Thieves like us

The Art of Stealing
or: Everybody is stealing art

* An escalation by BeautifulExperience *


In the last weeks and months I read a lot of journals and statements in the deviantART-community concerning the anger and frustration about art theft, and I'd never been able to get the point and feel the same.
Sure, there are some people around the world who copy and paste pictures and works of others and try to make money of it, but so what? I'm just thinking about what I would feel if they did this with my art. Could I really feel offended by someone who estimates some of my works so precious that he thinks these works will earn him a living? Perhaps I should wish him good luck and thank him for looking at my creations with such admiring eyes.
I think, all art is about sharing, and possibly there is really nothing that I can call my art or my creation. Well, it's nice to live in this time in this special place, where I can have access to this thing called internet - a vehicle that allows me to cross borders in a stunning speed and to communicate with nearly everyone on this planet, as far as she or he is also settled in this place called cyberspace. But I don't know anything about an original decision of myself to be here today, and I'm sure I didn't create myself. I'm the work of art of another, and I'm just playing the fool I am.
But more and more I'm thinking about the complexity of things, and the more I think the more I laugh about this so important person I seemed to be for such a long time and at least in my own eyes. Oh yes, I'm stealing the air that I breathe and that we share with each other. I've stolen the body I move with the power of a soul I learned to call mine, although it's a gift from another. And if I take photographs of all the beautiful things and beings within and around me, can I really believe that I own these things?
If I dream of some of the worlds where Keoma Lewis makes love and experiences many adventures, if I dream of these worlds and write about these adventures - can I really call these stories creations of my own?
I'm used to believe this, and it's a pleasant feeling to play the creator - but I'm not.
Creation is the business of the creator, and my business is sharing the love and the talents he gave to me with the whole wide world. I'm able to dream and to see and to write because of him, and I've stolen his art for too long. It's time to give back all the things that never were mine, and to give is to take, and I'll take every talent he decides to give to me - and then I'll share it with you.