Appropriation in ArtHomage or Insult? =

Andy Warhol, Campbell’s Soup Silkscreen

To appropriate something involves

taking possession of it!

E.g. Mass culture such as Comic style and famous ‘Mickey Mouse icon, adopted in pop art!

The practice of “appropriation” has become quite familiar in the art world over the past century. The practice can be tracked back tothe CUBIST Collages and constructions of Picasso and Georges Barque made from 1912 on, in which real objects such as newspapers were included to represent themselves. It was often used in the 80’s, where artists cut-and-paste, some take images from other artists and alter or use fractions of them in their own work, and some just borrow ideas from other artists.

In the late 1950s, appropriated images and objects appear extensively in the works of Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, and in Pop Art, where artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichenstein practises it for both

social commentary on culture…Left to right:

Brillo BoxWarhol, 1964Silkscreen ink on painted wood17 1/8 x 17 1/8 x 14 in

Flag Jasper Johns 1954–55. Encaustic, oil, and collage on fabric mounted on plywood (three panels)

Fountain Marcel Duchamp, 1917.

and criticism on: what really is a work of art?

Julie Rrap has been a major figure in Australian contemporary art for over twenty years.

Since the mid-1970s, she has worked with photography, painting, sculpture, performanceand video in an on-going project concernedwith representations of the body.

JULIE RRAPJulie Rrap1.0Appropriation!

Julie Rrap1.0

Untitled (after Manet’s Olympia), 2002 Julie Rrap

Appropriation!

The viewer was to interact with the appropriated artwork by involving their bodies- lying in the negative bronze casts, they will be in a similar position as the main subject, thus becoming ‘one’ with the artwork.

‘Fleshed Out’- Untitled (after Manet’s Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe’ ), 2002 Julie Rrap

Julie Rrap1.0Appropriation!

Exhibited along-side these sculptures are life-sized, digitally-manipulated prints on canvas of the original paintings from which the same figures have been removed. With these works, Rrap invites the viewer to enter the scene, to place themselves into these famous compositions… using 3 different mediums- digital, sculptural and performance.

Picasso1.0

Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe’ Picasso, 1962, Oil on Canvas

Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe’ Manet ,1863. Oil on canvas, 208 x 264.5 cm

Appropriation!

Picasso’s distinctive style of cubism, re-interpreting the masterpiece

Las Meninas1957Picasso Oil on canvas194 x 260 cm

Las Meninas 1656 Diego Velazquezoil on canvas, 276 x 320 cm

By turning the camera on herself,

Cindy Sherman has built a name as one of the most respected photographers of the late twentieth century.

Sherman uses herself as a vehicle for commentary on a variety of issues of the modern world: the role and representation of women in society and the media.

Questions the role of the artist as well as the nature of the creation of art.

CINDY SHERMANCindy Sherman2.0Appropriation!

Using prosthetic body parts to augment her own body,

Sherman recreates great piecesof art and thus manipulates her role as a contemporary artist working

in the twentieth-century.

Untitled #195 Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman2.0Appropriation!

Untitled #216Cindy Sherman

Untitled #228Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman2.0

Untitled #224Cindy Sherman

“The idea that images can be reproducedand seen anytime, anywhere, by anyone”

Cindy Sherman2.0

Young Sick Bacchus, 1593-1594, early self- portrait by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

Questions to Ponder :

• Who owns the image? How much of an original idea does the artist really own?

• Does one artist have the right to say to another, “You may not use my work as inspiration for your own work?” With the trend of appropriation catching on, many artists, their practices, and the ideals of art have come into question.

Andy Warhol BanksySherrie Levine

Homework for Section A:

LA Based Artist

Shepherd Fairey

Founder of Street Label- ‘Obey’

Artistic style often involves creating graffiti art and imagery composition of guerilla warfare + political/ propaganda posters, merged with popular culture, celebrity icons and current global events.

Case Study 1Homework for Section B:

AP Countersues Over Use Of Obama Image By Artist Shepard FaireyWednesday, March 11, 2009

Who do you think is right?- Please Read attached article 1- Fairey vs AP now

Fairey vs. AP

Art Rogers vs. Jeff Koons (in essay entitled Subjective Reasoning by James Traub)1992

Who do you think is right?- Please Read attached article 2- Koons vs Roger now

Left: Art Rogers, Puppies, 1985 © Art Rogers.

Right: Jeff Koons, String of Puppies, 1988

Case Study 2

• How Original are Imitators?

• What would make an appropriation work successful, instead of just imitation?

Questions to Ponder :