The Plagiarist

[cheryl penn]

The Plagiarist Continued:

From Svetlana Pesetskaya - FLUXRUS fame. I have received her contribution to The World is a Town call AND she has returned The Plagiarist

It is always interesting to see stylistic convergence in a successful artists work. Layering, textual anomalies, overwriting, attempts to disguise the plagiarists  real intention -theft.

I think the plagiarist hopes that his reworking of extant text/music/image will go unnoticed by his disguises.

Svetlana - MANY thanks - these are beautiful :-) XX

From Bifidus Jones (USA). Bifidus said he would - and he did :-) - send me his Plagiarist pages: His first page advise is GREAT!!! I'm plagiarizing this for sure! Someone said "Take a line for a walk" - I have to look up who - anyone? Bifidus says:

Borrow someone's line

take it out for breakfast

lunch and dinner and

afterwards for drinks in

a bar woo it let it sleep with you till

it wants to move in with

you then its yours

How beats the heart of Plagiarism?????

Campbells and Mona. Its my right, I love him.

All superimposed on Bifidus's recognizable but faintly (on purpose no doubt) unrecognizable scrawl.

Many Many thanks O Quiet One XXX

From Rosa Gravino (Argentina)

Rosa has her own very recognizable, very beautiful style of artwork. Her work for The Plagiarist is - man, just WOW! Rosa' s fields of barely legible, enigmatic squiggles are strangely architectural. New blue prints for a  textual world plagiarized from the books we sometimes inhabit?

The tangle of plagiarized words and letters and thoughts. I can see in Rosa's work the constant re-reading of history and the possibility of re-constructed futures, plagiarized pillars of alphabetical structure.

Its just a question of continuous overlapping and re-embedding.  

 And we come full circle again.

I asked Judith about the narrative of her pages - they looked complex, and loaded with meaning. She wrote me a wonderful letter which I will paste in totality in the discussions - but for now, here are extracts about her work..



"The Art Issue" is about original ideas and original work.... and whether anything truly is original anymore."

"A woman's voice is unique and speaks to things that men will never understand... The Mona Lisa, painted on a cinder block wall somewhere was appropriated for a design firm's advertising, and I appropriated it from them (very symbolic of how ideas travel both through art and writing, and how plagiarism can occur.)

The quote on the Mona Lisa page is from the book, "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" and was the basis for the entire piece."

"A rumpled magazine page neatly folded and tucked shows a portrait of Frida painted by an unknown artist, very much in Frida's own style. Also included is a sort of bookmark, made with images from the natural world (which is what my work is all about) showing a butterfly - the second largest species in Africa - to celebrate my new connection with you Cheryl, a fossil, and the galaxy" (Thank you Judith :-) X)



"Rising above, transcending, overcoming, is something women throughout the ages have strived to do, and as artists women have told the story of that journey through art and literature, in a way that no man could copy. A unique voice and perspective - impossible to steal, and referenced by the next two pages "here comes the sun" and "rose-colored glasses".



"The beautiful apple- poisoned apple text refers to temptation, original sin, and covetousness and the text comes from a page of "Snow White" tucked into one of the pockets rolled up and tied with a red string.... the repeating red throughout. Covetousness leads to plagiarism I think."

No, I could not have said any of this in ANY better sort of way. Judith - thank you for the time and effort you put into these beautiful pages - and the effort you took to write about them - LUCKY LUCKY ME!!!  :-) X

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Marie calls her work to me 'unstable' :-). Unstable it is not! Free floating, culturally cross-pollinated, of transient beauty, whimsical in the truest meaning of the word - THAT is the essence of Marie's work to me. 

She wrote me a letter which said 

"Dearest H.S. (no I'm not letting on!)

This is inspired by the Ghostwriter - you can see its like a scrapbook - full of notes and evidence collected by someone trying to track down a plagiarist.   A long and patient investigation that leads our detective to explore all ages, languages and genres, because plagiarism does not know any borders in this regard.

I wanted your pages to be visible and enhanced (I think the transparent sheets do that)". O , for sure they do. This is another Marie gem - I asked Marie if I could somehow attach the text more firmly - but I cant do that - it will change the intrinsic quality of the work. Besides, thats what stolen words do - they are not attached in the Plagiarists reality - they belong to another.

