Just how original is Art, and to what degree can your ‘copy’ be regarded as original? There are several ways to recreate work. You can alter it metaphorically, try a different technique or style, make it suitable for alternate audiences, bring it more up to date, and alter the intention.
Caravaggio Narcissus 1596, John William Waterhouse Echo and Narcissus 1903, Salvador Dali Narcissus 1937, Richard Baxter Narcissus and Echo 1998, Sorgie Echo and Narcissus 2010.
All of these works have the same intention of representing the story of Echo and Narcissus, but each of them are unique in their final outcome. They have used different styles, techniques and different poses. There are elements that remain throughout, like the reflections, and subject, but without them the images would not tell the tale of echo and narcissus. By creating an image of a particular subject does not give you exclusive rights to its copyright. Everyone can view it in different contexts and have variations of views and representations.
Here Steve Kaufman has dis-assimilated the original painting and created his own version of Picasso’s Guernica. By breaking down Picasso’s piece he has gained knowledge and insight to create an original work. People will look at Steve Kaufman’s work and immediately recognise the style reminiscent to Picasso’s, but that does not mean he has copied it, just recreated it to his own vision.
Originality art can be assessed to varying degrees, be it the style, era, context or metaphor. Taking this into context, all art can be deemed original. The viewer’s perception of an image and its intention can alter an image from being an original concept to an original association and implication.
Just as changing the style and metaphor of a work you can create a new version, by changing the work’s content but keeping the intent, you can reach alternate audiences. As visual communicators we need to understand the importance of cultural differences. The world is full of diversity, what mean something to one person could mean the opposite to another. What we may think to be ok in one country may be a subject of debate or prohibited in another. The simplest aspect of a piece needs to be researched across cultures. Symbolic facial gestures, colours, numbers, even language can mean completely different things to a different culture.
Queen Victoria famously wore black throughout the 40 years of her widowhood. An antique Chinese vase. Montuhotep II, with black face and hands to symbolise rebirth and rejuvenation. The New Zealand All Black rugby team.
For example black as a colour in western society is associated with funerals, death and mourning, but in China it represents trust and high quality. Whereas in Ethiopia black is considered impure, in Egypt it symbolises rebirth and for New Zealanders it is their patriotic colour.
Symbols and signs represent an idea, in art we use them as a part of the visual language to interpret a scene. Just like colours, the cosmos, body parts, animals flowers and even fungi have different associations across cultures.
A ring of mushrooms associated with fairies, Chinese immortality mushroom, Mushrooms associated to fallen stars by Aboriginals, Nuclear bomb cloud.
In European folklore mushrooms are associated with fairy enchantment, the Chinese associate mushrooms with immortality and the Aboriginals believe mushrooms are fallen stars. In a more contemporary context the mushroom can be associated with the nuclear bomb cloud.
These are just a couple of samples of where a small part of an image can convey different meanings. When composing a piece of visual art it is vital that research into cultural significance and understanding meanings and connotations is done, to avoid misinterpretation. The target audience for the piece of work can change the content and layout significantly.
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