that sort of motivational impact.))))
5 comments:
The Norm stuff is mediocre at best. Another fine example of someone that's Lazy and Marginally skilled. It'll definitely do the trick at impressing those who don't know the difference between what's original and what's obviously been Hacked, All frosting and No cake!
This is shameless and completely embarrassing to say the least.
Hello Phil,
Hey man, I'm just sending you a message of support for your post earlier, I saw the photos from that guys art opening a few weeks ago, or whenever it was, and the first thing I thought of was your paintings, and also Mike Giant's on a few of them.....I'm glad you called him out personally, someone had to, I also showed some others at our shop, and they all agreed.
Knowing how to handle that type of stuff is really difficult, but staying quiet is not one of them.....unfortunately, he'll get waaay to much credit from those that don't know any better, but ultimately he has to sleep at night.....
I worked with Aaron Cain for a long time, and watched him wrestle with this subject on all sorts of levels, and there are no easy answers. As for me, I only seem to get people stealing photos from my website and putting it up as their own, not really any cheap clones.
The REAL artists know who is putting in the hard work.
Phil it seems so long ago that we had a similar conversation when you were tattooing my thigh. I remember something you said to me when you finished the horse. You said, and I quote. " zach, I would be bummed out if you didn't use a little bit of this tattoo in one of yours. I would feel like I wouldn t have done my job.". I understood and I didn't all the same. We looked at your laptop with dozens upon dozens of photos from multiple tattooers. The one that sticks out the most is a single horned dragon on the chest don't by grime. Another conversation of where you were having problems drawing a tiger and grime gave you a pinky yun tiger and told you to trace it and make it your own. Now I understand it sounds like I am making it sound like you validate biting. I'm not what you taught me was sometimes you need to go to another source to figure it out. But doing your homework does not mean busting out the tracing paper. That's what I Leared from you. DO YOUR HOMEWORK!!!! We have all bitten I have you have we all have. It depends on what you learn from it. There's two roads and we all know what they are.
I guess the point of all this is this. If your being ripped off that's your fault. Your not working hard enough. Push yourself harder to find something new. Never stay still. You are the hardest worker I have ever met. I'm not implying you are not. But also don't ever give the fakes energy by writing shit like this. Now you hAve gave them energy. Bad publicity is beter then none. Keep your head down and work. Mother made 'em mother fuck 'em.
zack, there is a huge difference between being influenced and copying style. so either you werent listening when i tattooed you or you have forgotten... what i was saying is that when i was having trouble drawing a panther, grime pointed me to an old pinky panther and said "use that, no one draws a panther better than pinky"...what he didnt say was " now go copy it and tattoo it so it looks just like pinky did it."
heres the point. lets take the tiger i painted for the cover of tattoo artist magazine...i feel its pretty stylized, i feel it looks like i made it. now the point is for people to view it, decide if they like it and if they do, then appropriate the elements they like into the next painting they create. so maybe the next time they paint a skull they use the tiger as a muse. that is what i was talking about. not stealing someone voice. no one should ever find a single artist they like and construct an entire exhibit out of it. no gallery should support it and no collect should buy it. it happens all the time, which is why i posted other people being jacked....i could post hundreds and still not touch on tattooers.
as far as giving off "energy" or anything i think ive done a good job of trying to write and illustrate how it not an issue of war or even bad energy. just like getting robbed in japan, good came from it. i am hoping for good here...if i could sit down w norm and help him move forward i honestly would...we use to be good friends and if i could, i would but i cant.
now just to idly sit back and watch is foolish. just like if i came to deluxe, did a guest spot, stayed at your house, sat in your chair and ate the food your wife cooked and then when i left, you noticed i stole all your tattoo machines...youre a fool to think you wouldnt say anything because of bad "energy".
zack, dont bite people, dont steal, but work hard, be insprired and when someone steals from you, speak up...but dont lose sleep over it. its all balance buddy.
As for the first part if your reply... That's exactly what I was saying you just said it better! Lol
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