#aplang17original

Instead of being the base of her work, Shimomura’s classical inspirations simply give her an avenue of creative expression. Shimomura is a perfect example of modern originality because while we live in an era of remixing previous material, Shimomura is still able to effectively create her own new art (a high art) utilizing the inhuman world around her. 

Salvador Dali was an original in the 1930′s-40′s. He was an eccentric Spanish painter who used surrealism to convey abstract ideas. His imagination and use of distortion is what gives him originality. For example, in this painting “The Elephants”, he makes the elephants look more like giraffes, which is ironic, as he has another painting titled “the burning Giraffe”, which may seem like an appropriate name for this painting at first. He must have been influence by nature, how people interact with it, and the use of dramatic irony, but the combination of all these in Dali’s mind create paintings that are quite unique. He also has specific techniques, like the use of and lack of detail that give him his unique style. He made the sunset have a detailed and clean gradient, but the mountains in the background are simple, reminding me almost of Dr. Seuss illustrations. Because of these details, Salvador Dali qualifies as an original creator in his time.  

Fighting Gravity is a dance/special effect group that was on the show America's Got Talent in 2010. They brought a new unique style to dancing. I'm not even sure if it should be called dancing but go into a new category. Fighting Gravity was the first group to ever do this. A couple groups in the next seasons did a variations of what Fighting Gravity did. It would look new to someone who doesn't know of Fighting Gravity. Fighting Gravity was the original creator and started a new type of act. This type of dance has NEVER been seen before. Their use of technology and creativity to make something new is what makes them the most original.

 An artist that I believe has some of the most original work in this society of remixed music is my girl TSwift. Taylor has been writing her own music since she was very young, and while I’m sure she got some inspiration and ideas from artists she looked up to, I believe she’s one of the most original left. Today, she still writes her own music and refuses to let society sway her on how she acts or embodies her fame. Taylor often gets the inspiration for her music from lessons she’s learned in the past, making her music very personal and relatable. The only thing Taylor’s music borrows sound from is itself, because some of her songs have similar beats and sounds to them. Though Taylor has shifted (or, swifted haha) from her classic country feel to a high energy pop sound, she’s stayed true to herself. She can be heard saying many times and shows that she refuses to let other people’s opinions shift the way she views herself or her music. That’s a very important mindset to have, especially today when originality is so rare. 

I believe one artist that is extremely original is Émile Cohl. In 1908, He was the first person to create an animated cartoon. He was a French characturist, and got offered a job in film making where he created many films before approaching this idea. He created animated films by drawing frames to be photographed with slight changes and timing the photographs. Yes, there were movies in the world before, but the combination of art and films had never been seen. In this movie, all that it is is a stick figure jumping around, but it was never done before which makes it exciting and original. Now there are no gratitude or appreciation for those that make animated films, but there would be no cartoons nor annimated films if it wasn't for Émile Cohl.

He is an original rapper because he is white. This broke the mold of a stereotypical rapper. He made rapping relatable to white Americans. He became popular because this lyrics appealed to more people because he came from nothing and became this famous rapper. He was the leader of the ever changing youth movement focusing on family life, parental issues, and drugs in a way that was relatable and empathetic Not only did he bring change in the music world as a white rapper but he was looked upon as a role model because of his experiences in his troubled life but overcoming it and becoming successful. 

I think Elvis Presley is an original and not a remix because of his style of music and how he performed on stage. Elvis is considered one of the best singers of all time, his songs and performances inspired and gave enjoyment to many people. His music styling, being that of early rock, may have came from an assortment of remixes of the blues but it was how he styled and performed it that made it his. I haven't found a song that he has written that seemed to be remixed from another song. His performances were also very amusing and new, not being done by anybody because he performed based on his music, it wasn’t always planned out. Elvis Presley is also one of most recognized singers on that decade. His songs were really popular, and as I said before a lot of people enjoyed his music. Overall, Elvis Presley had his own style and his own way of singing and performing music, he is as most original as it gets with a singer in mind.

TapTronic did something never done before and they did it extremely well.  They took Irish Dance and made it something new by using it’s rhythms to create this dubstep music.  They kept the traditional way of irish dancing but added current music to it. Now many people are seen doing this on irish dance instagrams and blogs.  Ed Sheeran recently had a contest for Irish dancers to dance to one of his songs and use the hashtag step4sheeran to be part of his new music video.  TapTonic started this all with their current looking music video with the twist of the rhythms being done by traditional irish dancing.  Now many young ( and old ) dancers take the fun twist of dancing to current music instead of the traditional songs.