Appropriation in art
• Appropriation refers to the act of borrowing or
reusing existing elements within a new work.
Post-modern appropriation artists, including
Barbara Kruger, are keen to deny the notion of
‘originality’. They believe that in borrowing
existing imagery or elements of imagery, they
are re-contextualizing or appropriating the
original imagery, allowing the viewer to
renegotiate the meaning of the original in a
different, more relevant, or more current
context.
Barbara Kruger
While appropriation in art has
been around for ages, it began to
gain popularity in the 20th
century. Most notably with
“Dada” artists like Marcel
Duchamp, who championed the
art of the “ready mades”. Andy
Warhol continued the tradition of
appropriation, but the times were
changing, and borrowing images
to create new ones became more
controversial with the onset of
consumerism.
Andy Warhol
Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp was a
pioneer of Dada, a
movement that
questioned long-held
assumptions about what
art should be, and how it
should be made. In the
years immediately
preceding World War I,
Duchamp found success
as a painter in Paris. But
he soon gave up
painting almost entirely,
explaining, “I was
interested in ideas—not
merely in visual
products.”
Readymades
• Seeking an alternative to representing objects in paint,
Duchamp began presenting objects themselves as art. He
selected mass-produced, commercially available, often
utilitarian objects, designating them as art and giving them
titles. “Readymades,” as he called them, disrupted centuries of
thinking about the artist’s role as a skilled creator of original
handmade objects. Instead, Duchamp argued, “An ordinary
object [could be] elevated to the dignity of a work of art by the
mere choice of an artist.”
• The readymade also defied the
notion that art must be beautiful.
Duchamp claimed to have
chosen everyday objects “based on a
reaction of visual indifference, with
at the same time a total absence of
good or bad taste….”2 In doing so,
Duchamp paved the way for
Conceptual art—work that was “in
the service of the mind,”3 as opposed
to a purely “retinal” art, intended
only to please the eye.
But is it original?
Left: Robert Colesscott, Les Demoiselles d’Alabama, 19855; Right:
Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, 1907
Re-contextualization
Shepard Fairey
But what about sculpture?
Jeff Koons
Case 1: Rogers v. Koons
Jeff Koons is well known
artist who is know for his
appropriation of images
and re contextualizing
them in his pieces. In this
case though, he pushed it
too far and paid the price
for it. Art Rogers was a
professional photographer
and took the picture
(bottom right). He then
had the picture printed on
postcards and sold them.
Koons in turn saw the
postcard and decided to
make a statue of it, most
notably ripping the
copyright sticker off of it
and handing it to his
assistants with
instructions on how to
construct the statue.
Art fail
• It was inevitable that Rogers
would find out due to the
popularity of Koons at the time.
After the trial, Koons was found
guilty of misappropriation of the
photograph and that the pieces
were found to possess
“substantial similarity”. Koons
lost on all accounts.
Damien Hirst
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
• The root of all evil stems from money when
talking about appropriation. If you are using
appropriation for personal use or for
Educational use, you are generally safe from
repercussions, but it is when you publicly
present your work or try to sell it that the
problems arise. This is only the tip of the
iceberg on this topic and as you wade further
and further into murky waters it only
becomes more confusing.
Fair Use
• Fair use is a legal
doctrine that permits
limited use of
copyrighted material
without acquiring
permission from the
rights holders. It is one
type of limitation and
exception to the
exclusive rights
copyright law grants to
the author of a creative
work.
Mixed media appropriation
Questions to ask yourself:
• Who is the original artist?
• How did you appropriate this artwork?
What media did you choose and why?
• What are the original pieces about?
• What is the meaning of your artwork and
how do you get that across and connect
with the audience without giving it away?