From Katerina, in her instantly recognizable style :-) Katerina wrote "I loved the textures of those pulp pages, Cheryl...'could not cover them too much, and I "excavated" and found a word or two imbedded (red arrow points the way).Kept it minimal." See image below below...:

Katerina covers is all with her minimalism - 

Lift, Steal, Falsify, Theft, Pirate -strong words, weighted meaning and so pertinent to the topic. And the rhythm of the work when all placed side by side - isn't that beautiful - thats ALL MomKats - no plagiarism there :-)

-Thank you both for your FAB work - two more beautiful additions! Tomorrow I will add Judith Heartsong's pages - they're YELLING to be put with their fellows:-) XXX

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Can I just begin by saying I have been overwhelmed again by the kindness, which the participating artists have shown in FREELY contributing work to this book. The world town we inhabit is not in general a place where such openhandedness is exhibited. Read on – you’ll see why again.

First to arrive in this batch was the work of Nadine Wendell Mojica. Nadine had written to me before and said she had very strong views on plagiarism. The satire of her cover speaks volumes.  What is Hollywood actually building? 

 

Nadine knows her stuff – I googled all of her references – Twister, taken from Catch the Wind, Terminator (Outer Limits) from Soldier and the list goes on. The result of all of it seems that the mighty dollar covers most things? Although, when one views settlement figures versus grossing turnover – no wonder this is a contentious issue.

 

“Influence and Adaptation versus Outright Plagiarism – its only a matter of who got paid and who got screwed out of Being paid”.  Nadine further writes “Hollywood outsiders scripts are assumed to be worthless – they are shelved, put in a vault only to be produced years later under a new and different name.

I know Nadine lives in Hollywood. And I’m thinking she has been intimately acquainted with some of these injustices? Nadine – WOW – thank you.

Rob (Grantink) (Australia) is an AMAZING artist I have only recently come (very gratefully!) to correspond with. Like Nadine, Rob takes a stance on the practice of plagiarism.  

 

Rob also interestingly deals with James Cameron versus Harlan Ellison and the Terminator/Soldier settlement. From my reading Ellison on occasion used the pseudonym Cordwainer Bird to inform the public that his creative contributions to endeavors had been corrupted by Hollywood. A snippet from Wikipedia – “Ellison attended Ohio State University for 18 months (1951–53) before being expelled. He has said that the expulsion was a result of his hitting a professor who had denigrated his writing ability, and that over the next forty-odd years he had sent that professor a copy of every story he published". 

And a REALLY interesting – and amusing thought – “just when you think you’ve heard it all” – SELF PLAGIARISM – FAB!!! This is defined by Rob as “Reusing identical or nearly identical portions of ones own work without acknowledgement” – “Finders Keepers” – GUILTY YOUR HONOR!

Ah! This image! I have often pondered du Champs L.H.O.O.Q.  Could he ever have known the what the results of a moustache would be? Plagiarism, Parody or Ready Made? Good question. 

Rob – MANY thank for this – AND your quadruple WOW World is a Town which so far has been kept from public view due to t-i-m-e- but which should SOON be hitting a screen near youTranslating images into the concept of plagiarism – I would think that really difficult without just copying existing pictures. 

And Lisa (Skybridge Studio’s)??? WELL!!! She just has taking ways!! 

I suppose it really doesn't matter how you dress plagiarism. It just leaves holes. Dark empty spaces. Spaces and places in denial of origins. Its REALLY NOT ON!!! As Lisa points out - shhh  - DONT TELL! 

 

Diva - an admittance to a moral blind spot - a conceptual piece for sure - many thanks Lisa  - I see you're testing my binding skills here too!!!  :-) X

Last but o-so-not-least in this unbelievable lineup is Nancy Bell Scott. Nancy posted pictures of her work in the discussions after I asked – and MAN!!! They do not compare with holding/paging through her actual work. This has a see through layer - like, no-one will ever see through the lie of text?

In the main Nancy  took the note I had included with my mailed pages and she intimately reworked it into her own inimitable style. If my work was continually plagiarized to look as FAB as this - how could I complain? o - except for the fact that its looks WWWAAAAAYYYYY better than what I can do! 

I suppose in a way this wonderful work also shows that no matter how you cross words/images out, write over, re-write, disguise, submit it to the unconscious, plagiarism remains that - the shadows of previous existence will haunt the work and the thief. 

Nancy - I'm, um, in awe???

 

E has done an amazing job playing with the phraseology world/word is mine.

Barcoding denotes registration of some kind – am I right in saying that? Ownership of idea, registration of idea, selling/buying of idea/product.  Does ownership of the product – for example a book, give one right and title to the object? Free use of the text/images it contains? 

