Study Task 1 - The Death of the Author.

Ian Mcque is an illustrator and concept artist based in Edinburgh, Scotland. McQue studies illustration and printmaking at Duncan, where he started as a freelancer after finished his career.  His unique science fiction aesthetic led him to get into the videogames industries , where he is currently the Lead concept artist director working on Rockstar ( One of the most famous videogame studio worldwide.) McQue tone of voice come is based on robots, speaceship and science fiction in general, but the question is , Is he the original creator of this genre ?

On "The Death of The Author" , Barthes states " but a multi-dimensional space in which a variety of writings, none of them original, blend and clash. The text is a tissue of quotations drawn from the innumerable centres of culture."  suggesting that there is always an original author behind an author, whereas the second one has taken influence from the first one. For instance, although Ian McQue has build a very personal and unique aesthetic during his years, he firstly had to take the inspiration from somebodyelse in the past. In an interview with McQue , he describe that his practice was totally overwhelmed by the first Star Wars concept art by the artist Ralph McQuarrie . He described  McQuarrie's frist impression on his artwork as " in a way, it was a job that hadn't really existed before " .  McQue was so fascinated by this artwork, than he started to "borrow" his style on his own practice. However, McQue argue that it wasn't until a couple of years after that, when the first 'Alien' film was released, that sealed his style for ever. 
Barthes also argued that "Thus is revealed the total existence of writing: a text is made of multiple writings, drawn from many cultures and entering into mutual relations of dialogue, parody, contestation, but there is tane place where this multiplicity is focused and that place is the reader" . This means that everything ever created , it has been formed taking bits or pieces from different areas . For instance, McQue has revealed that his artworks was complety influenced by McQuarrie's Star Wars concept art ,but , where did McQuarries took the inspiration from ? Is he the real original one ? It seems like he was as he is the father of Science Fiction. However, what Barthes states is that even McQuarrie was be the first one to produce science fiction aesthetic, in order to create something 'new' he first had to  combine different 'pieces' from different areas (such as  Architecture, Transportation and Astronomy for instance )


In conclusion , what Barthes is trying to explain on "The Death of The Author" is that nothing is 100% original, everything that exist it has been formed by combining different pieces of styles and influences during the years. But the important thing is that although it might feel like a copy of a copy, that new ' copy' it has its own originality because it all depend on the reader, meaning the death of the author.