The Original in Art

[€uroMeinke]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

In that case, I fall back on my second statement, that the physical arts are in their viewable form out-of-the box, while performance art is created in a transitory state.

So what is it we hope to posses with an original work? Did Andy Warhol's Factory ever produce an original? Or any of the other "masters" who had apprentices taking care of many of the "details" of their works? Is one of Monet's endless paintings of haystacks "more original" than the others? Perhaps his first? Why do Tibeten monks create mandalas in sand paintings that vanish with the first wind?

I'm curious about what makes the "original" more valuable - and also what makes an original, original.