Appropriation
The first brief we were given was a brief based on Appropriation. As I was unsure what this term meant, I decided to do some research into the definition and some well known appropriation artists in the hope that I could gain some inspiration from it for my own ideas. Shown below is my research into appropriation.
Inspiration
One artist I did research into was Maxx Maxsted. I was inspired by this artist because I found the concept of taking a well known image and transforming it to give a new meaning a very interesting idea. Maxx Maxsted has achieved this by inserting or replacing an object within the original image. In the example shown below, the painting of the Mona Lisa has been edited to show her with a cigarette in her mouth and winking with one eye. I also like the use of controversy in his art as it allows the image to be interpreted in different ways.
Another style of art that I was inspired by was Adbusters. This style of appropriation also combines unusual, unassociated objects together to create a different meaning than what was originally intended. Similarly to Maxx Maxsted, these images are also edited to create a controversial meaning to the audience and often use well known people/images or base the images on current affairs. For example, one of Adbusters appropriation artwork that is shown below is of an image of Donald Trump. Trump has purposely been chosen as he is currently one of the most talked about people in the world after being elected as President of USA and a lot of uproar and controversy being caused by this movement. Adbusters has edited this image by adding an image of a barcode under Donald Trump’s nose. This changes the meaning of the original image as the image now resembles him as Adolf Hitler which he is being compared to after some of the radical changes he is making across America.
Another artist that I was inspired by was Barbara Kruger. One piece of her work that really stood out to me was “Your Body Is A Battleground”. This was because it was edited to split the model in half. One half was unedited whereas the other was over edited and the contrast had been turned up. I found this interesting as my interpretation of the image was that the models had two sides to her. However, it could easily be interpreted in different ways from different viewers. I found the idea of over editing an image original and unique and wanted to experiment and somehow incorporate this technique into my own work. A common theme in Barbara Kruger’s work is to use text to change the meaning of the image rather than using two different images. There are examples of this shown below and this is also another aspect that I would like to experiment with and include in my own appropriation artwork.
Another artist that inspired my work was Linder Sterling. A common theme throughout her artwork is the use of collage. Collage is used in various pieces of her artwork to show a distorted image of women. Similarly to her style of work, the artist John Stezaker uses the technique of collage to alter images. Stezaker uses images of people and combines them with locations and other paintings to create a new image. These images are perfectly lined up so that it looks like a normal image. I like the idea of using collage and hope to include this technique into my artwork.
My Ideas
For the first idea, I was inspired mostly by the Adbusters style of work as I wanted to create something controversial and unusual. From this, I had the idea to use the image of a baby and replace an item that is usually associated with them with a completely irrelevant object. To give the overall image a more controversial feel to it, I decided to use an object that juxtaposes the original image. The image I chose to create the feeling of controversy was a bottle of beer. The aim of this image is to indicate to the audience about bad influences that can be picked up by children. However, it can also be interpreted in different ways.
Some of the first edits of this image was the image of a baby drinking from a bottle combined with the image of an adult drinking alcohol from a bottle to suggest that this is how the baby had turned out. After editing this together, I felt that I could make a better quality image and give it a stronger meaning by replacing the baby’s bottle with the beer bottle. Below are some of my first edits:
For my second idea, my main inspiration was Linder Sterling and the way she uses collages to alter the appearance of women. From this, I then decided I wanted to include a c0llage technique into my second image. To do so, I decided to take picture of a woman covering her face to suggest she is insecure. I then added images of “perfect” looking eyes and a mouth what would usually be found on a model. I overlapped these images over the original models face where these body parts would usually go to suggest this is what is seen as “perfect”. I then highlighted this idea by writing the word “perfect” across the bottom of the page and turned down the opacity. As well as this, the original model is brown skinned as opposed to the “perfect” eyes and mouth being white skinned. This could also suggest the idea that a person must be white skinned to be perfect as models are commonly white. I was happy with the concept of the idea and wanted to use it in my final piece. However, I feel the image can be improved if I took more time with editing.
http://clicks.robertgenn.com/images/artists/maxx_maxted/061907_maxx-maxted-artwork.jpg
http://gaia.adage.com/images/bin/image/medium/Adbusters_Trump_Cool_Fascismo.jpg?1471298084
https://shannandavidson.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/adbusters-eat-fast-die-young-mcdicks.jpg
https://www.adbusters.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/adbusters_feedme.jpg
http://www.barbarakruger.com/art/yourbody.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/f7/c6/c4/f7c6c4b06f747bb3833d245a1e265fde.jpg
http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/feminist/images/BarbaraKruger-I-Shop-Therefore-I-Am-I-1987.jpg
http://static1.squarespace.com/static/552962a3e4b0c75f5b83a864/5551ba97e4b01797f36854aa/5551ba99e4b0e71274cef718/1431419547070/Photo_Paolo_Roversi_Image_courtesy_of_Wallpaper_851_1134_90.jpg
http://www.gwarlingo.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Pair-IV-by-John-Stezaker-2007.jpg