Earlier this month I found myself channel surfing and stumbled upon an infomercial. This isn’t an unusual occurrence, however, the content of the infomercial was laden with psychosocial undertones about art in a state of perpetual modernity and post modernity. The infomercial was selling an art kit; not just any art kit, but one that allowed the customer to reproduce the work of Picasso. “Painting by Numbers” is a simple concept – each painting was divided into colour slots, with each slot having a number that corresponded with a colour on the palette. The amateur artist then proceeds to paint by numbers, that is, fill in the colour that corresponds with the correct number on the palette. When all the numbers have been filled in, you have a perfect replica of one of Picasso’s famous works.
Upon seeing this, I was impressed, then immediately horrified. The act of admiring Picasso’s work is part technical, but part mystical as well; he was an innovator, an iconoclaste. To have his once seminal work reduced to a series of numbers akin to a logarithm, was (in my opinion) an insult to his contribution to the world of art, and devoid of any originality or creativity. This points to an interesting trend first identified by Walter Benjamin. Benjamin identified a trend in modern art with respect to reproduction – once a piece of art is reproduced it loses its essence, its originality and ultimately, it’s purpose. Now, as we enjoy the fruits of technology, art is being reproduced, reconfigured and ultimately degraded. Hindsight allows us to see how prophetic Walter Benjamin’s words were, and forces us to think critically about art an age of convenience.
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