Art and Design Commons^™

Appropriation And The Art Of The Copy, Elizabeth K. Mix

Scholarship and Professional Work – Arts

This essay focuses on why and how copying occurs within the field of visual art and identifies shifts in the perception of the role of copying over time as indicated by changing terminology. Copies are ubiquitous in our culture today. They are especially prevalent on the Internet in the form of mash-ups and memes. While appropriation (the quoting or borrowing of an earlier artist's work or style) is generally considered a postmodern strategy, the practice has, in fact, a long and complicated history that includes the tradition of academic copying (a method of artistic training whereby students copy the works …