What is Original Art (really) ?

by Kathy Keating

• Salvador Dali used contemporary images of his time that were widely seen in his environment and incorporated them almost verbatim into his work (e.g. melting clocks)
• Leonardo da Vinci used mirrors to reflect an image onto his canvas so that the could trace the outline of the scene in order to get his perspective right.

Did they then not create “original art”?
Art is a subjective expression of the artists feelings, thoughts and ideas.
Regardless of what tool, technique or method is used, it is the creative process that still comes from the artist’s free hand and human brain. The creative process is a series of aesthetic decisions made by the artist and the final outcome is the original result of the totality of the artist’s decisions. The more creative the process, the more original the art.
The question now becomes “to what DEGREE is this art original?” Because this question is never black/white.
Because we live in our environment and are saturated by imagery every day, we cannot help but be influenced by our environment. We are also exposed to other art and artists every day in our guilds, groups and classes. As humans we are ALWAYS being influenced by what is around us, it’s the nature of our being. Whether we consciously know it or not, these influences are shaping our work.
By the strict most conservative definition of “original art” there is almost NO art that is truly “original” because all the influences in our lives lead us to create each piece. What we think of as a “creative thought” is really several past experiences clashing together in our neurons and our brain spits out this tangled web of past experiences which we interpret as “creativity”. Just about everything that we all do is “derivative” of our past experiences and influences.
What do I believe? I believe it’s the creative process that defines the originality of the art NOT the tools or techniques used.