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✨Sparks✨ Austin Kleon

Austin Kleon says of himself, “I’m a writer who draws. I make art with words and books with pictures.” In ✨Sparks✨ by Austin Kleon we ask you to make connections between found objects, text, and the history of redacted writing and your own artistic ideas and creative explorations. Use the guiding ✨Sparks✨ to support your understanding of practical investigation of this artist in your sketchbook or digital documentation of the process.

Austin Kleon is an artist who elaborates on borrowing ideas with connections to Practical Investigation (Criterion B). View and read the resources below to see how he backtracks the origin of his ideas and explores ideas of remixing others' work. As you explore his work, take notice of some of the creative strategies she employed, too.

Watch this 11-minute TED-X Talk “Steal like an Artist by Austin Kleon” (2012), where Kleon shares more about his thinking process, where his ideas come from, and how he relates to the work of the people who share similar ideas and process.

Images and artwork by Austin Kleon, from “Theft as art, art as theft: an interview with Austin Kleon” by Andrew David King (2012)

1. CONNECT

When you look at the work of Austin Kleon “In A Suburb” (left) and his process (right), what do you notice at first?

Now that you've had a chance to engage with his work and thinking through the above TED-X Talk, how does his process and poems/artworks connect to something you know about?

2. EXTEND

What role could redaction play in your work (text or pictures)?

What new ideas or impressions do you have that extended your thinking in new directions?

3. CHALLENGE

What kind of inquiry questions might Kleon have been asking when producing his work?

What is challenging or confusing? What do you wonder about?

Sparks: Austin Kleon

Using Kleon's practice as a starting point, as well as your thinking from the Connect-Extend-Challenge questions above, consider the following prompts as “sparks” to develop your thinking and artistic practice.

  1. How can found materials be used as a starting point for ideas you're interested in pursuing? Explore some basic possibilities with easy to access materials to guide experimentation and the development of new ideas (recycled objects at home, disposable printed matter, found objects, etc.)
  2. How can found text be used as a starting point for developing new ideas?
  3. How does the process of redaction (cutting away words) build new meaning?
  4. What does the process of redaction look like when applied to an existing artwork?
  5. How does the history of redaction as a creative practice inform the ideas of artists, such as Kleon, today?

Practical Investigation

  • Conduct some additional research to look for images of Kleon's work or practice that speak to you. His website and blog may offer new ideas, as will other sources such as interviews (see Kenyon Review) or artistic reviews. The images pictured above are just a couple of the many options awaiting your attention!
  • Pair your responses to any of the above questions with hands-on explorations, experimentations with text, sketches for new ideas, or connections to emerging ideas (i.e. mindmapping, brainstorms, etc.)
  • Make your investigation of Kleon clear through annotations in your sketchbook or digital documentation. 

FURTHER READING

 

✨Sparks✨ (from artists) series

Our ✨Sparks✨ (from artists) series shares artists’ work and practices in connection with creative strategies, visual language, practical investigation, and inquiry. We'll look at how artists transform...

 

✨Sparks✨ Martha Rosler

In ✨Sparks✨ Martha Rosler, we explore the connections between present-day issues, systems, gestures and new artistic technologies in relation to the seminal 1975 film Semiotics of the Kitchen. Use...

 

✨Sparks✨ William Kentridge

✨Sparks✨William Kentridge introduces exciting examples of contemporary art. Kentridge employs hybrid strategies to generate an impressive breadth of work exploring history and politics through charcoal,...

References

King, Andrew David. “Theft as Art, Art as Theft: An Interview with Austin Kleon.” The Kenyon Review Blog, 26 Aug. 2012, kenyonreview.org/2012/08/austin-kleon-interview/. The Kenyon Review

Kleon, Austin. About. AustinKleon.com, austinkleon.com/about/.

Kleon, Austin. In a Suburb. 2012. The Kenyon Review Blog, posted in Andrew David King, 26 Aug. 2012, https://kenyonreview.org/2012/08/austin-kleon-interview/.

Kleon, Austin. That First Book. The Kenyon Review Blog, posted in Andrew David King, 26 Aug. 2012, https://kenyonreview.org/2012/08/austin-kleon-interview/.

Kleon, Austin. “One of Kleon’s Blackouts under Construction.” 2012. The Kenyon Review Blog, posted in Andrew David King, 26 Aug. 2012, https://kenyonreview.org/2012/08/austin-kleon-interview/.

Kleon, Austin. “Steal Like an Artist: Austin Kleon at TEDxKC.” YouTube, uploaded by TEDx Talks, 24 Apr. 2012,www.youtube.com/watch?v=oww7oB9rjgw. 
Project Zero. Connect, Extend, Challenge. Harvard Graduate School of Education, 2015, pz.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/Connect%20Extend%20Challenge_0.pdf.pz.harvard.edu

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