Images of Contrast in Art Images of Problem of Captin America
Appropriation refers to the act of borrowing or reusing existing elements within a new work. Post-mod appropriation artists, including Barbara Kruger, are keen to deny the notion of 'originality'.2 They believe that in borrowing existing imagery or elements of imagery, they are re-contextualising or appropriating the original imagery, allowing the viewer to renegotiate the significant of the original in a different, more relevant, or more than electric current context.
"I'k interested in coupling the ingratiation of wishful thinking with the criticality of knowing ameliorate. To apply the device to get people to await at the motion picture, and then to displace the conventional meaning that an image usually carries with perhaps a number of dissimilar readings."
Barbara Kruger, 1987.1
In separating images from the original context of their own media, we allow them to take on new and varied meanings. The process and nature of appropriation has considered by anthropologists as part of the study of cultural change and cantankerous-cultural contact.iii
Images and elements of civilization that have been appropriated commonly involve famous and recognisable works of art, well known literature, and hands accessible images from the media.
The first artist to successfully demonstrate forms of appropriation within his or her work is widely considered to be Marcel Duchamp. He devised the concept of the 'readymade', which substantially involved an item being chosen by the artist, signed by the creative person and repositioned into a gallery context.
Past request the viewer to consider the object every bit art, Duchamp was appropriating it. For Duchamp, the work of the artist was in selecting the object. Whilst the beginnings of appropriation can exist located to the start of the 20th century through the innovations of Duchamp, it is often said that if the art of the 1980'due south could exist epitomised past any 1 technique or practice, information technology would be appropriation.4
This essay focuses on contemporary examples of this type of piece of work.
Left: Robert Colesscott, Les Demoiselles d'Alabama, 19855; Right: Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, 1907half dozen
Above we see a contemporary example of appropriation, a painting which borrows its narrative and limerick from the infamous Les Demoiselles d'Avignon past Picasso. Here Colesscott has developed Picasso'south brainchild and 'Africanism' in line with European influences. Colescott has fabricated this famous epitome his own, in terms of colour and content, whilst still making his inspiration articulate. The historical reference to Picasso is there, only this is undeniably the artist'due south own piece of work. Other types of appropriation frequently do not have such clear differences between the original and the newly appropriated piece.
The concepts of originality and of authorship are fundamental to the debate of appropriation in contemporary art. We shall talk over these in depth in order to contextualise the works we will investigate later in this essay. To properly examine the concept it is as well necessary to consider the work of the artists associated with appropriation with regards to their motivations, reasoning, and the result of their piece of work.
The term 'author' refers to one who originates or gives existence to a work. Authorship then, determines a responsibleness for what is created past that author. The exercise of cribbing is frequently thought to back up the point of view that authorship in fine art is an outmoded or misguided concept.vii Peradventure the nigh famous supporter of this notion was Roland Barthes. His 1966 piece of work 'The Death of the Author' argued that nosotros should non await to the creator of a literary or artistic piece of work when attempting to interpret the meaning inherent within. "The explanation of a work is always sought in the homo or woman who created information technology… (merely) it is language which speaks; non the author."eight With appropriated works, the viewer is less probable to consider the role of the author or artist in amalgam interpretations and opinions of the work if they are aware of the work from which it was appropriated. Questions are more than likely to concern the validity of the work in a more electric current context, and the issues raised by the resurrection and re-contextualising of the original. Barthes finishes his essay by affirming, "The birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the author."9 , Suggesting that ane can and should only interpret a work on information technology's own terms and merit, not that of the person who created information technology. In contrast to the view supported by the much-cited words of Roland Barthes, is the view that cribbing can in fact strengthen and reaffirm the concept of authorship within art. In her 2005 essay Appropriation and Authorship in Contemporary Fine art, Sherri Irvin argues:
"Appropriation artists, by revealing that no attribute of the objectives an artists pursues are in fact built in to the concept of art, demonstrate artists' responsibility for all aspects of their objectives and hence, of their products. This responsibility is constitutive of authorship and accounts for the interpretability of artworks."10
Authorship then, is a concept we most consider when discussing appropriated works. The testify presented suggests that the notion of authorship is still very much present inside appropriation in contemporary art. However, the weight of Barthes statement is such that we must take it into account. Perhaps a macerated responsibility or authorship is something we can consider in this context.
Mayhap the virtually central theme in the discourse on appropriation is the outcome of originality. The main question we must address is – what is originality? It is a quality that can refer to the circumstances of creation – i.e. something that is un-plagiarised and the invention of the artist or author? Nosotros can arroyo originality in two ways: as a holding of the work of art itself, or alternatively equally a belongings of the creative person.11 As we have said, many appropriation artists are swell to deny the notion of originality. In a paper addressing the notion of originality within appropriated art, Julie Van Army camp states:
"We value originality because it demonstrates the ability of the creative person to advance the potential of an art class." 12
This statement is problematic, as it is near dismissive of the ability of an artist who chooses appropriation every bit their class of representation. Let us look to the example of Sherrie Levine, perhaps the most well-known and cited cribbing artist. Levine worked first with collage, but is most known for her work with re-photography – taking photographs of well known photographic images from books and catalogues, which she then presents as her own work. In 1979 she photographed piece of work past photographer Walker Evans from 1936. Her piece of work did not attempt to edit or manipulate whatsoever of these images, merely but capture them.
