Appropriation in art
Appropriation in art is the use of pre-existing objects or images with little alteration of the original. To appropriate means to properly adopt, borrow, recycle or sample parts or the whole piece of art. It is nearly impossible to come up with a purely original piece of art. Therefore, most artists rely on inspirations from unique pieces of art, hence appropriation art. Appropriation means that artists intentionally copy authentic images to take possession of them in their art. Appropriation art tends to be problematic sometimes when little is done to expand on the original artwork.
By appropriation, artists do not mean to steal other people’s work. Instead, artists want the viewers of the images to recognize the original work. Appropriation also helps the artist to comment on or criticize the original image’s meaning and the viewers’ association with the original or the real art. Artists also use appropriation because they are interested in how the existing artwork can be used to create new works that refer back and appreciate the original work while producing a new piece of art.
How artists in the 20th-century use appropriation art
Various forms of art that artists copy includes visual arts, music, literature, dance, and film. One of the ways artists use the appropriation of art is by recreating paintings by merely altering the original in a certain way to give the unique piece of art a new meaning. Artists often reproduced paintings by only modifying the original. In doing this, artists created a new situation giving the pictures new meanings. Other artists borrow familiar images from art history and change their texture and colour, but without losing the resemblance to the original, making the pieces of art look modern.
Other artists use images already in the public domain but include a thought-provoking statement. By doing this, artists want us to rethink the models that we see daily in terms of perception and the underlying messages. The addition of a statement to a piece of art may make the literature available to more viewers.
In music, artists use appropriation art when they copy a song but make a few changes. These types of songs are called remixes, whereby the original melody and lyrics remain with minimal alterations to the beats or the lyrics. These remixes remind the audience of the original song but still appreciate the new one, which most of the time gets more airplay than the original.
Appropriation art is also used in film making whereby creators of a particular film can get inspiration from a previously existing cinema. The creators of the unoriginal films, in most cases, use a scene in the original film to create a script, but the audience is still able to relate to the original art. It is the same way that some advertising companies get inspiration from certain films or any other artwork, and they use the material in their commercials.
In literature, appropriation art is mostly used to transform some ancient poetry to modern ones. Most book authors are known to be inspired by the books that they read. It is, therefore, almost palpable that they incorporate previous works in their books. They borrow and adapt imagery of the old times, and by bringing that in their literature, the readers in the modern world get to give interpretations from a different time and angle.
Conclusion
Therefore, to produce an unoriginal piece of art, it is crucial that artists fully understand the meaning of the original composition. Otherwise, the artist will just be copying original work, and the result will be irrelevant. Since appropriation art has been accepted as a form of art, artists should always strive to give new light to the pieces of art they appropriate.