In 2006, can an artist putting brush to canvas, pen to paper, finger to keyboard, lips to instrument, expect to go where no one has gone before? And if he or she actually did, would we recognize it as original, or scoff at it as folly?

The next big thing is not likely to be a new thing - partly because the cutting edge, as its name implies, is a dangerous place to be; partly because the world has become obsessed with big profits; partly because we, the masses, kind of like the familiar; and partly because much, if not all, has been done before.

The theory that nothing is new isn't anything new.