Ownership & Appropriation, Part I

I am going to break my RC Arts & Ideas senior project essay into chunks and upload each section as its own blog post. This is the beginning. Enjoy!

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Art is everywhere, and you need not visit a museum to encounter it. The billboards along the highway, the shows we watch on television, the graffiti in the alleyway; it is impossible to live a day in a modern life without experiencing someone’s creative output in some way or another. Whether this art entertains us. annoys us, or simply slips under our radar, it affects our lives deeply. Our society, personal tastes, and culture are shaped by it. It may be this ubiquitous influence of art upon us that leads to questions of ownership, appropriation, and creativity. Who owns an idea or an image? How do we define originality? Is it thievery to learn and incorporate the techniques of others? In my opinion, appropriation can be performed in a manner that is ethical and legitimate. If an appropriator pays respect to the original artist, or if the end product sufficiently changes the art’s meaning, appropriation can be acceptable. In this essay, I will examine several types of artistic appropriation, each highlighting a different element of the debate of originality and legal and cultural ownership.