The Simulacrum

As a visual artist I am always conscious of originality in work. Whether it be in my own work, or looking at the work of others – originality is attractive. I am always looking for something I haven’t seen before or I’m trying to create a visual image in my own work that I think is original.

I was recently remembering a discussion I was involved in from a college art theory class. Discussing the merits of originality in a world with many more people, thoughts, ideas, and ways to communicate those ideas – are we becoming saturated with unoriginal work? Can there really be originality anymore? The term “simulacrum” was used to describe how artists working today are always going to be influenced from the past, and are we just re-creating a slightly different version of something already done? A superficial likeness or semblance of previous work?

Philosophers have long pondered the concept of the simulacrum, some even saying that a copy can sometimes take on a life of its own – the hyperreal. I guess that is where I feel that my own art sits. Influenced by many, elements of creative originality, but when it comes down to it, still just a painting.

Hours could be spent philosophizing originality in art, music, life even. Deleuze offered what might be the most positive way to look at the simulacrum. He inserted that it is a chance to see the original, and challenge it with change.

I still steadfastly believe in original thought and ideas – without, we would become a stagnant society for sure. I don’t claim to be completely original in my own art or writing – as I greatly admire – and have been influenced by the work of many. But, I can challenge the original, and create something as “those systems in which different relates to different by means of difference itself. What is essential is that we find in these systems no prior identity, no internal resemblance“

-Ryan