In terms of art, appropriation is the practice of using pre-existing objects and images in an artwork without really altering the originals. Appropriation artists want the viewer to recognise the images they copy. In a time when appropriation appears to have seamlessly integrated into contemporary art practice, only during the last two centuries that is has been challenged as an acceptable art form. Appropriation is not new, indeed, during art history, appropriation was championed as the model for developing artist. However, in an era that expects artists to produce radically new art this brief reading point garners the opinions of artists and art critic regarding appropriation. What started as a reading point has expanded into a area that I knew very little about – and even now feel that I have only scratched the surface of a controversial subject.

Sherrie Levine (b. 1947) is an American photographer, painter and conceptual artist. In her Statement (1982), she expresses the loss or originality and authenticity in art to say that everyone is copying. In challenging the concept of ownership, she unambiguously appropriates familiar modernist artworks by artists such as Walker Evans, Edgar Degas and Marcel Duchamp.

Levine said that “a painting’s meaning lies not in its origin, but in its destination.” This statement softens the significance for originality to suggest that it is for the viewer to decide how a piece of work is perceived when being viewed for the first time.

Glenn Brown CBE (b. 1966) is a British artist who is known for the use of appropriation in his paintings. Starting with reproductions from other artists’ works, Brown transforms the appropriated image so that texture is lost and colour distorted thereby creating accidental inaccuracies or intentional alterations.

In conversation with Rochelle Steiner, Brown challenges the constraints of copyright, referring to his work as a ‘form of visual critique’, and ‘freedom of expression’. Instead, Brown offers the idea that expressing an individual view should “incorporate the myriad of other opinions that surround us”.  Brown’s artwork, whilst it remains familiar, is not immediately recognisable to the original work which he references. As such, this may be a form of expressing a new visual language.

On the Way to the Leisure Centre, (2017) is based on a work by Pierre Subleyras (1699-1749). The elongated and distorted figure is rendered with visible brushstrokes and intense and surreal colours. Chillingly buitiful.

Jan Verwoert is a critic and writer on contemporary art and cultural theory. In 2007 he argued that appropriation is “an intense sense of an interruption of temporal continuity”, and that “things that live throughout time cannot, in any unambiguous sense, pass into anyone’s possession. (Harrison and Wood, 2003)

 Assuming this reasoning is accepted it becomes difficult to claim absolute authenticity or ownership of any piece of art by any single person, as we would all be obliged to credit our predecessors whose work has either directly or indirectly contributed to our own.

Throughout art history, artists have learnt and developed their own skills and techniques by copying and modifying the works of other artists. This was not only accepted but championed as an acceptable practice. Verwoert observes that this has been challenged during the last two centuries because of “the cult of individual genius” and expectation that artists should produce radically new art. (Harrison and Wood, 2003)

Other well-known appropriation artists are Richard Prince, Jeff Koons, Louise Lawler, Gerhard Richter, Yasumasa Morimura, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Kathleen Gilje. One of my favorites is Kathleen Gilje who appropriates masterpieces in order to comment on the original content and propose another. (Gersh-Nesic, 2019)

As art student’s, we are encouraged to look at other artists and their artwork, to reflect on art history and express how these aspects may have inspired or influenced my thought process or outcomes.  In this context, rather than challenging appropriation, or distorting text or images beyond recognition, the answer maybe in accepting that in a cycle of ever-proliferating imagery, it is futile to proclaim any form of originality. What matters is how the work appears to the observer.

Inevitably there is a fine balance to be struck between protecting the intellectual property and not suppressing the artistic or personal freedom of expression of others.  As a matter of law, there is no requirement that secondary use should comment on the original work, but rather that the new work should add some “new expression, meaning or message” to the original.  (Shield, n.d.)

References

Bartleby.com. n.d. Philip Massinger. T.S. Eliot. 1921. The Sacred Wood; Essays On Poetry And Criticism. [online] Available at: <https://www.bartleby.com/200/sw11.html&gt; [Accessed 27 April 2020].

Bramham, M., 2017. Cultural Appropriation, Art And Free Expression – CONATUS NEWS. [online] CONATUS NEWS. Available at: <https://conatusnews.com/cultural-appropriation-artistic-expression/&gt; [Accessed 27 April 2020].

CBC. 2020. Appropriation Vs. Artistic Freedom. [online] Available at: <https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/943249475957&gt; [Accessed 27 April 2020].

Duca, D., 2013. The Irreverent Plagiarists. [online] Artcopyright.interartive.org. Available at: <https://artcopyright.interartive.org/daniela-duca&gt; [Accessed 27 April 2020].

Eliot, T., 1999. Selected Essays. London: Faber.

Farago, J., 2014. ‘Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal’. [online] Bbc.co.uk. Available at: <http://www.bbc.co.uk/culture/story/20141112-great-artists-steal&gt; [Accessed 27 April 2020].

Gersh-Nesic, B., 2019. Is Appropriation Art Theft Or Commentary?. [online] ThoughtCo. Available at: <https://www.thoughtco.com/appropriation-appropriation-art-183190&gt; [Accessed 27 April 2020].

Harrison, C. and Wood, P., 2003. Art In Theory 1900-2000. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, pp.1038-1039.

Levine, S., n.d. Sherrie Levine Paintings, Bio, Ideas. [online] The Art Story. Available at: <https://www.theartstory.org/artist/levine-sherrie/&gt; [Accessed 27 April 2020].

Myers, T., 2011. Painting. London: Whitechapel Gallery, pp.167-168.

Shield, H., n.d. Appropriation Art Found Not To Infringe Copyright – Art@Law. [online] Art@Law. Available at: <https://www.artatlaw.com/archives/archives-2013-jan-june/appropriation-art-found-not-to-infringe-copyright&gt; [Accessed 27 April 2020].

Tate. n.d. Glenn Brown: Explore The Exhibition | Tate. [online] Available at: <https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-liverpool/exhibition/glenn-brown/glenn-brown-explore-exhibition&gt; [Accessed 27 April 2020].

Trespeuch, H., 2017. The Feminism Of Sherrie Levine Through The Prism Of The Supposed “Death Of The Author” — AWARE Women Artists / Femmes Artistes. [online] AWARE Women artists / Femmes artistes. Available at: <https://awarewomenartists.com/en/magazine/feminisme-de-sherrie-levine-prisme-de-pretendue-mort-de-lauteur/&gt; [Accessed 27 April 2020].