Austin Kleon

 

What a shallow and disturbing thing to promote!  But let me explain,
I was waiting for my 10:00am French class and I decided to sit in the quad and look up some art blogs or something entertaining on my phone.  So, I typed "I find art in everything" into the google search bar.  What came up was something very catchy.  It plainly said "How to Steal Like An Artist, and 9 other things I wish I knew in College."  How could I not click on this link?  This small attempt to satisfy my boredom quickly turned into a 24 hour obsession.  I keep thinking of this website, this author, this artist.  Let me clear this up, It's not a how to on stealing ideas to become a faux artiste.  This website is about an artist who is brutally honest with the ideas of the artistic world, and being an artist in general.  His name is Austin Kleon and without a doubt my new favorite stalkee!




An artist is a collector. Not a hoarder, mind you, there’s a difference: hoarders collect indiscriminately, the artist collects selectively. They only collect things that they really love.

There’s an economic theory out there that if you take the incomes of your five closest friends and average them, the resulting number will be pretty close to your own income.

I think the same thing is true of our idea incomes. You’re only going to be as good as the stuff you surround yourself with.

 (The stuff you surround yourself with aka the stuff you "steal")
And this ladies and gentlemen, is how to steal like an artist.  Because nothing is original.  Take that notion out of your mind and share ideas and embrace ideas.  Because after all humans are the only living things in the universe that have that unique ability.

For more on Austin Kleon, please visit his fabulous website at http://www.austinkleon.com/