Fair Use + Appropriation Art

Barbara Kruger

A few things to think about when taking images from the web (or anywhere for that matter) when making art:

Fair Use
Reproducibility is a central trait of digital media. Unlike older "analogue" mediums of mass production such as print-making (lithographs, silk screen, etching, etc), vinyl records, cassette tapes, videotapes, printing and publishing books, or even photographic prints, digital technologies allow us to make an exact replica of something, or at least an exact replica of it's appearance. If the original is a one-of-a-kind object, like a painting, then the replica is merely a "reproduction". But with certain media, such as photography and music, it is difficult or nearly impossible to discern the difference between a "copy" and an "original" - in other words, there can be multiple copies, each of which is equally an instance of the work.

This is true for digital photograph files, CDs, MP3s, DVDs, and all web media. From sampling to mashups, collage to subvertisements, contemporary artists, designers and content creators use and re-purpose pre-existing works as source material for the creation of new works, using digital technologies. If these works truly transform their source material, which often includes parts of copyrighted works, they are considered new and "original". In the digital age, new works are often created when more than one existing work is recombined in a new way, providing new visual relationships and new ideas.

Copyrighted content can be used in a new work of art because such creative use falls into the category of "fair use". Under the fair use portion of copyright law, limited copyrighted material can be used for transformative purposes (creating a new work of art) as well as for closely commenting upon, criticizing, or parodying the source material.

Andy Warhol

Appropriation
Appropriation is a word that is used by media artists to describe the visual or rhetorical action of taking over the meaning of something that already exists and is already known, by way of visual reference. For example, Andy Warhol appropriated the Campbell’s soup can visual identity to make large, iconic silkscreen prints. Warhol’s soup cans are an interpretation of the physical object. The visual reference to the original soup can is important, as the viewer needs this information in order to understand the idea that the reference conveys (your personal translation of this could range from a feeling associated with something as simple as a popular American icon or comfort food to repulsion at the commodification of domestic life). By transforming not only the size and graphic palette for portraying the soup cans, but also the place where the viewer will encounter them (an art gallery as opposed to a grocery market), Warhol appropriates the original Campbell’s soup cans to create art that relates to popular culture in its iconic form. Appropriation falls into the category of fair use.

ALWAYS REMEMBER: in art as well as design, the interpretation of the viewer is what "completes" the work.
 

A few images and artists to consider:

John Heartfield (1891-1968)Front Cover, photo montage. John Heartfield originally produced photomontages for Arbeiter Illustreite Zeitung (AIZ) in Germany. Stefan Lorant, editor of Picture Post, was the first to commission and publish Heartfield's political montages in the UK.

'L'Egypte de Mlle Cleo de Merode cours elementaire d'histoire naturelle' by Joseph Cornell (1940). Joseph Cornell (December 24, 1903 – December 29, 1972) worked almost exclusively in the art of assemblage. He called his works boxes, and they contained found objects, which Cornell usually found in used bookstores and junk shops.

RAUSCHENBERG, Robert: Retroactive I, 1964, Oil and silkscreen ink on canvas. 84 x 60 in. (213.4 x 152.4 cm). Wadsworth Athenuem, Hartford, Connecticut. Robert Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American artist who came to prominence in the 1950s transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. Rauschenberg is well-known for his "Combines" of the 1950s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were employed in innovative combinations.

James Rosenquist (born November 29, 1933), I Love You with My Ford, 1961. Oil on canvas, 6 feet 10 3/4 inches x 7 feet 9 1/2 inches. Moderna Museet, Stockholm. © James Rosenquist/Licensed by VAGA, New York. Rosenquist has said the following about his involvement in the Pop Art movement: "They(art critics) called me a Pop artist because I used recognizable imagery. The critics like to group people together. I didn't meet Andy Warhol until 1964. I did not really know Andy or Roy Lichtenstein that well. We all emerged separately."
His specialty is taking fragmented, oddly disproportionate images and combining, overlapping, and putting them on canvases to create visual stories. This can leave some viewers breathless yet others confused, making them consider even the most familiar objects (a U-Haul trailer, or a box of Oxydol detergent, etc.) in more abstract and provocative ways.

Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung: Occupy Wall Street posters http://www.tinkin.com/arts/occupy-wall-street/ Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung (Chinese: 洪天健; pinyin: Hóng Tiānjiàn, born 1976) is a Chinese-American new media artist who lives and works in New York. Hung's works are digital collages of popular culture and current events. His media includes hi-definition video animation, video games, net.art, digital graphics and mixed-media installations. Hung has been called the "John Heartfield of Digital Era".

Andrea Champlin is a painter who lives in NYC. She uses digital media and methods of appropriation in her work, which can be found here: http://andreachamplin.com/