ITAP Lecture 3

In this ITAP lecture blog post I have written generally about the over arching principle of originality as I found it to restrictive to pin point 2 principles.

I find it extremely interesting to think that there is nothing in art that hasn’t already been done before. It actually quite hard to come to terms with, the fact that I will never create anything that has never been done before. I am however not quite sure about the truth of that statement, I do not think that there is nothing in the entirety of my and/or others creative mind that has never been done/drawn/designed/painted/photographed before. I think there is definitely clear and extensive evidence to show that in art themes, ideas and concepts have been recreated over and over but I would like to suggest that there is still a wealth of originality within the creative minds of today. 

“Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.”

C. S. Lewis (Source http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/originality.html#Fs1VsjLq2YwrJzsh.99)

Here I think C.S. Lewis is saying that originality is achievable, if you simply care not about originality. You need to forget about being original to cultivate originality. there are plenty of quotes to of people with the opposite opinion, but I think how can you ever think that in this world of advancing technology and progression. Maybe their answers to the questions, ‘What does original mean?’, ‘What does new mean?’ are different to mine. I would argue that even in a blatant copy/remake of a piece of art, there is originality. Even in the act of copying you can come up with something the is incredibly better than the original. You see this in music and in art very often, and that is why i think that originality is something that can be achieved and is not lost.