07-15-2015, 01:41 PM
I think you may be deciding things aren't unique based on overly broad categorization. It's like defining a shirt as "a thing you wear on your torso and put your arms through" and then declaring that all shirts are alike and there is no such thing as a unique shirt.
At the other extreme, every shirt is unique if you look at it through an atomic microscope. One molecule out of place and it's unique. One note different on a popular song makes it unique, technically speaking.
So where should the line be drawn? What defines uniqueness?
Or maybe more importantly, why is uniqueness important for art?
I do, occasionally, buy a work of art. I don't care who did it or when it was made or how it was made. I don't care if it's unique in any way. What's important is that it speaks to me in some way. There's some emotional connection I make with the artwork for whatever reason.
I think looking for uniqueness in art is like trying to see how many ants you can stuff up your nose just because nobody else has done it. Uniqueness should not be a goal in itself. The goal of artwork should not be uniqueness, but rather, expression. While it's likely you would be expressing something that other people have expressed, using similar media, it's still going to be your unique presentation of it.
(Daredevil, the show, had some great quotes on art I wish I could remember. Fisk was basically staring at a painting that looked like someone randomly patted it with white paint and ended up having a pretty good conversation around the concepts of art.)
At the other extreme, every shirt is unique if you look at it through an atomic microscope. One molecule out of place and it's unique. One note different on a popular song makes it unique, technically speaking.
So where should the line be drawn? What defines uniqueness?
Or maybe more importantly, why is uniqueness important for art?
I do, occasionally, buy a work of art. I don't care who did it or when it was made or how it was made. I don't care if it's unique in any way. What's important is that it speaks to me in some way. There's some emotional connection I make with the artwork for whatever reason.
I think looking for uniqueness in art is like trying to see how many ants you can stuff up your nose just because nobody else has done it. Uniqueness should not be a goal in itself. The goal of artwork should not be uniqueness, but rather, expression. While it's likely you would be expressing something that other people have expressed, using similar media, it's still going to be your unique presentation of it.
(Daredevil, the show, had some great quotes on art I wish I could remember. Fisk was basically staring at a painting that looked like someone randomly patted it with white paint and ended up having a pretty good conversation around the concepts of art.)