FRIDA and APPROPRIATION

Long gone is the time when there was any newness or shock value in using appropriated images in fine art. Many artists use images, usually altered in some way, that are easily recognizable as another artist's work. Many use photographs and drawings as reference without crediting the original creators. And there is also the more subtle copying of styles or motifs from other artists or other cultures. How do we feel about this as artists? When do we go beyond being inspired by another's work as source material to copyright infringement - in the spirit or letter of the law? What amount of alteration makes an image our own? Is this different for an image produced via camera or a computer than one that comes from an artist's hand? Is it different if the image was produced as art or for another purpose? What about text, readable or not, a favorite quote, journal pages, shopping lists? For each of us, there is a personal and shifting scale of answers to these questions.

All of this came to mind because of a recent guerrilla art event. I have pieces in progress pinned to my studio wall and I have one friend who sometimes wanders in and adds random elements to the work. Sometimes she adds parts of other unfinished work or materials laying nearby, once it was some money she owed me, once it was one of my daughter's drawings. I appreciate this form of communication both as greeting and as a way for me to see my work differently.

This time she slid an image of Frida Kahlo into an empty niche. The card was a reproduction of one of Frida's self portraits and the scale, colors and gesture really fit the spot. I left it there as I worked on other pieces and thought a bit about the possibility of working the literal card into the finish. It is an iconic image, recognizable even if altered. Although I am interested in Kahlo's life and work and my piece references the female form, using the card didn't feel like part of my vocabulary. So I'm back to not knowing what I will put in the nook but now whatever I create I am grateful that it will have the ghost of Frida informing it.

I am not a purist when it comes to appropriation. I collect and use discarded work from my daughter, students and other artists. I trace and scan and use reference photos and drawings as much if not more than I draw from life. I've started to use family photos as well, abstracted and altered or directly copied. I decide based on aesthetics and my own sense of rightness. My scale changes over time and depending on the venue - something I would use in a gift, I might not use in a piece made to be shown and sold. I find my own limits stretching with these questions.