Originality Run Amok

I just visited Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University and saw a series of portraits consisting of fruits and vegetables. They were credited to Circle of Giuseppe Arcimboldo. They are truly fanciful and the artistic value is hard to gauge. Following my discussion on originality, I'd call this group of portraits originality run amok.


Summer, A Noble Lady, Vertumnus, The Vegetable Gardener
Circle of Giuseppe Arcimboldo


Summer


A Noble Lady


Vertumnus


The Vegetable Gardener

"Something Strikingly Original, If Not Completely New"

With great interest, I read review of world premiere of Jake Heggie's opera "Moby Dick" in Dallas. The opera was apparently a great hit with both critics and audience. I'm looking forward to seeing the production in San Francisco in a couple years.

But I was more intrigued by many reviews, which continue my discussion on originality of art.

Steve Smith of New York Times wrote: "If Mr. Heggie’s music fell short of the innovation expended in its presentation, its impact seldom disappointed. He borrowed effects widely and deployed them shrewdly."

Gregory Sullivan Isaacs of Theater Jones wrote: "Just as many proteins taste 'just like chicken' to unaccustomed palettes, much neo-tonal contemporary music sounds 'just like Puccini' to the casual listener. Heggie's music is a brew of influences. It is hardly just like Puccini—no more than frog legs taste exactly like chicken. Impressionism, minimalism, folk music, modal tonalities, bi-tonalism, parallelism, Wagnerism and a host of other 'isms' are all artfully combined into Heggie's unmistakable voice. He takes the best of these compositional tools and combines them into something strikingly original, if not completely new."

Something strikingly original yet not completely new. Nothing really grew out of thin air. Puccini didn't come out of nowhere and once his style was established, one can accuse him of copying himself. Often, I mistook a snippets of his Turandot for Madama Butterfly, his Madama Butterfly for Tosca. Even acknowledged rule-breakers such as Richard Wagner, Harrison Birtwistle, Philip Glass are not without influences.

Audience want effective and outstanding works - if they happen to be original, they are doubly blessed. If not, they still enjoy. The insistence on originality and something completely new, can lead to new for the sake of being new, which will often results in narcissistic fantasies.

Thoughts on Originality

I'm not the most original person in the world. I amuse myself with constantly shifting interests, which satisfies but deprives me the ability to dive deeper.

In the post-modern (whatever it means) world, originality seems to some the sole criteria of artistic achievement, which should not be. One can have much to say without falling into banality, even if not most original. Many of these works are to be treasured, meanwhile there are many people strive to achieve originality which often result in creating something best described as rubbish.

Truly great who broke boundary by leaps are rare. The best example is Giotto di Bondone.


Flight into Egypt, Giotto


The Massacre of the Innocents, Giotto

Once a boundary is broke, the greats had to follow the rules they laid out to create a body of work to make a statement - otherwise the instantly recognizable Van Gogh or Warhol are not to be, and their impact would be much smaller.


Starry Night, Van Gogh


Wheat Field, Van Gogh


Banana, Andy Warhol


Marilyn, Andy Warhol

Sometimes, the originality comes with the utilizing a new technique, new media, or new perspective.

My painting Devils' Dance - created around the time George W. Bush was drumming up to invade Iraq and quashing civil liberties in the US - was not the most original painting depicting dance. Actually, the images of the dancers were borrowed from the famous Dance by Henri Matisse. My painting was also not the most original depicting book burnings with bonfire, neither was the attempt to modify existing iconic images to suit new messages or needs. But the specific way I deployed was unique to me at the particular moment for a particular message and mood I tried to convey. Despite the fact that large portion of these two paintings were similar, the stark contrast between the original message and the new one was pronounced and poignant, therefore, I dare say this painting was a success.


Devils' Dance, Matthew Felix Sun


Dance, Henri Matisse