the anxiety of influence and sour grapes

Ok, I have to come clean. I fibbed in my post yesterday when I said my art history classes had no effect on my artistic inspirations. As you can see from another of my Microsoft Paint masterpieces (TM), I was clearly influenced by Rembrandt Peale, an early 19th century portraitist, as well as Picasso. I love how Rubens (the boy in the REAL painting) has two fingers in the soil, checking the moisture. What a great moment to capture. You can read more about the Peale painting here.

In one of those funny coincidences life doles out on occasion, the New York Times has an article today about just this topic. Dale Chihuly, the biggest name in glass art, is suing two of his former assistants for copying his work. Their response is that Chihuly can't copyright a particular style or technique, and I'm inclined to agree. They may be using the same technique in the same style, but they are not physically copying or reproducing his work. And to make things more interesting, Chihuly has not actually blown or made glass for a long time due to several injuries he suffered when he was younger. He comes up with the ideas and sketches them out (his sketches are beautiful, by the way), but his apprentices and assistants are the people who actually make the glass. Are they taking the skills he taught them and ripping off his muse? Sure. Does it make for good art? Probably not. Can you legally stop them from doing it? I don't see how.