He was copied and it nearly ruined his art career.

For me this is an interesting story as I never would have thought that being copied and bad advice, that was listened to, could derail a good art career.

This Artist, who had shown great promise in his early years, but with the pressure of life and the need to earn a living  he started working to support his family. He is very good at his job and has the respect of many people and he kept painting in his spare time.

When I met him he was painting abstract paintings and they honestly did nothing for me. He showed me a big abstract painting he was doing and I was not impressed, not because it was a bad painting but I just felt I had seen it all before and it lacked that wow factor.

He had a couple of one man shows with his abstract paintings that did not go well and he ended up in debt.

When I started working with him I asked why he was painting abstract paintings and he told me that before he was painting in a surreal style and that people liked them and he had a small following.

I asked why had he changed his style as he showed me some pictures of his surreal work and I thought that they were very good, he said because he was copied.

He told me the story of how he and a group of his Artist friends went a prestigious Art Fair here in Manila and a well known Artist at the time had copied his painting and had exhibited it in the Art Fair in a well known Gallery. 

He said he was shocked at seeing his painting and all his friends told him that this will continue to happen to him and he should change his style?

 Amazingly he listened to them and changed his style and started painting abstract pieces.

I asked again why did you change your style, I suppose a little in disbelief and he repeated the story and said his friends told him to do so?

 He did what they said and he said he also needed to distance himself from the known Artist?

So he did that and changed his style and lost the small following he had.

He asked me if I had been there with him what would I have advised him to do?

I said I would have told his friends to take photos of him standing in front of the painting with the known Artist and I would have told him to point at the work. Then I would have told them all to post it Facebook saying, “Isn't it great that so and so Artist thought my work good enough to copy.”

I would also put a picture of my work up as well. I said if this guy stole your work promote that, make it to your advantage, don't just run away in fear because you were copied.

He should have stayed in front of the painting and every time some collector made a nice comment about the painting, thank the known Artist for copying his painting and say it in front of the collector. He only had to do that a couple of times before the painting would have been taken down, no Gallery needs that kind of publicity.

He said he was so hurt that someone would do that to him, so he changed his style so it would not happen again and he was right, it has never happened again.

Yes, I felt sorry for him, he had no one to advise him and help him in that situation and it is easy for me to say, you should have done this and that in hindsight.

I asked him to bring into the Gallery any of that style of work that he had left so I could look at it. He bought in four paintings, they were very good and I said this is the work you should be painting not those abstracts. Compared to the abstracts he was doing, these paintings had life, they showed a passion and strength about them that abstracts did not have, these paintings had that wow factor for me.

I have shown the four paintings and he has sold already and I am sure that others will sell as well.

This artist is very good and if he continues to work hard he will rebuild his art career and his self confidence and if he is copied again he will handle it very differently.

What did he learn from this experience?

If someone copies your work, use it to promote yourself as the original Artist who did the original art work. 

Believe in your self and your Art, self belief is the catalyst for success. 

People will always copy other paintings, it is just part of this business, a sad part and often they do not realize that it is copyright infringement, so use it to shame them and build on your strengths.

Please do not listen to well meaning Artist friends and friends.

They may be really nice people, but the advice that they will give you comes from their own insecurities, bad self esteem and all the hurts of rejection and low or no sales, it is free advice and worth as much.

This artist should have sought real help, professional help and not listen to his Artist friends who set him back a few years, years he cannot get back.

Yes I know he didn't have to listen to them but it is hard to be positive when you are hurting and everyone is telling you to run away, because that is exactly what you want to do.

Friends, get good advice even if you have to pay for it.

Believe in your own creativity and yourself and do not loose sight of why you are doing what you are doing.

 Yes there will be disappointments, that is part of life. 

No body said it would be easy and that there would not highs and lows in the Art business, every day is different and challenging.

So put on a smile and start painting and if someone copies your work, thank them for considering you to be such a good artist that they copied you and do not change your style, it must be good, people are coping you and go and get good advice on what to do..

Stay positive and stay true to yourself.