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Appropriation Art and Its Controversies

This module focuses on art, appropriation, and improvisation. It discusses how art reflects past events and cultures, and how appropriation involves deliberately copying images from other works to comment on their original meaning. Improvisation in art makes works distinctive by having artists respond spontaneously to their materials and situations. The module aims to help students understand how meanings are derived from art, issues around appropriating other works, and how improvisation can make art unique.

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Belle Ambion
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30 views7 pages

Appropriation Art and Its Controversies

This module focuses on art, appropriation, and improvisation. It discusses how art reflects past events and cultures, and how appropriation involves deliberately copying images from other works to comment on their original meaning. Improvisation in art makes works distinctive by having artists respond spontaneously to their materials and situations. The module aims to help students understand how meanings are derived from art, issues around appropriating other works, and how improvisation can make art unique.

Uploaded by

Belle Ambion
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Module No 6- Art

Module 7- Soul Making: Appropriation and Improvisation

By the end of this module, students should be able to:


1. Explain how meanings can be derived from art;
2. Discuss how improvisation can make an artwork distinctive, and;
3. Identify the issues and problems that can arise because of
appropriation.

Art has been an instrument to reflect the things and events that
transpired in the past so that the future generations can have a
glimpse of the past. With the advent of technological advancement,
societies have improved the ways and means through which art can be
communicative tool. If an artwork is an avenue for an artist to
express narratives through symbols, then it follows that the artist
is the author of the work. But during the twentieth century, issues
on ownership have emerged primarily because of the value ascribed to
the viewer of the work.

To "appropriate" is to take possession of something.


Appropriation artists deliberately copy images to take possession of
them in their art. They are not stealing or plagiarizing, nor are
they passing off these images as their very own. This artistic
approach does stir up controversy because some people view
appropriation as unoriginal or theft. This is why it's important to
understand why artists appropriate the artwork of others.
What's the Intent of Appropriation Art?

Appropriation artists want the viewer to recognize the images


they copy. They hope that the viewer will bring all of his original
associations with the image to the artist's new context, be it a
painting, a sculpture, a collage, a combine, or an entire
installation.

The deliberate "borrowing" of an image for this new context is


called "recontextualization." Recontextualization helps the artist
comment on the image's original meaning and the viewer's association
with either the original image or the real thing.

What's the Intent of Appropriation Art?


Appropriation artists want the viewer to recognize the images
they copy. They hope that the viewer will bring all of his original
associations with the image to the artist's new context, be it a
painting, a sculpture, a collage, a combine, or an entire
installation
When an artist creates something there is a desire from him or
her to elicit a certain kind of response from the audience. To a
certain extent, the artist is considered as the first and primary
audience of the work. There is the notion that art should be
perceived as something that would engage and enrich the experience of
the audience as the artist tires to piece together all the elements
grounded on design rules. However, there have been art movements
throughout history that tried to break away from the norms of visual
arts. Improvisation have led artist to find other medium and avenues
to showcase their creative experience in art can also led to
appropriation there seems to be debate whether or not something is
just an appropriation of existing work or just plan forgery.
Appropriation can be tracked back to the cubist collages and
constructions of Picasso and Georges Braque made from 1912 on, in
which real objects such as newspapers were included to represent
themselves. The practice was developed much further in
the readymades created by the French artist Marcel Duchamp from
1915. Most notorious of these was Fountain, a men’s urinal signed,
titled, and presented on a pedestal. Later, surrealism also made
extensive use of appropriation in collages and objects such
as Salvador Dalí’s Lobster Telephone. In the late 1950s appropriated
images and objects appear extensively in the work of Jasper
Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, and in pop art.

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However, the term seems to have come into use specifically in
relation to certain American artists in the 1980s, notably Sherrie
Levine and the artists of the Neo-Geo group particularly Jeff Koons.
Sherrie Levine reproduced as her own work other works of art,
including paintings by Claude Monet and Kasimir Malevich. Her aim
was to create a new situation, and therefore a new meaning or set of
meanings, for a familiar image.

