Visits to two art districts in Shanhai, and a long talk with an American-born photo gallery owner brought up the question of originality again. This is a recurring theme, both in photography and in China. Over dinner last night a software engineer lamented that his programmers ask for too much direction. They want to implement, not design.
Similarly, the gallery owner spoke of work that is authentically creative, rather than derivative of others work. We pointed to Photoshopped collage work of which there is a wide variety here–but quite a bit of it looks the same. Part of the argument came down to: who did it first. And how is the technique being pushed? Heading through Moganshan, anime girls and dirty Chairman Maos greeted us left and right. Do the questions hold here? Or if an artist finds pleasure and a market in creating something that is a bit of a trope, does it matter? Many photographers continue to make landscapes that are pretty, but hardly original. Conceptually there is certainly nothing new.
The same with hot pot or Uighur food. Not much original. In tonight’s case, well-cooked lamb, the laoban singing kareoke while his daughter dances in an ethnic costume, pullinh a mix of Chinese and foreign customers onto the dance floor with the waiters, and black Xinjiang beer added up to a pleasant dinner out. It just doesn’t matter that it was hardly original–the same thing happens in Greek Town in Chicago. The difference between craft and art? Perhaps just the price tag.