Appropriation in Art (Notes)

Summary:

The article discusses appropriation in art, where artists borrow or reuse existing elements in a new work. It provides examples of appropriation and its history, including cultural appropriation. The article also raises originality, ownership, cultural offence and loss issues. The task at the end of the article asks readers to appropriate a billboard picture by giving it a new meaning and putting the appropriated picture and their version side by side. The criteria for the task include re-contextualization and similarity to the original picture.

Excerpt:

Appropriation in Art (Notes)

Appropriation refers to the act of borrowing or reusing existing elements within a new work.

Many artists are appropriators. This means they borrow from other artists’ works.

Here are some examples of appropriation.

Appropriation in Art

Left: Robert Colesscott, Les Demoiselles d’Alabama, 1985     Right: Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, 1907

Les Demoiselles d’Avignon  (right painting) is a large oil painting created in 1907 by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. The work, part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, portrays five nude female prostitutes in a brothel on Carrer d’Avinyó, a street in Barcelona.

Robert Colesscott’s Les Demoiselles d’Alabama, 1985 (left painting) is an example of appropriation, a painting that borrows its narrative and composition from the infamous Les Demoiselles d’Avignon by Picasso. Here Colesscott has developed Picasso’s abstraction and ‘Africanism’ in line with European influences. Colescott has made this famous image his own, in terms of colour and content, while making his inspiration clear. The historical reference to Picasso is there, but this is undeniably the artist’s own work.

Another example of appropriation is this:

Appropriation in Art

Jayr Pinpiño

Jayr Pinpiño appropriated Carlos “Botong” Francisco na “FIlipino Struggles Through History.” Although Jayr Pinpiño clearly drew his inspiration from Francisco’s painting, he made it his own because he contextualized his painting. He made his painting very relevant to our times.

Both paintings speak about heroism but at different times.

That is appropriation. It is not simply copying someone else’s work. Contextualization has to be done.