Stanisland Magazine

Visual art suffers from a virus – one where all forms are replicating each other.

The world is suffering from a chronic and debilitating illness, one that is self-inflicted; derived from the bog of online content combed from the underbelly of egregiously copycatted works.

Art is an extension of oneself. However, the problem with modern-day expression through creativity is that many fail to grasp this concept. Instead, replication has become the goal, in what is now the priority of production of product instead masterpiece.

Old Ideas, Unoriginal Execution

The originality of art was once a spectrum filtered from the inspiration of perceiving how both ancient and contemporary pieces can be used to effectuate new ideas. However, at the dawn of social media, copying, as if by facsimile, has become the accepted norm.

But today’s “works” are simply duplicates palmed off as an artist’s “vision”. They have quite literally taken the adage ‘steal like an artist’, without study of those that came before them. This idiom, has been misinterpreted to fulfil a honeycomb of self importance for the sake of instilling the idea that one is crystallised with purpose and identity. But those titles come at a price – sacrifice for understanding one’s own mind.

Stolen, Not Influenced

We’ve all witnessed it before, artists do what they can to virtually mimic another’s composition frame-by-frame, palette-by-palette. These works are obvious from the get-go; they fail to inform the viewer of motifs, all the while lurking within the vestibule and crevices of already conceptualised pieces, pickpocketed from existing articles. In other words, today’s ‘ideas’ are largely subconscious forgeries, protracted throughout the lifespan of the logic of modern-day artists.

Interpreting genuine intention onto the canvas, whatever that may be, is far more important than the replication of perceived originality. And there are few practicing a largely ‘authentic’ lifestyle, something that should mean more than ‘originality’.

An Attack On Innovation

The heart of this article could be mistaken for speculation, though in a rational world, we would all agree. The reason being, are how many times can original works be created? The second, what is the probability that they will overlap with pre-existing pieces? Combine this with un-curated and rapidly expanding online platforms in the shape of Instagram and TikTok, and you have what some may agree is a violent attack on the complexities of inventiveness.

Lost to time are the classics, pieces of intricate art form that lived from the desire of the artist. The creatives of old consciously strayed from conforming. Instead, they cared more for their passions than the opinions of critics.

The modern era of art is in jeopardy thanks to a ceiling provided by fast copy and quick sharing at the behest of ego and narcissism.

Artists have always struggled with the goal of attaining true originality. But today’s crop fail to care, but care to copy.

Image credit: Insta_repeat