MODULE 12: CULTURAL APPROPRIATION ON THE ARTS

APPROPRIATION ART
Here is a question for you guys. Have you ever copied an image from
photograph, advertisement, magazines, journals, or other sources? When is it ok
and when it is not?
In this contemporary world, we live in a culture that overflows with images
and objects. From television to the internet, from the mall to the junkshop, we are
surrounded by words, images objects that are cheap, free or throwaway. You
may think that these are already useless and have no importance.
Surprising or not, artist today incorporate these objects in to their creative
expressions and this what we call appropriation in arts.
To appropriate is to borrow. Appropriation inn arts therefore is the practice
of creating or even borrowing new work by taking a pre-existing image from
another source such as from art history books, advertisements, media and then
transforming or combining it with new ones. Other sources of appropriated
images are works of art in the past and recent ones, historical documents, film,
and television, products in the market.
The source of an image or an object that was appropriated can be
politically charged, symbolic, or ambiguous, or can even push limits of imagery
deemed acceptable for art.
What does the artist do with the image which was appropriated?
Any appropriated image can be photographed or digitally reproduced,
copied by mechanical means using an overhead projector that is attached
directly into the artwork or recreated in several ways. The result can be
representation of the appropriated object or a genuine transformation.
Sometimes artists recreate an object or repaint it. They may also alter its
scale or style to create a new artwork.
They may also juxtapose (placing it side by side) different objects or
images, break them into fragments, or recontextualize (glossary) them- that is
how they redefine images or objects by placing them in a new context so that it
appears as an original work of art.
Is the use of appropriation significant?
Yes, the use of appropriation in art has played a significant role in the
history of the art such as those literary, visual, musical, and performing arts.
 In the visual art, for instance, to appropriate means to properly adopt,
borrow, recycle or sample aspects of human- made, visual, cultural. In most
cases original ‘thing’ remains accessible as the original, without changes.
Historical Background of Appropriation in Art
Appropriation in art started in 1970s with Richard Prince rephotographed
advertisements such as for Marlboro cigarettes. His main work is on billboard
advertising.
In 1980s, this art was commonly used by artists. One of them was Sherrie
Levine who addressed the art of appropriating itself as a theme in arts. She often
quotes the entire works in her own work, for example photographing photographs
of Walker Evans. Levine plays with the theme of “almost same.”
In 1990s, artist continued to produced appropriation art, rising it as a
medium to address theories, political, and social issues, rather than to focus in
the works themselves.
In this digital age, appropriation have today become an everyday
phenomenon. The new generation “remix culture” have already taken the stage
not only of the visual arts but also of music, literature, dance and film.
According to some artists, by liberating one finally from traditional
concepts as originality, they will lead to new terms of understanding and defining
art. Critical observes see this as the starting point of a huge problem. They say
the if creation is based on nothing more than carefree processes of finding,
copying, recombining, and manipulating pre-existing media concepts, forms,
varies and alters of any source, art will be trivialized low-demanding and a
regressive activity.
Appropriation Art Cases Filed in Court
Appropriation act has resulted in several copyright issues regarding its
“Campbell’s Soup Can,” Jeff Koon’s “String of Puppies”; Andrea Blanch’s “Silk
Sandals by Gucci”; Damian Hurst’s sculpture “Hymn”; Richard Prince and
companions on their painting “Canal Zone”, etc. the case is in favor for all
respondents (sued artists). Appropriating a familiar object to make an art work
can prevent the artist claiming copyright ownership and artworks that
“transformed the original images are permitted”.
Appropriation of Art into Contemporary Narratives
Many artists today have been in specific artistic styles, movements, and
techniques. These artists appropriate and transform works of art to varying
degree to fit the theme and designs of the the stories they wish to illustrate and
publish. Their purpose of doing this is to increase the significance of their
artworks.
In the fine arts, for instance, there are three forms of narrative
appropriateness: 1. Reproduction; 2. Transfiguration; 3. Stylization.
Reproduction is the mimetic reproduction of an original work of fine art, a
faithful rendering of an original artwork, most frequently achieved through a
photographic or digital rendering process. In transfiguration, a single work of
fine art is identifiable but the artist has transformed the image to fit the context
and purpose of a particular picture board, narrative and design. In stylization, a
specific work is not readily identifiable but a particular art movement, for example
surrealism may be adopted upon by the illustrator.
Five Acts of Cultural Appropriation
These are: object appropriation, context appropriation, style appropriation,
motif appropriation, and subject appropriation.
Object appropriation is latency of objects for appropriation as works of arts.
A motif may be repeated, copied, in a pattern or design, often many times for
appropriation use.
Appropriation in Contemporary Arts
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 cross-cultural contact.
Images and elements of culture that have been appropriated commonly
involved famous and recognizable works of art, well known literature, and easily
accessible images from the media.
The first artist to successfully demonstrate forms of appropriation within his
work is widely considered to be Marcel Duchamp. He devised the concept of the
‘readymade,’ which essentially involved an item being chosen by the artist,
signed by the artist and repositioned into a gallery context.
By asking the viewer to consider the object as art, Duchamp was
appropriating it. For Duchamp, the work of the artist was in selecting the object.
Whilst the beginnings of appropriation can be located to the beginning of the 20th
century through the innovations of Duchamp, it is often said that if the art of the
1980’s could be epitomized by any one technique or practice, it would be
appropriation.
The concepts of originality and of authorship are central to the debate of
appropriation in contemporary art. We shall discuss these in depth in order to
contextualized the works we will investigate later in this topic. To properly
examine the concept, it is also necessary to consider the work of the artists
associated with appropriation with regards to their motivations, reasoning, and
the effect of their work.
Finally, the writer concluded that the notion of authority is still very present
within appropriation in contemporary art- but diminished responsibility.