The first project we have been set for Level One Media Production: Photography module is Appropriation.
Appropriation within photography and the media is understood as taking a publication or media text that already exists and manipulating it to give it another meaning. These changes can be subtle such as changing the facial expression of a person within an image from a smile to a frown or more obvious such as removing a person from a setting and placing them in a different one.
Research
Notably, the most famous example of appropriation within art and media is Richard Prince. I think it’s important to consider his work even if he is the easiest to find for that reason alone. His work is a great introduction to appropriation and generates a sound understanding of what is meant by that.
The piece of work he is most renowned for is his Cowboy image (1989); an image which was cropped originally from a Marlboro advert as seen below.
It is important to recognise how one simple crop can either add or take away meaning from an image. This image was first an advert for cigarettes made to encourage a more masculine target audience into using the product. Once Prince had cropped it, it became a stand alone image without the brand attached to it and therefore wiped it’s intended meaning.
After looking at Prince’s work I felt I had understood what was required of the appropriation brief a bit clearer and so began to consider what I would appropriate myself. I struggled for ideas as I wanted my work to be something that would send a message but I struggled to find what that message might be. This lead me to consider what’s common in the world around me.
I turned to Banksy for inspiration and how he comments on topics that affect us all. I’m really intrigued by his works that comment on the consumed lifestyle of society today; brands and social medias that we see so often we’ve almost become immune to them. Some of his work raises questions about how we respond to what’s around us and the affect it is having. This is an idea I think I would like to carry through to my work also; how brands and social media seem to define us as who we are nowadays.
Amongst my research I also found a website that put together a compilation of images all from various sources of ‘Modern Remakes of Famous Paintings’ (http://www.boredpanda.com/famous-painting-remakes/). I found this concept to be very interesting; taking significant, famous artworks and appropriating them by recreating them in the modern day. The outcome of these was very interesting as the contrast between now and then is very substantial. What’s important to notice in these images in the article is how the modern recreations often feature a brand or technology device in order to make it a modern day image.
After considering all that I had looked at, my ideas took shape. I decided also on using famous paintings and appropriating them by bringing them into the modern day with some key imagery. I wanted to put across the message that the modern day is entirely consumed with brands, advertisements and social media. Using famous and aged fine art begins to mock the world we live in today and I feel the strong contrast makes you consider what point we have reached today with the world that surrounds us. In the world we live in, we live by brands and consumerism and there is no escape from that. Advertisements fill everywhere you look, the only way to escape what the world has become would be to sit in an empty field on your own but even on the journey to that field you’re likely to see a hundred or so adverts on the streets in the form of posters, billboards and litter. We have become a society that cannot live without our technology and brands and we are defined by our brands. Brands, where you eat, where you work, everything with a label attached to it defines who you are, it makes up your social class, your personality, even your everyday reputation and I aimed to create these images in order to highlight the ludicrosity of it all.
Final images
These are my final 3 appropriated images.
For my first appropriated image I took the painting ‘Christina’s World by Andrew Wyeth. To most viewers, this artwork depicts a helpless girl too far from help. With my edits to the image, it now appears as a helpless girl heading to what can only be worse with a ‘Caution’ sign warning her of what lies ahead. I edited the additional images as such so that they appeared to fit in the image rather than stand out as something completely separate by altering the hue and saturation to match the tone of the original painting.
The second image I appropriated is the incredibly famous, religiously iconic painting of The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci. I chose to appropriate this image to denote how social media has almost become a religion in itself and is treated as such in the modern day. To achieve this message I simply placed an Instagram notification banner above Jesus to show him being the key user with lots of notifications including 12 followers in order to reference the desperate need in the world to find gratification and success in how many followers you have and how much reaction you gain in a post onto social media.
For my final image, I edited the Mona Lisa into something more modern; I gave her branded clothing and materialistic possessions stereotypically associated with women today. The appropriation here takes away the classic nature of the image and replaces it with slightly disturbing realities. I feel it makes the viewer question themselves as it’s a ridiculous notion to consider the Mona Lisa wearing brands and obsessing over designer jewellery, making sure she was only wearing the best names as that is almost the complete opposite of what gave her her fame, so why is it not ridiculous today? Why do we feel we need brands to be accepted?
http://www.richardprince.com/photographs/cowboys/#/detail/1/
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