It’s a puzzle I think – and so does E.  That’s why I always wonder about collage. Who owns those images? Who owns text ultimately. The alphabet – its like a free-for –all.  Why when its put in some sort of ARRANGEMENT is ownership claimed? 

In this work I can definitely see two voices.  So harmony can be created?  MAN! Its FAB. Thank you :-) XX

Guido’s GREAT envelope, front and back page.  Death – the ultimate plagiarist?? Interesting point! Except NOTHING can copy him?

I think a few of you saw Guido’s ‘treatise’ on Plagiarism in Literature? The age of “intertextuality” HAS brought many problems for sure.  My gripe – same as Guido’s would be when people do not ACKNOWLEDGE their sources - for IDEAS and words.  For sure borrow – but be BIG ENOUGH to nod to your inspiration.  Are plagiarists  ridiculous enough to think that others wont notice?? 

And I think you’ve seen this too – Can you accuse a mirror of Postmodernism? I know when Guido first posted this image the words got me so tied up! So, can you?  Guido and I are still backwardsing and forwardsing over this… 

Jen Staggs took a COMPLETELY different approach – she just REMADE! I had to laugh – it was SO Jen J - but now its something DIFFERENT isn’t it??? It may be the same paper with the same intrinsic words – BUT it’s a completely different ‘thing’ isn’t it?  Is this approach plagiarism or not?? The work on the right is Jens dissertation – remade – too.  Think I’ll have to do something with this! Its really ASKING me to!!

Judy Skolnick corresponds with me – not often – but I’m ALWAYS excited to hear from her.  I hope you don’t mind me quoting part of a letter you  wrote Judy – but I think  its pertinent! She wrote a while back that she corresponded with  Dan Landrum who was active in the 90's.  He was Bubba Bubba Mama Dan and Judy was Big Bad Mama.   They were part of the Dadist group.  “We had some fantastic moments when I sent him a painting in a box full of broken mirror and he mailed it back covered with a moss garden, "rest in piece fractured lives". This looks like that!

 

About this work Judy wrote “I hope you enjoy the three harpies, they lend their structure to your wonderfully rugged paper!  So does my Lion and the Wild Horse from the Lion Invitational at the B'nai Brith Museum in 1999 in DC.  The rugged architectural netting is great on the paper, peek a boo style!"

THANK YOU everyone - I REALLY appreciate your generosity of spirit in answering this call - this work - the finished book - its going to be another Amazing :-) XX

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So, it goes like this.  From the Latin – plagiarius – ‘kidnapper’.  Its serious stuff.  I’ve had it happen.  But not this time – relax!

I took a paper I had written, pulped it and re-made the pages.  I asked members of IUOMA if they would like to receive a piece, air their views and return it to me.  These pages are then embedded text, other artists images, remade – physically.  They would constitute a physical manifestation of plagiarism – right? I had a fantastic response. 

First to arrive was Lesley Magwood Fraser (South Africa). Les is a good friend in REAL life and she ALWAYS digs deep with my requests.  Her response was the a plagiarized version of The Book Thief  by Markus Zusak. 

Les has also created a palimpsest of pencil text over the pages which hints at other voices, and her drawings are as always superb. 

At the end of the novel Death returns the book, telling Liesel that he is haunted by humans.  The weight of a feather to weigh four touches with death? I am reminded of Anubis.

 

From Diane Keys comes a FAB – with instructions to the monkeys to LEAVE THIS MAIL ALONE!  I am VERY relieved to say they did! 

BUT! I DID get a shopping list.  I have been viewing all these fakes – IS THIS A FAKE or is it an original??? Its even in an evidence bag. The ink may have run, (did the milk leak?) but the words are there.  Do these count???

This piece carries serious words of warning.  Plagiarism causes - cooperation break down – the result – we’re all pulling in opposite directions – its NOT NICE TO STEAL! Words in credit?  Sometimes people don’t even bother to cover their tracks.

From Susanna Lakner – don’t her gifts ALWAYS come beautifully wrapped? :-) X

An interesting concept is the hole Susanna added – that’s what plagiarism does, doesn’t it? It leaves holes in Truth.  Then its not Truth it’s a copied version.  Can plagiarism be graded? – Depending on the extent – bad, not so bad, ok???

It’s a tough question.  I’ve been thinking  - and some of you have had art to this effect – can collage be called kidnapping??? I’m not starting a war by the way !! Just asking a question.

