"edge, v.2
Etymology: Old English ęcgan (past tense ęgide ), = Middle Dutch, Dutch eggen , Old High German ecken (past participle gi-egit ), Middle High German egen , modern German (from Low German) eggen to harrow..." —O.E.D.
"Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal." —T.S. Elliot, “The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism,” 1920.
My knowledge of art history is limited. This stated, there are some artists in whom, to borrow an academic's, I have an "interest." One of those is the pompously brilliant James Abbott McNeill Whistler. I do not have time (much less expertise) to related some of the stories about him and his work, but a bit of Googling about Madame X, or his 1870s feud with John Ruskin over Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, will turn up good reading.
So I decided to steal from him.
Nocturne in Indigo: Lake Merritt. Watercolor and gouache on paper, 7 x 10 inches, 2016.
Theft is not easy. One part of me was constantly stuck thinking "how would Whistler have done this?" and in turn relying on my limited knowledge of his style, gleaned in part from some Internet readings, and (to a larger extent) by looking at some of his nocturne series images. Yet the other part of me, the part that kept welling up, was: "how would I do this?"
It was a strange mental hybridity, making me question things like:
What is the line between homage and forgery?
Why is the homage often denigrated as temporary or pop art?
What role should precedent and training take in design?
Has my style developed so far that it is no longer escapable?
...and that's where I am. I'll stop there, rather than try and put a cherry on top.
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