Appropriation is a form of taking elements from one piece of
art and then working those elements into a different piece of art and taking
the credit for the piece of art produced. Appropriation has been called
stealing, knocking off and has been frowned upon by many critics. Appropriation
however can be viewed with a different mindset; it can be viewed as a form of
remix with the intent to form something new from old material as the American
journalist Ambrose Bierce said “There is nothing new under the sun but there
are lots of old things we don’t know” what this quote means is while everything
has already been done there are still many things which are new to us for example say I had never heard of johnny cash before, while he wouldn't be new he would be new to me as I had never heard of him before making his style of music new for anyone who has not heard it.
If most forms of appropriation are acceptable then the bigger difficulty is knowing where to draw the line between appropriation and "ripping off". For me the acts of Richard Prince are undeniably acts of plagiarism which should be punished accordingly as there is no improvement or remixing done to the paintings which he has simply copied, pasted and sold. The difference between appropriation and plagiarism has to do with what the artist does to the existing piece of art and what they do to put their own individual style into it. The evaluation of art done in appropriation should be based on the improvements done to the base art and how these improvements compliment it whilst not giving the appropriation artist credit for the achievements of the original painting.
Appropriation is by no means a new form or technique of making art and dates back to Rome and Greece with the appropriation in late roman and christian art there are several examples of appropriation. Appropriation has also been used in some of the most renown periods of art such as the renaissance, Many examples of Appropriation may have also not been seen as appropriation as the term was only put to common use around the early twentieth century seen as having it become an actual practice of art around the time of popular cubism and dadaism.
although there are many so called "artists" such as Prince who use appropriation as a means to cover that they are actually blatantly plagiarizing. There are still many artists who use older paintings as means to help convey the message of their art and show previous styles in a new way. While stealing is something we actively associate as bad it is something we do with concerns to influences without it we would not be able to find our own style "Those who do not want to imitate anything produce nothing" (Salvador Dali)
Sites:
www.academia.edu/
www.repository.brynmawr.edu/
www.artspace.com
If most forms of appropriation are acceptable then the bigger difficulty is knowing where to draw the line between appropriation and "ripping off". For me the acts of Richard Prince are undeniably acts of plagiarism which should be punished accordingly as there is no improvement or remixing done to the paintings which he has simply copied, pasted and sold. The difference between appropriation and plagiarism has to do with what the artist does to the existing piece of art and what they do to put their own individual style into it. The evaluation of art done in appropriation should be based on the improvements done to the base art and how these improvements compliment it whilst not giving the appropriation artist credit for the achievements of the original painting.
Appropriation is by no means a new form or technique of making art and dates back to Rome and Greece with the appropriation in late roman and christian art there are several examples of appropriation. Appropriation has also been used in some of the most renown periods of art such as the renaissance, Many examples of Appropriation may have also not been seen as appropriation as the term was only put to common use around the early twentieth century seen as having it become an actual practice of art around the time of popular cubism and dadaism.
although there are many so called "artists" such as Prince who use appropriation as a means to cover that they are actually blatantly plagiarizing. There are still many artists who use older paintings as means to help convey the message of their art and show previous styles in a new way. While stealing is something we actively associate as bad it is something we do with concerns to influences without it we would not be able to find our own style "Those who do not want to imitate anything produce nothing" (Salvador Dali)
Sites:
www.academia.edu/
www.repository.brynmawr.edu/
www.artspace.com
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