NewYorker - benjamin

The idea of replicating art is very interesting. After so many established artists, I think it can be very difficult to be original anymore. At least for me I think it would be hard. I'm sure for a true artist they would still have their creativitiy and therefore originality. I agreed with Benjamin when he spoke about replicating art versus replicating photography, and that it is easier to replicate photography because of the speed. " And photographic reproduction, with the aid of certain processes, such as enlargement or slow motion, can capture images which escape natural vision." (20). This quote I find very interesting, and true. Not only can a photographer replicate another photographer's style, or vision, but can do it in their own way with their own twist. They can change certain elements of the picture, such as keeping the image the same but enlarging it. Or keeping the subject the same but smudged, through slow-motion lenses/ISO. I have taken many photography classes and have replicated some artists works. I have tried to put my own style on my own pictures, but some times are easier than others. Also, in an art class I took in high school, we had to replicate a peice from an artist. I chose to do a flower piece by Georgia O'Keefe. I tried my best to make it exactly the same, but since I lack the artists exact skill and hand movements, it obviously came out differently, and not to scale. But replicating work goes over many genres - art, photography, clothing/fashion, architecture, food, etc. But where do we make the line of originality vs replicating vs plagerizing? Some things can be excactly the same, but if you put a different logo or brand on it, it is considered totally different. I am thinking specifically clothing - white t-shirts are massly reproduced, but with different labels - so it is okay and legitimate to do. But pieces of art or writing, I think is a little different in terms of copying, because of the issue of an original idea - but everything has to start at an original idea somewhere, at sometime.