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My dad was an artist and I grew up surrounded by his paintings adorning the walls. While perhaps when young I didn't fully appreciate it, as I started to get older, I realized how lucky I was to have his original artwork hanging on the walls, spanning many decades, styles and times throughout his life. I don't have any of his paintings, but I do have two of my mother's, which are pictures side by side in the image below. She wasn't much of an artist, but under the influence of my father, she did dabble from time to time and explore her own style of work. 

![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/tarazkp/23viEFwK1rN9VBWyEqGGsAnuzu9PqSY3zddrRh992scUE26bHPHen6hXfQbkhX7gzRaCM.png)

It was kind of a family affair, because while they painted, my maternal grandfather made the wooden frames on which they were stretched, which are works of art in and of themselves. He was a master woodworker and the handmade dovetailing work is impressive. He was good at many things, excelled at some. 

>In a world of mass-produced, disposable consumables, why do we value original so much?

While a production line can spit out perfect copies of products endlessly and we have been conditioned to value them, there is still beauty in the imperfect. The the hand-crafted nature that leaves the unique signature of the artist in the work itself, giving it individual DNA, like us - original work, is human work.

>And that gets respect.

At least, it *used to* get respect. Now, I think people are largely giving up on original, giving in to the convenience of mass produced, no longer caring as much whether something required skill, because they know they are just going to throw it away anyway. It is like buying flat-packed furniture for a rental apartment, which will be replaced a couple years later, because it doesn't fit in with the style of the new *rental* apartment. 

The majority of people don't invest into something authentic, because they just want the look without the price tag - they will buy the "dupe" to play the part for a short period of time, before they dispose of the old and jump on the next bandwagon driven by the algorithms, getting another lookalike to fill the void. A one *of* a million print on the wall, rather than a one *in* a million original.

>I sound like a snob.

But, it isn't about expensive art, because I can't afford that either. However, I would far rather have my own crappy, self-made art hanging on the walls, than prints of the masters, because it would be original and, it would be mine. Too much of my material life is mass-produced, but my creative life needn't be and, I can respect myself for making the attempt to create something worthy. There will be failure, but that is what art is about - exploring the world that is unknown, not filling the walls with certainty. 

Maybe it is because we live in a world of mass information where the best is cherrypicked out of the crop, diminishing the majority of all else. Before, we would support local talent, even though it wasn't comparable to the stars, because it was within reach. Now though, with global access at our fingertips, the world is never out of reach and because we are consuming digitally at a personal level, it feels "original" even though it is infinitely shareable. We get the sense of being the owner and having it on our walls, along with the 100 million other people who saw it. 

>Not that it is on our wall for long.

Because, the infinite scroll culture will feed another piece of work a moment later, with the last never holding enough time in attention to actually appreciate it. And, because of the constant stream of content flowing through, rather than skill and experience going into the creation of any art, it is about speed and convenience. As a result, the artist no longer matters, because there is none of them in the work any more, it is devoid of personality, no commentary of life garnered through experience. 

>Filler. 

Currently, the walls of my home are bare. But, this summer I am going to begin the transformative process to change that, by creating some art to fill the space. It will unlikely be beautiful and you would never see it hanging in a gallery or on the walls of someone else's home, but it will be mine. Original. *Flawed.* 

>Just like me. 

This is what original is - a representation of our journey - of time spent, energy expended, lessons learned, success and our failures. Our house won't look like a showroom, it will look like our home. Our marks on the walls, telling of where we are and the lives we had. And maybe even hint at where we could be going in the future, but that is filled with uncertainty. 

It is time consuming and inconvenient.
*Such is life.*


Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]


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