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IMPERSONATING ART
IMPERSONATING ART
"The Highest Art Form"
"The Highest Art Form"
When an artist creates a unique artwork, that is an original. That original may be a painting of some kind, or a sculpture, or a performance work, or one of many other kinds of media. It seems that the types of original media proliferate daily. However, if the artist makes it with his/her own hands OR under his/her supervision (Jeff Koons has a huge workshop with lots of "helpers" as does the glassmaker Dale Chihuly - and so did many of the Renaissance artists), then it is an original.
Misnomers of Impersonating Art
Misnomers of Impersonating Art
PARODY - a parody (also called send-up or spoof), in contemporary usage, is a work created to mock, comment on, or poke fun at an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation.
APPROPRIATION - refers to the practice of artists using pre-existing objects or images in their art with little transformation of the original.
REPRODUCTION - a copy of the original that looks just like it. It can involve making copies or replications. Similarly, a reproduction is an identical version of something, often artwork.
FAIR USE - any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and “transformative” purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, or parody a copyrighted work. Such uses can be done without permission from the copyright owner
The Mona Lisa
The Mona Lisa
Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa — probably the most famous painting in the world, right? It’s also one of the most copied paintings in the world, with dozens if not hundreds of replicas created over the centuries. Everyone recognizes it, many love it: “iconic” is certainly a good descriptor of its impact.
The Mona Lisa is an oil painting by Italian artist, inventor, and writer Leonardo da Vinci. Likely completed in 1506, the piece features a portrait of a seated woman set against an imaginary landscape. Rendered similarly to Renaissance portrayals of the Virgin Mary, the piece features a female figure—believed by most to be Lisa Gherardini, the wife of cloth and silk merchant Francesco Giocondo—from the waist up. She is shown seated in a loggia, or a room with at least one open side.
Her gaze is another bewitching part of the composition. Many believe that her eyes follow you across the room, making her an active participant when being viewed, rather than remaining an object to look upon.
The Debate Continues: Who Owns the Right to Copy
The Debate Continues: Who Owns the Right to Copy
"I thought your idea to use my idea was a great idea."
"I thought your idea to use my idea was a great idea."
When you have no idea who you are as an artist, it’s easy to find yourself copying artist’s work. Legit line for line copying. Maybe you add a different element here, or change a color there—but it’s still a copy. Now, being inspired by another artist is when you take the ‘idea’ or ‘concept’ of the art and make it your own thing. You pluck a subtle element from a piece and mash it into your style. Then mix in ideas from your past experiences, with hints of this new inspiration and birth a wonderfully unique piece. You can imagine that there is a lot of room between these two concepts for the definitions to get blurry and overlap. How different does a piece need to be from the inspiration to be its own thing and become wholly yours? Nobody is completely original. All we can do as creators is try and rearrange the concepts and forms around us into new combinations. That’s when you start to become a creative genius
How to be an Artist?
How to be an Artist?
Jerry Saltz is an American art critic. Since 2006, he has been senior art critic and columnist for New York magazine. Formerly the senior art critic for The Village Voice, he received the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2018 and was nominated for the award in 2001 and 2006.
How do you get from there to making real art, great art? There’s no special way; everyone has their own path. Yet, over the years, I’ve found myself giving the same bits of advice. Most of them were simply gleaned from looking at art, then looking some more. Others from listening to artists talk about their work and their struggles. (Everyone’s a narcissist.) I’ve even stolen a couple from my wife.
There are 33 rules — and they really are all you need to know to make a life for yourself in art. Or 34, if you count “Always be nice, generous, and open with others and take good care of your teeth.” And No. 35: “Fake it till you make it.”
It Is Your Time To Copy!
It Is Your Time To Copy!
GOAL: Using any materials, redesign and appropriate any work of art as you see best fit.
CHALLENGE: How can you change the meaning of an artwork? How will you choose to copy an existing artwork?
"You were born an original. Don't die a copy."
"You were born an original. Don't die a copy."
- John Mason
- John Mason
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