Many thanks to you three – MAN! This is going to be another FAB. Documentation to all once I'm done :-) XX

[Jen Staggs]

Thanks for posting my little reworkings.  I know I've been missing around here lately, and that thesis is why!  My adviser told me yesterday she LOVES my work and is ready to send it to readers, so YAY!!  More mail art should start exploding out of my brain soon!!

[Nancy Bell Scott]

With some of the words in my comment, I've probably plagiarized several of the preceding comments.

[Nancy Bell Scott]

Every year or two the subject of copyright and what images and texts are free for use comes up on collage lists, and when someone finally digs deep and produces written guidelines based on legal research, they are hopelessly complicated. The year 1923 sticks in my mind--anything before that is public domain? But don't quote me. The general standard most collage artists I know of use is that you're free to use parts of anything not in the public domain so long as you alter it enough (or use such a small part of it) that it can't be easily recognized. But plenty of others feel they're changing it enough just by using it in their own artwork and creating something completely different that happens to include it.

The whole thing gets pretty crazy, as Judith has been through--really, claiming to own a process that others already use. That must be a personality defect or something. :--)

Cheryl's Plagiarist theme is just irresistible. Your mind can go in endless circles and wander down endless paths when contemplating it. And preparing the pages to work on in the way she did! It's so innovative and gives you such an interesting place to start. Her idea and the pages she has been posting that have come in have bowled me right over--fantastic--how many more can we look forward to, Cheryl? If it's not a secret ...

[Lesley Magwood Fraser]

Yes we can go round and round on this!!! You OWN the book but you cant USE the book and claim it as your own work??? As I said, a VERY dodgy grey area. I suppose you do own the pages, but NOT the words? Give me strength! And yes Judith, NOTHING is new in the art world especially, it's all been done before. As Andrew verster (SA artist) says "You can USE someone else's idea, but MAKE IT BETTER" I dont think your ungracious artist person had any right to say you couldn't use her PROCESS, no copyrights on processes surely?? Andrew verster uses sgraffito technique often in his work, it's been done for centuries, and I use it too. He told me to use it as much as i want, no one OWNS sgraffito! I must say I have never heard of vodka resist - who can resist a nice cold Voddie and lime juice on the rocks on a hot summers day?

[cheryl penn]

Hello everyone :-) - the wind is BLOWING so I'm not concentrating too much!! (BUT I love it!)  Judith - I am LOOKING at a Mona Lisa print as we speak - who hasn't done SOMETHING with her, or referenced her? Same as the Warhol Marilyn prints.  When its an OBVIOUS reference is there a need to acknowledge??  Ungracious artists hhhmmm - know a few of those!! And it SO doesn't pay - they just pull peoples nose hairs :-)).  So Les, when one buys a book one is just buying an artifact, not the contents??? Do you own the pages? Or just the pages and not the words on them? Why then are people so free with cutting up magazines?  What about ideas?? Those are REALLY tricky ownership things.  Sorry there are more questions than answers - I suppose these debates rage ALL OVER at one or another time.  Are we plagiarizing Plagiarist Debates?? Thanks Lisa - looking forward to the incomings :-)

[Lesley Magwood Fraser]

Books always have a copyright and disclaimer saying that the book may not be reproduced etc etc so legally one should NOT copy a book, but I agree that if one uses a part of the book one should definitely acknowledge where it came from originally, and hope like hell that you don't get sued! Same with artworks, you cant copy someone's work and claim it as your own, that is SO lowlife. Recently Mr Price (homestores in SA) were sued by an artist as they had taken her images and had them printed on canvas in China to sell in the stores, without her knowledge. What about all the millions of Mona Lisa images that have been reworked?? Who gets the royalties of those? No  one i would think. Da Vinci wouldn't be too happy with seeing his painting plagiarised and buggered up. So with my Plagiarist piece for Cheryl, The Book Thief, I made a book artwork out of it - is that wrong? Should i have asked the author for permission? A grey dodgy area I think. And as for collage, how would one acknowledge all the bits of images used? My brain is rattling....

[Marie Wintzer]

Can't believe how may goodies again. I'm starting to get nervous now :-) no, seriously, amazing collection.

[Lesley Magwood Fraser]

Nancy these are AWESOME! Well done.

[Nancy Bell Scott]

It's the first more-than-one-page collaborative (if right term) project, ever, and usually they'd sit around here being contemplated for 6 or 19 days each as separate pieces, so yah, doubts come up. New people, new pace, etc., will do that. I'm glad you doubt the sense of doubt, though, gracias!

[cheryl penn]

No WAY!! You never for a MOMENT doubted this work?????!!!!!!