top of page

Rome is also brimming with copies of art with an entirely different intent. It is a place where the dichotomies and plurality of the real and represented thrives. Instead of creating clarity this kind of representation puts a murky haze over our understanding. Wasn’t it from ancient Rome that our aesthetics of quality initially formed.  From the Renaissance to today, From Da Vinci to Liberace and straight into our homes, the endlessly coping of the ancients worsened our real relationship with them in every era. Wasn’t it from ancient Rome that our aesthetics of quality initially formed.  From the Renaissance to today, From Da Vinci to Liberace and straight into our homes, the endlessly coping of the ancients worsened our real relationship with them in every era. We are aware that we have a cultural desire to experience quality.  Somehow we think that knowing quality makes us intelligent and brings us closer to the aura of greatness. However, most want to have this illusionary experience with minimal effort. We see cheap copies as great cultural bang for our buck.  What great value, for minimal effort our $2 copy makes us seem cultured. But the hidden cost of that illusion is incredible. To start an original loses its essence through copies, and simultaneously gains a power unbecoming to its original intent. Secondly, the active mental exchange between the viewer and the intentional works subtitles is replaced with the “been there done that, where is the nearest café lets get on with the day” kind of mentality. Museums encourage you to take home trophies of your cultural conquest. China thanks to the western world, for collecting their heritage and history in terms, of a $19.99 value system.  When you walk away from the forum with your “Made in China” replica, what are you taking away? Have you unearthed the poetic and contextual meaning behind the Wolf that Romulus and Remus lay beneath, the very symbol of this great heritage because you too, now own a bronze replica? Despite trinket sellers on the streets or in our shopping malls, museums remain the worst villains in distorting the history of a piece through its copy. 

bottom of page