The Art of Appropriation is a blog about contemporary artwork. Covering the full range of art-making practices, from painting to performance art to installation art, we review exhibitions and other events in New York City and write about subjects related to the arts.

Sources for site-specific work are many, but primary among them are the artists themselves, whose voices have been muted as much by critics who have deemed their work unworthy as by critics of our own generation who have simply not taken time to listen.

This blog is part of our effort to change that situation by providing opportunities for these artists to speak for themselves and by giving their words an audience that extends beyond the confines of their galleries or those who are privileged enough to attend their performances.

Designing the site was a challenge; at the same time that we wanted it to be attractive and easy to navigate, we needed it to do justice visually to the diversity of practices covered here and be suitable for screen viewing. We sought a design that would integrate text and image in a way that respected each element equally, so that readers could access information quickly without sacrificing depth.

The art of appropriation is a term coined by artist Sherrie Levine in the late 1970s to describe work by artists who appropriate images and objects from mass media and advertising, as well as from popular culture.

The art of appropriation is a sub genre of Appropriation Art, also known as Collage.

Appropriation art is a form of artwork that takes one or more pre-existing works and incorporates them into another context or environment.

The purpose of this form of art, which is also referred to as collage, is to call attention to the original piece of art itself and its role in society, culture and history rather than the meaning or message behind it.

The concept of appropriation is what makes it an art form. It depends on the artist’s ability to transform the original work into something new through juxtaposition with other works or contexts. The process of transforming the appropriated work can be done through editing, changing colors, cropping or destroying parts of the original work, among other methods.”

A lot has been said and written about the art of appropriation. But it is important to recall that appropriation art is not a new art at all, in fact, it has been around for as long as there have been artists.

The act of appropriation is one in which an artist takes source material from other sources and repurposes it into their own art. It can be anything from a photograph, to a song lyric, to a movie scene, or even another artist’s artwork. The idea behind this practice is that the artist has taken something that already exists and used it in a way that isn’t the same as what the original author intended.

This isn’t to say that all artists who use appropriated material do so illegitimately, rather they simply do so without asking permission of the original author.

Appropriation emerged primarily out of two movements in the 20th century: Pop Art and Fluxus. Pop Art was primarily done by American artists who took everyday objects and mass produced them into works of fine art. Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s soup cans and Marilyn Monroe silkscreens are examples of Pop Art. The second movement was Fluxus which was started by George Maciunas in 1961 and grew out of Dadaism and Cage

The art of appropriation involves borrowing bits from other artists and pasting them into a collage. Appropriation first appeared in the mid-20th century in the form of collages that juxtaposed photographs, cartoons and other images to make a comment on consumer culture, mass media and racial stereotypes. The Surrealists were among the first artists to use appropriation, but Pop artists like Warhol and Lichtenstein are probably more well known for their reinterpretations of existing imagery.

In the 1980s and 1990s, appropriation became more prolific, as artists increasingly relied on found objects. Artists began collecting all kinds of items — toys, comic books, magazines, newspapers and so forth — which they fashioned into miniature dioramas or set decor to be photographed.

Duchamp’s Fountain is an example of Dada Art (1917), in which an ordinary object was retooled for artistic purposes.* This was a radical statement at the time because it demonstrated that anything could be transformed into art simply by being exhibited.*

Appropriation may be used in any visual or literary form of communication to produce a new meaning or message. It can involve repetition, juxtaposition or substitution of words or phrases to reveal hidden meaning in another text.*

The process is similar to

A piece of art is a product. It’s a thing you can buy and own. And it’s an idea, something that can be discussed and debated. There have been many different ways of owning art over the centuries, from cave painting to the Sistine Chapel ceiling, from Rembrandt et al.’s work for aristocratic patrons to Damien Hirst’s spot paintings and Tracey Emin’s unmade beds. But in every case the product is somehow separable from its meaning.

Well, what happens when the two get separated? You get appropriation art, where someone takes someone else’s image and turns it into something new. Appropriation art is often opposed to fine art. The argument has been made that it lacks originality, and therefore isn’t fine art. But I disagree.”

The Atlantic Magazine

A lot of contemporary artists appropriate other artists’ images, objects, and ideas. Their work is often described as “appropriation art.” Appropriation art is very different from traditional fine art in which the artist creates the object literally from scratch.

What’s up with this? And what’s up with that label, appropriation art? Is it a pejorative, a description of an inferior art form? Or is it just a neutral descriptive term like impressionistic or cubist?

Today we’ll follow the trail of this question to try to get a handle on this practice. We’ll see how some people think appropriation art is illegitimate and others defend it. And we’ll consider whether such labels as “appropriation art” serve any function except to separate artists into opposing camps.

Appropriation art is a form or style of art in which an artist incorporates into their work elements from another artist’s piece. The most commonly used medium for appropriation art is photography, such as using images from the media and creating new works from them.

The first known instance of appropriation art was in the early 1940s when an American photographer named Richard Hamilton took a photo of a tin advertisement in Times Square and made it the basis for his collage, “Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing?”, which is also known as “The Recognition of the Communist Party.”

In general, appropriation art is categorized by the difference between an artist using photos or pieces of other artists’ artwork to create a new piece yet leaving the old one intact. This genre of art has become very popular over the years and has spawned many different variations and styles.

The most common use of this technique is taking a piece of artwork by another artist and modifying it to create a new meaning or message. Typically, these types of pieces can be found in museums or galleries where they are typically displayed side-by-side or hung next to each other on display.