It’s more about the idea itself than it being my idea. Oscar Wilde said that ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness’
A creative idea being reproduced can be seen in many different ways. A pop song covered is often looked at favourably, with an artist ‘bringing something new to a song’, where as making a copy of an artwork is often looked at and described with less flattering words such as fake, and forgery.
Each have their own merits and drivers, and each their failures, but each ‘copy’ or attempt at imitation suggests something was seen that was captivating, interesting or attractive.
Of course there is intellectual property, the act of ‘ripping off’ in some eyes is another term for theft rather than flattery.
With numerous transitory art works that I have made over the years, the reach to different audiences has been hugely limited given that some last for mere minutes. It struck me that if the idea was of good quality, that it may spark interest and have the capacity to be replicated by someone else, thus having a greater reach to a wider audience.
Recently a friend made a version of my ‘Welcome’ notion, something that delighted me. My idea existed beyond my own involvement, and may have been seen by people outside of my sphere.
I was reminded of how my participation in the Mail Art Network around the turn of the century was a great leveller, people of all walks of life creating together, some with a background in arts education and practice, with others no arts background at all. To me Mail Art existed as a truly democratic medium, every persons act of creativity was valid.
With a number of my works being easy replicated I sought a means to assist their replication. A recipe card seemed to me to be a vehicle to distribute an idea easily and for people to use to make their own interpretation, and in turn sharing what they have created into the world.
My 2025 series of Artist Recipe Sheets serve to act as a licence for a person regardless of numerous factors including age, background, or geography, to have permission to take part and take ownership of an idea. Sadly inequalities still exist own our society (both locally and globally). With distributing my materials digitally, I am acutely aware that not everyone has access to the
internet or digital infrastructure, in time I hope to produce some printed versions of these sheets to disseminate in the networks that I am a part, as a step towards addressing this.
Now the invitation is there, for anyone to take part and take ownership of the Ideas that I have put out into the world but my question remains, Will the ideas be worthy of replication?
Portiphillio 