Art and Originality

 I agree that art's authenticity is important - there is nothing more impacting than seeing a work of art in person - but I do not feel that this authenticity overrides the importance of distribution of art, culture and beauty to those who cannot afford to see it. Originality is tricky - the thing that most comes to mind when I think of this is the Photobooth application on Macs, which has one effect that is very similar to Andy Warhol's paintings which experimented with color. That form of art has come into everyone's life. I don't think that this kind of imitation is necessarily art anymore. It is being appreciated for its aesthetic value only - and although I suppose that may have been a large element in some of his work, the "aura," the shock value of Andy Warhol's original work, is being destroyed. 

This also plays into the ideas that "Quantity has been transmuted into quality," and that the "conventional is uncritically enjoyed." In this case, art has become so widespread that it has lost all meaning, because so many other meanings have been attached to it. You, posing with your friends, rather than the statement that Warhol originally intended to make.