Appropriation art raises questions of originality, authenticity and


authorship, and belongs to the long modernist tradition of art that
questions the nature or definition of art itself. Appropriation
artists were influenced by the 1934 essay by the German philosopher
Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical
Reproduction, and received contemporary support from the American
critic Rosalind Krauss in her 1985 book The Originality of the
Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths.

Appropriation has been used extensively by artists since the 1980s.

What are the 4 types of cultural appropriation?


Examples

 Art, literature, iconography, and adornment.


 Religion and spirituality.
 Fashion.
 Hairstyles, makeup and body modifications.
 Sports.
 African-American culture.
 Indigenous cultures.
 Minority languages

Improvisation

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In everyday life agents improvise when they do something on the
spot, without a previous plan. They improvise when they have to
(re)act under pressure to unexpected circumstances without being
properly prepared for the action. Thus, in everyday practices, agents
improvise when they use “the limited experience and resources at
[their] disposal to carry out an activity in a (usually) time bounded
situation” (Anderson 1995, 93). The way agents cope with unforeseen
difficulties, adapting their intelligence to the unexpected
affordances of the environment, can be more or less efficient and
ingenious. It can be aesthetically satisfactory, in that, for
example, one can find an elegant solution to an unexpected problem
without previous preparation and without having the means ordinarily
required to do it. Moreover, while improvising a solution to an
unexpected problem, we can achieve a practical experiential knowledge
about how to act in some unforeseen circumstances.

In a general sense improvisation is spontaneous, unplanned or


otherwise free-ranging creativity. Besides denoting an activity
improvisation is also used to denote a product of improvisational
activity (see Alperson 1984 19). Thus certain performances or
products of artistic activity are referred to as improvisations when
they have been produced in a spontaneous, originative way. Philip
Alperson considers Aristotle (Poetics) and R.G. Collingwood (The
Principles of Art) to be examples of philosophers who use the term
improvisation to denote creativity in the broad sense (see 1998). In
a similar vein R. Keith Sawyer treats improvisation as a kind of
product creativity that leads to art objects such as paintings,
sculptures, architecture, poems and novels, theatrical scripts and
musical scores ( Vein R. Keith Sawyer). At this broad level of
generality improvisation in the arts is no different from
improvisation in any other field of minded human endeavor, whether it
be conversation, science, ethics or any other spontaneous, creative
activity. This is in line with the pragmatic philosophies of John
Dewey and Joseph Margolis, among others (Aaron, Alperson 1998,

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Barnes, S. Davies 2001, Hamilton 2000, Hebidge, Matheson, and
Zaunbrecher). Music, theater, and dance, however, are more likely to
use improvisation to refer to a particular method, mode or feature of
a performance practice. Despite this focus on spontaneity, most
improvisation theorists agree that improvisation is not ad hoc
activity; rather, it involves skill, training, planning, limitations
and forethought (Alperson 1984, Bitz, Bresnahan, Brown 2000a,
Clemente, Hamilton 2000, Kernfeld, Sterritt, and Zaunbrecher). These
theorists hold that all creation and performance within an artistic
discipline involves an awareness of the art.

Is improvisation good or bad in art?

Improvisation is an important component in the new 2014 Music


Standards. It is also a very important part of the current National
Core Arts Standards. Improvisation teaches students how to make
decisions quickly, how to keep calm in a fast and emotional situation
as well as how to think, act and feel simultaneously.

How improvisation can make an artwork distinctive?

Painters, sculptors and ceramists all convert information into visual


and tactile artifacts. They interpret emotions and sensory data into
physical representations. In their way, these artists also improvise:
They deal with the reality which confronts them, in order to bring
the work of art into being.

