Appropriation In Art Analysis

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Appropriating existing imagery or elements of imagery that are appropriating the original imagery and allowing the viewer to renegotiate the meaning of the original in a different, more relevant way is appropriation of art (Rowe, 06). Nevertheless, the practice of appropriation in art, which is acceptable, has result the contention of copyright. Take, for instance, Richard Prince re-photographed Marlboro cigarette advertisements, specifically those featuring the Marlboro Man, which was originally shot by Sam Abell (Parkinson, 2015), and he easily took the credit. However, the controversial deed, the argument against artistic appropriate is wrong because one needs ideas, creative intentions, and one has to have solid strategies to take risks …show more content…

It’s a way to breathe new life into culture (Young, 2015). Appropriation in art has a long history. Marcel Duchamp was the first artist to successfully demonstrate forms of appropriation. 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. Later, in the 1960s, Pop artists like Andy Warhol, James Rosenquist, and Roy Lichtenstein used familiar mass-cultural imagery to comment America’s consumer culture (Gemmell, 2012). Also, famous artist like Picasso who borrowed narrative and composition of art from Robert Colesscott’s painting, Les Demoiselles d’Alabama to his infamous painting, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. (Rowe, 06). The question stands, why such famous artists borrowed recognizable images from various sources? Was it they created every masterpiece they could and soon they ran out of ideas? Why is it still in practice? This skeptical question provokes most people, as a result, appropriation is understood as stealing and disagreed as a form of art. However, the disagreement of appropriation in art is not acceptable. Knowing the fact of criticism, artists continues the notion of originality and intentionally borrow the forms of art to let viewers to comprehend the image or structure in a new perspective. By appropriating forms of art, famous artists accepted appropriation in art and gave a new life into culture. This influenced recent artists to appropriate forms of art and use them in a new context. For this reason, appropriation in art has been historically important to the creation of new meaningful art and art