The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

- Walter Benjamin

         The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin was a very interesting article to think about considering I practice mainly within printmaking and painting, a medium where I spend hours upon hours creating a single object, and a medium when I can make an edition of 70 of each plate I make. I've always known that this drastically changes the monetary value of each piece drastically, I guess in my mind i was just dividing the price of what a painting would be by the edition number.  What Benjamin talks about however is how each piece has its own aura and how the multiple affects and somehow lessens the intensity of this aura. I would assume that this mode f thought transfers very well into the realm of digital art. Something which can in a sense be repeated an infinite time with no additional work from the artist. 

       So what is an artworks aura? Benjamin says "We define the aura of the latter as the unique phenomenon of a distance, however close it may be. If, while resting on a summer afternoon, you follow with your eyes a mountain range on the horizon or a branch which casts its shadow over you, you experience the aura of those mountains, of that branch." In regards to art Benjamin's idea of an aura has a lot to do with authenticity. For instance when we see a reproduction of a work in the form of a photograph it feels very different from seeing the actual piece in person. Personally I have experienced this phenomenon many times before reading this piece. Theres this feeling you get when you see one of your favorite artists works in real life that is completely different from seeing it in a book or magazine .  When you see the work in person you can feel its aura. But this aura isn't an actually real substance so why do we feel it. 

       I think I would agree with Benjamin in that it has a lot to do with authenticity and with originality, but also on physicality. This is why prints seem to have a smaller aura. They seem less authentic to our eyes because they are reproducible. Walter Benjamin also relates this to the difference between seeing a move and seeing a play performed on stage. Each has a distinctly different feel even though the acting is just as good, and arguably film can do everything stage acting can do but better. However there is an aura we receive when seeing a play performed on stage that film has yet to achieve.

       Certainly as a printmaker I have experienced this phenomenon multiple times. Theres a level of disappointment on a persons face when you explain that a work is a print not a drawing.  I remember a person once asking me how much i would sell a piece of mine for. I responded "$50?" initially they were excited, What a deal $50 for this? and in a frame no less. However once i revealer that it was a copper plate etching they were completely disinterested in the work and didn't want to buy it. The aura of the work changed in the blink of an eye.