Live Journal. Series 8. Week 30-5. "Appropriation"
Appropriation.
Quote.
‘Sherry Levine's After Walker Evans (1981) is a photograph of a Walker Evans photograph. She is challenging the concept of ownership: if she photographed the photograph, whose photograph was it, really? And she is addressing the predominance of male artists in the textbook version of art history. Sherry Levine is a feminist artist.”(From Image Duplicator) ‘
This artist became famous for replicating photos.
What is wrong with appropriation, if I photograph a puppy or a lily and I then paint it, won’t it just be like another lily or puppy? So some else has painted a lily, am I then banned from painting lillies? What if the light was just like the light when they painted their version? So many sunsets are painted how can we tell which was the original? OK, I know a totally 'line for line' and 'stroke for brush stroke' copy is entirely wrong. But Pop art exploded when Andy Warhol painted the Campbells's soup cans. So did that allow for trend setters to copy even more?
I love painting, I love trying to capture light. I look at the great artists from the early part of the 1900’s, Van Gogh, Monet, Degas, Cezanne, Matisse, then my heart nearly bursts. The colours sing, the light is so pure. I am stunned and speechless when I am close to their work. I cried when I saw a Van Gogh up close.
I so want to paint as they do!, and if I copy it, am I wrong?, I just want to get closer to them, to see how it works; how they achieve that image. I can only do that by working from the original example. I suppose it’s only wrong if I try to sell it as mine. But it is mine. I did it after all.
I admit I have copied images, I see a shape, a figure, a line in a fashion shot, and I copy it because it talks to me. I change the colour, the size, the background, perhaps, the hair…then it becomes mine . I make it so.
I am obsessed with fashion and had some old magazines I bought; they show patterns from the 1920’s and 1930’s. One of them I altered slightly and painted in my style the result I show here. The original French magazine is delightful, but I simplified it and made the background more abstract. More 'me'.
I strive for beauty, and if in my quest I am carried along by the immense talent of those old masters I can only hope as I copy, or study, some of the colour and magic will rub off, and I can achieve the perfect symetry I see in my head. So far, however I try it has eluded me. ( Entry 5 of five),
Voting for entries starts after the 18th. By then I should be in severe pain but have a new knee, so will not be replying commenting or reading, unless life treats me kindly! Good luck to all my friends. Read and vote to support us.
http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/574285.html
Sherrie wrote in her “Statement” of 1982 that “The world is filled
