One of the first things that comes up when art appropriation is typed into Google is ‘The story of Richard Prince and his $100,000 Instagram art’, and Prince being labelled at the ‘world’s most famous appropriation artist’, which only highlights just how controversial his works are, and how many people have searched it, questioning whether it really is an efficient method of appropriation. He has worked with some big names, with the main, also at times seen as controversial; Cindy Sherman.

Richard Prince and his prints

Prince’s pieces (showcased in New York’s Frieze Art Fair in May 2015) have been a topic of discussion for an extended period of time now. His work has been a central topic of debate, and for all the wrong reasons. Prince's most recent works are the ones mostly being discussed with a huge focus on the people in them.

(source: http://www.richardprince.com)

Many critics have mixed reviews on his work, and whether what he is doing is 'right' or 'fair'. Prince’s works consist of images found on Instagram by both celebrities and ordinary people. He enlarged them and printed them out on paper, captioning each with a cryptic message with each one going for about $90,000. Crazy right? Who would even consider it to be art?

Which side to take…

Some people have decided to take the route of supporting Prince in his practice, by backing him up and saying his work is an efficient form of art appropriation. But there are two sides to every story. Many believe that what he is doing is not necessarily right, labelling Prince as a ‘rip-off artist’, ‘Instagram hijacker’ (to put it nicely), and that he is essentially stealing people's work. Another critique being formed, is one that he is not actually creating work, and doesn't put in the same 'blood, sweat and tears' that every other artist does in the industry; that he is ultimately taking people's ideas and making them his own, only to cash in the cheques.

There are so many issues with this controversy. Prince just took people’s Instagram posts and printed them. There was no effort involved; there was no hard work, nothing. I feel like people saying ‘my kid could have done that’ have the right to say that. They have the right to be annoyed that he is raking in all this cash, with no effort put in whatsoever. But no one is yet to sue him. As an artist, I am annoyed. I put in hours and hours of painstaking work to just create one or two drawings, and this guy put it in a computer, which printed it all for him, and is taking all credit, and all the big bucks.

So then, what exactly is considered appropriation?

Appropriation is explained, in art, on the trusty Wikipedia as ‘the use of pre-existing objects or images with little or no transformation applied to them. The use of appropriation has played a significant role in the history of the arts (literary, visual, musical and performing arts).’ The definition itself is explaining how art ideas can be taken and made into their own, or with explanation, and can be taken, without any changes and seen in a different way by altering the meaning or way in which they are interpreted.

(source: http://www.richardprince.com)

Many celebrities use art appropriation in this day and age, especially musicians. One example of appropriation that has happened recently is Drake’s ‘Hotline Bling’ music video. Funnily enough, I was discussing this in one of my classes not too long ago. Drake admits to referencing the work of James Turrell in his music video, where he is seen prancing around in colourful rooms and speaking lyrics that not many of us would pay attention to. But he has efficiently appropriated the works and gained a significant amount of attention for it. And his work doesn’t seem to have bothered the original artist in any way; ‘While I am truly flattered to learn that Drake f*cks with me, I nevertheless wish to make clear that neither I nor any of my woes was involved in any way in the making of the Hotline Bling video.’ He has taken it well, and added his own humorous twist, telling people he is flattered. Not the same can be said about the people featured in Prince’s ‘art’.

Do you feel like this was an efficient form of art appropriation, or is he essentially just stealing people’s faces because he thought it was ‘cool’ and made all this cash?



Steph Hanna

News and Social Media

13 April 2016