Five Basic Improv Rules

 Don't Deny. Denial is the number one reason most scenes go bad.
 Don't ask open ended Questions.
 You don't have to be funny.
 You can look good if you make your partner look good.
 Tell a story

The Five Basic Improv Techniques


 Be Specific. When starting a scene try to answer the
who/what/when/where/why/how in the first sentence or two.
 “Yes and…” Whatever your scene partner suggests, you should go along
with it and try to add onto what is already being built.

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 Object Work.
 Emotion.
 Status.

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Common questions

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Debates around appropriation and improvisation reflect broader themes in modernist art movements by questioning traditional notions of art and emphasizing process over product. Appropriation challenges ideas of originality and authorship, while improvisation celebrates spontaneity and fluidity in creation. Both practices align with modernist efforts to redefine what art is and how it is perceived, highlighting shifts towards conceptual and experiential interpretations over aesthetic and formalistic values .

Walter Benjamin's theory on mechanical reproduction suggests that it diminishes the 'aura' of original art by making it widely accessible and easily replicable, which challenges traditional views on the uniqueness of art. While this accessibility democratizes art, allowing broader public engagement, it also raises questions about the authenticity and inherent value of art objects in an age where reproductions are indistinguishable from originals .

The historical use of appropriation by artists like Picasso and Duchamp has influenced contemporary art practices by introducing the concept of recontextualization. Picasso's cubist collages and Duchamp's readymades challenged traditional views of art by using everyday objects and images to create new works, redefining artistic originality. Such practices paved the way for contemporary artists like Sherrie Levine and Jeff Koons, who further explored appropriation to comment on and critique consumer culture and the notion of authorship in art .

Improvisation has been integrated into arts education standards, such as the 2014 Music Standards and the National Core Arts Standards, as it teaches students quick decision-making, adaptability, and emotional resilience. These benefits enhance students' abilities to think and act simultaneously under pressure, encouraging creative problem-solving and cognitive flexibility, which are valuable skills beyond the arts .

Artists use improvisation as a creative process by responding spontaneously to stimuli and challenges, leading to unique and inventive artistic outcomes. Improvisation requires skill and awareness, allowing artists to transform emotions and sensory data into visual and tactile representations. This process can result in distinct and original work since it adapts to unforeseen circumstances and leverages the artist's immediate experiences and resources .

Recontextualization enhances the viewer's experience by encouraging them to recognize familiar images in new settings, prompting them to reconsider the original meanings and associations. This deliberate shift in context allows artists to comment on various aspects of the original work and lets the viewer engage in a deeper analysis, bringing their unique perspectives to the interpretation of both the artwork and its source material .

The five basic improv rules enhance artistic creation and collaboration by fostering creativity and adaptability in art-making activities. Rules such as 'Don't Deny' encourage constructive engagement with ideas, 'Yes and...' supports building on contributions, and 'Tell a story' directs focus on coherent narratives. These principles guide artists in exploring spontaneous creativity while emphasizing the importance of collaboration and positive interaction within artistic disciplines .

The potential ethical concerns associated with appropriation in art include the risk of cultural insensitivity and exploitation. When artists appropriate cultural symbols or practices, they may misrepresent or disrespect the original culture, especially if they fail to acknowledge its context or significance. Cultural appropriation can perpetuate stereotypes or reduce complex traditions to superficial trends, raising questions about the balance between artistic freedom and cultural respect .

Appropriation art challenges notions of originality and authenticity by reusing existing images and symbols in new contexts, thereby questioning the uniqueness and authorship of artworks. This approach raises critical discussions on the definition of art itself. Artists such as Sherrie Levine reproduced well-known works to create new meanings for familiar images, demonstrating that the value of art can stem more from context and interpretation than from originality .

Appropriation art often generates controversy because it involves using existing images and ideas, leading to accusations of unoriginality or theft. Understanding its intent—such as creating new meanings and contexts for familiar images—can help mitigate misunderstandings by illustrating that appropriation is not mere replication but a commentary on art, culture, and viewer perception. Educating audiences on the objectives behind such art can facilitate appreciation and dialogue instead of dispute .

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