Connectivity - Notions of Originality

Looking at any art work and seeing through it to any original influences it may have had, is something I would rack my brain about but never could pin point exactly its originality just that I knew I’d seen it before, I could pin point a few recognizable gestures that would relate to an older piece of art but I find myself usually being the one that says ‘oh yeah’ after the answer is revealed, much to my amusement of this ITAP lecture where we compared different art work/advertisements that used iconic art as influences to other pieces.

Many advertisements use this technique because it is recognizable to the public and can symbolize a trigger in your brain to encourage you to remember the advert, and may result in you buying into the product. For example this E.T poster has a recreational influence from Michael Angelo’s The Creation of Adam painting on the Sistine chapel ceiling, by just the image of two fingers touching which has been imitated and parodied throughout the  years.

Now it’s hard to see what is original, you could argue that everything in this day and age has some kind of influence to it. With the technology and numerous types of media surrounding us, it could prove to make things slightly more difficult to do something 100% completely original because subconsciously your brain will be taking in everything visual around you, so the next time you sketch your thoughts kicked in with your memory will create something, you may have already seen.