Artist Kris Martin uses ready-mades and antique replicas as well as classics (which are poorly reproduced) to show how meaning is lost through interpretation and reproduction. His theory is that the more an object is replicated the less it is like the original object itself. Untitled (vase) is an antique replica of a blue and white Ming vase. Each time Martin shows Untitled (vase) he drops in before installing it in the gallery and then meticulously glues all the identifiable pieces together. Every time he shows this piece the meaning of the replica gets more and more skewed, showing a loss of information over time and reproduction. Through this purposely poor reproduction, he explores destruction of meaning and lost of value of a work. Furthermore, he puts his own work on the line: the more popular this piece gets and the more it is shown in galleries, the more time Martin has to break it (loosing small bits of information each time).
For my project, I chose to replicate Martin’s idea by writing my thesis of my paper on the exterior of the vase. I then preformed Martin’s process of breaking the vase and gluing it back together. Although you can make out my thesis, some parts are harder to read than others. My paper (my original piece) is clearer than the message on the vase (the copy/replica).