As artists, we often like to talk about our inspiration. But where do we draw the line between an inspired work of art and just another copycat imitation?

Intention Matters

You could say that the biggest difference between inspiration and imitation is born out of intent. When someone aims to imitate, they simply want to make a copy.

The hugely popular @insta_repeat lampoons the recent boom of so-called “Instagram tourists” by posting collages of photos from the same geographical location that look remarkably similar. The intent is deliberate—to duplicate a photo in order to evoke a similar response from viewers.

Feet dangling over Horseshoe Bend evoke a sense of adventure and thrill-seeking. A woman paddling in a mountain lake evokes wonder and serenity. If you want to conjure those emotions in your audience, just follow the formula, and—voilà—success!

Is it inspired?

To be inspired is to take an idea from an outside source and apply it to your own work. But it’s entirely possible to be inspired by something without even being conscious of it, so intent gets a little murky. Of course, in the eyes of copyright law, intent doesn’t really matter.

But what about outside the law? If we seek to evoke a similar response in our audience, does it matter to what degree we copy from the original work, what our intent was, or if we were even aware that we were copying? Ultimately, is inspiration just a covert form of imitation?

Visual patterns: a divine influence

So, if we’re all capable of pattern recognition, and we all inhabit the same world, then it’s unavoidable that different people will recognize similar patterns, and the same themes will be arrived at by people who have never seen each other’s work. In this case, inspiration is not drawn directly from someone else’s work, but from our own desire to arrange things in a logical order—a sort of divine influence that affects us all.

Demonstrating the use of similar patterns, @streetrepeat, an account curated by photographer Julie Hrudová, shares images that aren’t necessarily composed similarly (as @insta_repeat does), but rather, focus on using the same technique, subject or approach.

And the verdict is...

Ultimately, imitation and inspiration are not that different. They are all fundamental steps in finding our own style, and making work that others will respond to. The danger is in not recognizing what’s influencing you, and misrepresenting someone else’s work as your own invention.

TOP CATEGORIES