For our first brief, we were tasked with creating 2 images that were inspired by others. Therefore I began to look into photographers and artists who has appropriated others to create works which were now original and held a different meaning. The first artist I looked into who had appropriated works was Andy Warhol. Andy Warhol was a graphic designer and artist from Pittsburgh. He became one of the leading artists during the 1960’s pop art movement creating famous, well known art pieces. such his Marilyn Monroe series or his Campbells soup print. Warhol created these works of art using blotting and stamping techniques, however, some of his most famous paintings and prints were not entirely all his own. In one of his most famous works, his ‘Marilyn’ series, Warhol took a publicity shot from her 1953 movie ‘Niagra’. He then adapted the picture by transferring the image onto screen prints and canvases. Although he transformed the image from its standard original form, he still did not own the rights to the original image, therefore I believe this is a good example of appropriation since the appropriated image is now more famous than the original. I personally really like Warhol’s imagery. Although it was appropriated I can see that he has given the image a new form and also by changing the image from the simple way it was presented before, Warhol has given the piece a new audience who will appreciate not only the picture itself but also the way he adapted it into his own style.
When looking into appropriation, I also came across famous artist and feminist Barbra Kruger. Barbra Kruger is a graphic artist and photographer. She is mostly known for her silkscreen prints which would feature a found photo and she would then place a direct caption across the image. Kruger is most famous for her ‘Your body is a battleground’ which was a print designed for the 1989 reproductive rights protests in Washington D.C. I found this image so interesting and visually pleasing, however the image itself is once again not all Kruger’s work. As previously stated, Kruger used photos that were not her own. They were often taken from magazines. I find Kruger’s visual style very interesting and also the way she has used the images give them a completely new meaning which supports what I believe to be a very worthy cause.
When we were first introduced to the idea of appropriation, I did not agree with it as I felt like it was in a way cheating at being creative and also was stealing as people would take the images and not even pay to use them or give credit to the original creators, however as I researched more into it, I began to learn that a lot of the famous images we recognise today are actually appropriated. I do think that people should pay to use to images and given credit to the original creator however if a person is using an image to create something different with contrasting meaning, I see no issue and we may see some new recognisable images coming from this concept.
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