Left: Sherrie Levine, Afterward Walker Evans, 1981; Correct: Walker Evans, Alabama Tenant Farmer'southward Wife, 193613
By bringing this work back into the witting of the art world, she was advancing the art form that is photography by using it to increase our awareness of already existing imagery. On a basic level, we tend to equate originality with aesthetic newness. Why should a new concept – the concept of cribbing and the utilising of existing imagery – be deemed unoriginal? Sherrie Levine was interested in the idea of "multiple images and mechanical reproduction". She said of her piece of work "information technology was never an issue of morality; it was always an issue of utility."14 This statement is easily applied to the works of other cribbing artists, too as Levine's.
Barbara Kruger's piece of work utilised media imagery in an attempt to interpret consumer society. Her background was in media and advertizement, having worked every bit a graphic designer, and movie editor for Condé Nast. Her piece of work "combines compelling images… with pungently confrontational assertations to expose stereotypes beneath."15 Her virtually famous work typically combines black and white photography, overlaid with text in a red and white typeface. Statements within her work such every bit "Nosotros don't demand another hero", "Who knows that depression lurks when power is well-nigh?" and "Fund healthcare non warfare" have naturally led viewers to consider her art as politically themed. Kruger even so, finds the political label often attached to her work problematic.
In a 1988 interview she insists, "I work with pictures and words because they take the ability to make up one's mind who nosotros are, what we want to be and who we become."16 Whilst at that place may or may not be political elements to Kruger'southward work, the undeniable underlying theme prominent throughout all of her works is the result of our consumer society.
By using images bachelor for public consumption in a composition with a thought provoking statement, Kruger is asking united states of america to rethink the images that we eat on a daily ground in terms of perception and how underlying letters part within this imagery. Kruger's use of "less abstruse subjects than Duchamp's"17 may well increase the accessibility of her work, making it familiar and thus available to a wider audience.
Untitled (Nosotros Don't Need Another Hero), Barbara Kruger, 198718
Barbara Kruger is still creating art today, and the about current example of her work is seen in the November 2010 issue of W Mag: The Art Issue featuring reality TV star Kim Kardashian on the cover. It features a naked Kardashian with Kruger'due south famous cherry-red and white block text covering her modesty. The text reads 'It's all about me/I mean you/I hateful me". Combining the words of Kruger and the epitome of currently world famous Kardashian is a class of appropriation in itself. West Mag is appropriating the star into an art context, past simply featuring her on the comprehend of their art issue. This could exist an attempt to consider another area of our consumer culture, which the comprehend star makes her living from – reality TV – equally an fine art form. Here Due west Mag has appropriated the image of Kardashian, and is therefore asking us to consider the 'fine art' of reality TV.
Westward Magazine, The Art Issue, Nov 201019
The idea of using cribbing to accost the consumption of imagery is something that was addressed in the pivotal 1977 exhibition Pictures. In the exhibition catalogue, curator Douglas Crimp noted to growing extent to which our day-to-day feel is governed by images from the media. He said: "Next to these pictures our firsthand experience begins to retreat, to seem more and more than footling…It therefore becomes imperative to understand the picture itself."20 Crimp'south exhibition at the New York Creative person's Space used the work of artists including Sherrie Levine, Troy Bauntuch and Robert Longo to display appropriation as a new way of representation. The exhibition has a considerable touch on on the art world – it launched a new art based on the (unremarkably unauthorised) possession of the images and artefacts of others.21
Richard Prince is an appropriation artist who is unremarkably idea to have featured in the pivotal Pictures exhibition, despite having no connections with information technology whatsoever. His work nevertheless, addresses the same issues tackled by the artists in Crimp'due south exhibition. Much of his work focused on the re-photography of caption less advertisements for loftier end products such as perfume, way and watches. Interested in commodity and consumption, "Prince was treated equally a social communicator whose aim was to critique commodification."22
Left: Jim Krantz; Right: Richard Prince23
Here Prince has re-photographed and re-proportioned an image from an ad for Marlboro cigarettes. Much like the work of Sherrie Levine, there is very little that the artist Richard Prince has done to modify the original work. The questions of originality and authorship continually environment Prince and his piece of work. When asked to comment nigh his 'borrowings' for an commodity in the New York Times, he declined to comment, stating but: "I never associated advertisements with having an author."24
The soapbox and attention surrounding the concept of appropriation is and then extensive that nosotros must consider it an art form. One of Richard Prince's Marlboro appropriation photographs sold at Christies for $1.ii million in 2005, setting a new record for appropriation art.25 Art of all genres has something that makes usa think, or evokes a feeling – any feeling, in it's viewer. Whilst some may consider appropriation as copying or forgery, it is articulate that the controversial fine art form has now gained recognition worthy of a contemporary art do.
