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Appropriation


To appropriate is to borrow, or in an extreme sense, seize. Appropriation is the practice of creating a new work by taking a pre-existing image from another context (art history, advertising, the media) and combining that appropriated image with new ones. Some say Pop Art was appropriation’s precursor and Andy Warhol its godfather.

Appropriation can be broadened in scope to encompass any “borrowing” from any source. With this interpretation, we begin to see that in the process of making art we are always taking from some person, place, or thing. Beliefs and notions about what constitutes the “originality of the artist” are made clearer from the perspective of a larger interpretation of appropriation.

Recontextualization

Recontextualization is an art word, which comes from “context,” “the circumstances in which an event occurs.” A thing taken out of context and placed within a new context/surrounding can take on new meaning. In art making, we appropriate a thing, “image/object/sound” from one source, and then give that “image/object/sound” a new meaning by placing it within a different context. When we place it in a new context, we “recontextualize” it.

Marcel Duchamp invented the idea of the “readymade.” Pieces like “Fountain” stood not so much as art objects, but as catalysts for perceptual shift. Duchamp’s commentary states this premise clearly. “Whether Mr. Mutt with his own hands made the fountain or not has no importance. He chose it. He took an ordinary article out of life, placed it so that its useful significance disappeared under the new title and point of view – and created a new thought for that object.” By placing the appropriated image/object/word in a new context, we are giving it/them new meaning.



Integration

Integration is the act of combining or fusing two or more parts into a whole. It is the manner in which and how carefully and fully these parts are combined that equals a strong integration. Strong integration gives a feeling of unmistakable intention to a work of art. Thoughtful integration informs the viewer as to how much consideration the artist gave to the “sum of the parts that make up the whole” in his/her artwork. While strong integration has roots in a sense of craft, “craft for craft’s sake” is never art.