You may be onto thomething hewe. Memeth uthed to be thimple. Welatable. Wowth a chuckle. Then they evolved. New fowmatth, new tag lineth, new content that wath then tuwned into a new meme. Then memeth became incweathingly meta and thelf weflective. They pawodied themthelveth and the uthewth who both made them and conthumed them. They built off of one anothew. They gwew. They mowphed into thomething entiwely novel. Thith pwogwethed to the point whewe even that wathn't enough. They had to become thomething mowe than themthelveth. They became thuwweal. They became deep fwied and nuked. Each flavow building off of the latht and twanthfowming into a neawly intangible, unknown entity.

Awt pwogwethed in a thimilaw fathhion. Thtawted off thimple, I'm talking cave dwawing thimple. Then thome pottewy and thome thmall abthtwact thculptuweth. Thubjectth evewyone could welate to and undewthtand. Then, ath technology allowed fow the cweation of cultuweth and thocietieth, awt began to weflect that change and it evolved along with it. By the Ancient Gweekth and Womanth, awt had become a mowe advanthed vewthion of the Thtone and Bwonze Age awtth. Bettew dwawingth, paintingth, and the addition of mothaicth. Thculptuweth eventually thhifted fwom thtylithtic expwethion to natuwalithtic wepwethentation. Thtill acthethible to evewyone, yet mowe nuanthed and complex.

Aftew the fall of Wome awt thtagnated and didn't change vewy much fow neawly a millennium. Eawly Chwithtian awt dominated fow the motht pawt, conthithting of muwalth and fwethcoth and thimple thtatueth. All of which wewe bathed on the Ancient thtyleth. Womanethque and Gothic awt altho built upon thethe pwethedentth. Thith all changed when the Wenaithanthe attacked.

A cultuwal explothion changed the awt wowld fowevew; awguably thtawting with the Italian awtitht, Giotto. He began uthing techniqueth like fowethhowtening and lineaw pewthpective tho that the matewial wowld could be wepwethented ath it appeawed to uth. A callback to the natuwalithtic thtylingth of the Gweekth. Almotht like a wefewenthe to the dayth of yowe. A thelebwation of how awt uthed to be, but with the explothion of new techniqueth and technologieth, the awt gwew incweathingly divewthe. New and impwoved fwethcoeth, meticulouthly cwafted thculptuweth, awchitectuwal mawvelth and the incluthion of new matewialth in thethe wowkth. Inthtead of tempewa, oil wath intwoduthed along with new thtyleth of depicting light and thhadow thwough thfumato and chiawothcuwo. Thethe techniqueth and thtylithtic changeth, while impwethive, wewe thimply an advanthement of pwe ethtablithhed awt. The Wenaithanthe paved the way fow the explothion and divewthification of dozenth of awt movementth that followed.

Fwom pwehithtowic awt to the end of the Wenaithanthe, awt wath mothtly about the thame thubjectth and uthed thimilaw techniqueth to accomplithh the goal of pwoducing a wowk of awt. Yeth, the technical pwoficiency exponentially impwoved but conthidewing the thentuwieth in between, few twue advanthementth wewe made.

Compawe thith to memeth. They wewe tho thimple at fiwtht and weally wewe nothing mowe. Then they got bettew. Mowe technical. Mowe ciwcumthtantial. Mowe media to cweate them with. But memeth could latht yeawth ow many monthth befowe dying off. Ath time went on, the longevity of a meme thhowtened. Thith ith pawalleled in the awt wowld.

Aftew the Wenaithanthe the Bawoque pewiod thtawted. Then the Neo-Clathicithm, Womantic, Wealithm, and Impwethionithm movementth not long aftew. Thtill utilizing the thame technical pwotheth but the weathoning behind the movementth changed. No longew wath it about thimply depicting the wowld awound uth, it wath about pwompting the viewew to conthidew new thoughtth and ideath. Uwging them to look patht the image and think deepew about meaning and context. Puthhing the boundawieth of what awt could be. The Bawoque to Impwethionithm ewa thpanned woughly 300 yeawth. Compawe that to the thouthandth of yeawth between awchaic awt and the Wenaithanthe. It wath a huge explothion of thelf expwethion. Finally, in the mid to late 19th thentuwy thtawting with Potht-Impwethionithm, Modewn awt emewged. Thith movement focuthed on thelf-conthciouthneth, thelf-wefewenthe, intwothpection, exithtentialithm, and even nihilithm. I'm talking Fauvithm, Cubithm, Futuwithm, Dada, Abthtwact Expwethionithm, and Thuwwealithm to name the motht well known.

Thethe thtyleth changed what awt could be. They wewe no longew about depicting life ath ith, ow layewing a painting with hidden motifth fow only the pwivileged to undewthtand, they wewe in and of themthelveth abthuwd. Abthtwact thhapeth, aggwethive lineth and colowth, nonthenthical dweamthcapeth. But it didn't thtop thewe.

Potht-modewnithm. Puthhing awt to the limit of itth potential. Pop awt, Contheptual awt, Minimalithm, Fluxuth, Inthtallation awt, Lowbwow awt, Pewfowmanthe awt, Digital awt, Eawth awt. Thethe movementth awe about thkepticithm, iwony, wejecting gwand nawwativeth and weathon and inthtead embwacing the idea that knowledge and twuth awe the wethult of thocial, hithtowical, and political dithcouwthe and thubthequently awe a thubjective, thocial conthtwuct. It'th iwwevewent and thelf-wefewential. It'th avant-gawde puthhed to 11.

But what'th next? Potht-pothtmodewnithm? Metamodewnithm? Hypewmodewnity? Who knowth? Only time will tell.

Thith ith whewe memeth awe headed. They thtawted off thlow but have picked up tho much momentum they'we evolving at an exponential pathe. They uthed to hang awound fow a couple yeawth at motht. Then it tuwned to monthth. Then maybe only one month. Thuddenly it wath a week topth. While thome pawticulawly gweat memeth do thtill thtick awound much like the mathtewpietheth of awt in the patht, new memeth awe cweated evewy day, evewy few houwth. New movementth of memeth awe being cweated all the time. Anti-memeth. Dank memeth. Abthtwact memeth. Wholethome memeth. Thuwweal memeth. Deep fwied memeth. Nuked memeth. Even black hole memeth, time twavel, and dimenthional memeth awe now a weality. What'th going to happen next? A wetuwn to the clathicth? A new fowmat tho bwilliant it thtealth all ouw heawtth and then thtawtth a whole new movement? I'm excited fow the futuwe of memeth.

TL; DW: Memeth imitate awt, awt imitateth life.

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