Model of Appropriation
This work, 400 Horsepower #1 & #2 (Airbrush, Laminate Offset Poster, poster hanger), by Nick Paparone is up right now at Vox Populi in Philadelphia. I haven’t seen it myself but I found it on Artblog and think it is print-related. What’s interesting to me about this work is the appropriation of printed matter… the repurposing of pre-existing imagery. Taking a piece of nineties kitsch (did you hear that NKOTB are touring again?) and giving it new meaning/value. Is he ironically quoting Mel Ramos (below) or just channeling his own junior high school fantasies? I don’t know exactly what Paparone’s angle is- absurdity, nostalgia, social commentary- you can read a lot into these pieces. Either way, I think recycling the offset poster is a good move.
Somewhat similar are the Chapman Brothers’ mutilated Goya prints. For those who don’t know, a few years ago Mark & Dinos Chapman famously bought and then altered a set of Los Caprichos. It was kind of a Raushenberg-erases-DeKooning move. Of course, in the case of the Chapman piece I think the idea was a “vandalizing” of pre-existing artwork whereas Paparone is actually upgrading a cheap offset poster to art status. Here is an example of the original Goya next to the Chapman-version…
A few more examples of the Chapman Brothers’ Los Caprichos after the jump…
