ITAP- Notions of Originality

Is there such a thing as originality? In the art world, it is difficult to be 100% original, it is impossible not to be influenced by other artists work and things that are going on around us. You may be influenced by another’s ideas, it is important to have your own thoughts and ideas and not to continuously produce similar pieces. But being inspired by an artwork can be a good thing, trying their techniques and adopting some of their style that you admire. Another side to this is that it must to some extent be seen as a compliment that someone has copied your art or even that they have been influenced by it.

Velasquez's Portrait of the Pope Innocent X, 1650

Francis Bacon was inspired by the work of Diego Velasquez, especially his image ‘Portrait of Pope Innocent X’, Bacon called this image “one of the greatest portraits that has ever been made.” He created several expressionist variations of this piece. Bacon’s paintings are not complete copies, but he has used the same image of the Pope, a similar composition but has used his own painting style which makes it his own work, his is a more gruesome version.

Bacon's Study after Pope Innocent X, 1962

Bacon's "Study After Velazquez' Portrait of Pope Innocent X", 1953

All the great painters have at some point copied/imitated another’s work to try out their techniques or learn how they paint. At school this is also something we all did, copied pieces from famous artists and tried to re-create them using the same media, forcing you to look closely at how the painting was made. 

So as artists/designers we should strive to be as original as possible, take risks, develop new ways of working and overall we need to engage people, give them something new to look at.