Copy Cat: Where are we headed – homogeny?
Posted by Dean Bradshaw | Filed under Thoughts and Theory
Thanks to the internet, we are, or at least ‘can be’ exposed to more creative material than ever before. Budding artists and creatives have access to an enormous repository of other people’s work – from the primitive creative meanderings of the technical novice the very best in the medium.
This is a big deal – before the internet – artists were much more isolated data points, many unable to view some of the most amazing work being done in the world because of the simple fact that back then – the world was a much bigger place.
An element of globalisation -it seems that this phenomenon has radically changed the playing field in all the creative spheres. Not only does it mean that one can view the ‘best’ work in the world, but also that one’s work can now stand on an international pedestal where once it was confined to the solitude of a much smaller world. Naturally, such an abundant collective has raised the bar for what is deemed to be truly great work and the world’s global artistic consciousness has reached a whole new level .
However, despite the amazing opportunity to learn from this artistic collective – negative aspects seem to be emerging as well. It would seem that the diverse assemblage of the world’s creative vision is becoming a somewhat homogeneous mixture – as multitudes of people aspire to the techniques and ‘vision’ of the creative leaders in their medium. No longer do artists aspire to develop and nurture their own unique creative vision – rather many of them become mesmerised with mimicking the techniques of the ‘best’ within their medium – confined – as they become shackled to their interpretation of another’s clarity.
As we are seeing – more and more derivative work is being created at the expense of a varied spectrum – not because of globalisation or the internet – but because it is now far easier to latch onto mimicry than it is to latch onto innovation.
But all is not lost – in such a climate those who dare to do something different will reap the rewards…
So go out there and create something unique!
Tags: creativity, originality