After Sherrie Levine by Jeanne Siegel. (2001.) Bachelor at: www.artnotart.com/sherrielevine/arts.Su.85.html (Accessed 4th Feburary 2011).
'Artisan of History'. (2009). Available at: http://artisanhistory.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html Accessed 20th February 2011.
Barthes, R. (1967). 'The Decease of the Author' in Stygall, G (2002). Academic Discourse: Readings for Argument and Analysis, Taylor and Francis: London.
Dunleavy, D. (2007). 'The irony of art in a culture of cribbing'. Bachelor at: http://ddunleavy.typepad.com/the_big_picture/2007/12/the-irony-of-ar.html Accessed 20th February 2011
Evans, D. (2009). Cribbing. Whitechapel Gallery/MIT Press: London/Massachusetts.
Irvin, S. (2005). 'Cribbing and Authorship in Gimmicky Art'. British Journal of Aesthetics, Vol 45, No. 2.
Kruger, B. (1999). Thinking of You lot. MIT Press: Massachusetts.
'Mary Boone Gallery' (2011) Bachelor at: http://www.maryboonegallery.com/artist_info/pages/kruger/detail2.html Accessed 20th February 2011
Sandler, I. (1996). Art of the Postmodern Era: From the Late 1960's to the Early 1990's. Westview Press: Colorado.
Siegel, J. (1988). Art Talk: the Early 80's. Di Capo Press: Michigan
Kennedy, R. (2007). 'If the Copy Is an Artwork, So What'due south the Original?'. The New York Times [Online] Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/arts/pattern/06prin.html?_r=1&ex=1197867600&en=ce95b8dd14df4dd8&ei=5070&emc=eta1 Accessed 28th February 2011
W Magazine. (2010). Available at: http://world wide web.wmagazine.com/celebrities/2010/11/kim_kardashian_queen_of_reality_tv_ss#slide=10 Accessed 22nd February 2011.
1.) Stiles, K (1996) Theories and documents of contemporary fine art: a sourcebook of artists' writings University of California Press: CA. p. 377
2.) Van Army camp, J (2007) 'Originality in Postmodern Appropriation Art' The Periodical of Arts Management, Police force, and Society, 36: four p.247
3.) Schneider, A (2007) Cribbing as Practice. Art and Identity in Argentina, Palgrave Macmillan pp.24-5
4.) Sandler, I (1996) Art of the Postmodern Era: From the Late 1960'southward to the Early on 1990's Westview Press: Colorado p. 321
5.) Prototype from ArtNet: Available at: http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/news/walrobinson/walrobinson9-one-2.asp Accessed 28th Febuary 2011
6.) Moma Collection Online: Available at: http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=79766
7.) Irvin, South (2005) 'Appropriation and Authorship in Contemporary Art' British Journal of Aesthetics, Vol 45, No. two, p. 123
8.) Barthes, R (1967) 'The Death of the Author' in Stygall, G (2002) Academic Discourse: Readings for Argument and Analysis, Taylor and Francis: London p. 102
9.) Ibid p.106
10.) Irvin, S (2005) p.123
11.) Van Camp (2007) p.248
12.) Ibid. p.250
13.) http://artisanhistory.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html
14.) After Sherrie Levine past Jeanne Siegel (2001) Available at: www.artnotart.com/sherrielevine/arts.Su.85.html (Accessed quaternary Feburary 2011)
15.) Siegel, J (1988) Art Talk: the Early 80'south Di Capo Press: Michigan p. 299
16.) Ibid, p. 303.
17.) Kruger, B (1999) Thinking of You MIT Printing: Massachusetts p. 9.
18.) http://www.maryboonegallery.com/artist_info/pages/kruger/detail2.html
19.) http://world wide web.wmagazine.com/celebrities/2010/11/kim_kardashian_queen_of_reality_tv_ss#slide=10
20.) Sandler, I (1996) p.319.
21.) Evans, D. (Eds.) (2009) Appropriation Whitechapel Gallery/MIT Printing: London/Massachusetts p. 12
22.) Sandler, I (1996) p. 326.
23.) http://ddunleavy.typepad.com/the_big_picture/2007/12/the-irony-of-ar.html
24.) Kennedy, R (2007) 'If the Copy Is an Artwork, Then What's the Original?' The New York Times [Online] Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/arts/design/06prin.html?_r=one&ex=1197867600&en=ce95b8dd14df4dd8&ei=5070&emc=eta1 Accessed 28th Febuary 2010.
25.) Ibid.
Source: http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1661/appropriation-in-contemporary-art
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