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Re: everything goes back to...

Kelvin said:
> But we can still talk about degrees of originality.  And, maybe 
> better, we
> can talk about genius with a form.  When an artist's character is 
> stamped
> all over his/her work in a way that no one can emulate, really, 
> ever,
> there's an element of genius.  And if that is there, then there's a 
> sense in
> which the work of that artist is totally original.  But even at that 
> I'm
> defining originality as something more like singularity.  The work 
> is still
> rooted in previous forms.  Thus, perhaps Elvis's voice is singular.  
> And
> perhaps the voice of Karin Bergquist is singular.  And maybe we 
> could argue
> about degrees of singularity, too.  Or ways of being singular.   
> Maybe the
> thing that makes karin special is the dignified midwestern play in 
> her
> voice, or the release of a note at the top of an emotional rise.  Or
> somethin'.
>>

Just to add something on the idea of originality:  People tend to look at
artists as "creative" people -- people who make something where there was
formerly nothing.  I'd like to propose that perhaps there's a law of
conservation of ideas that works like the laws of conservation of matter
and energy.  We are what we are and our most original ideas amount to
nothing more than a more obsure recombination or synthesis of old ideas.

Also, the fundamental point of most art, in my opinion, is to relate to
the human experience.  To create something that elicits a certain
emotion/reaction from people.  Something in the theoretical realm of 
being "completely original" would not do that because it would be so far
removed from everything that everyone (even the artist) has ever
experienced.

Am I being obtuse?   Sorry, just a couple thoughts...  

Jon

Oh yeah:  I've never been to England, but I kind of like the Beatles, too
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And I wondered how the same moon over this Chinatown fair
Could look down on Illinois, and find you there
                        ~ Tom Waits, Shore Leave
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