In the history of art appropriation is a term for taking possession of something and making it your own.
Few days ago I went to see a John Stezaker exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery, so I am going to talk about a few particular pieces and the way he appropriates already existing works of photography. Stezaker composes collages by mainly using film stills combined with vintage postcards, the work is simply constructed but is very complex to the viewers eye. For example the Untitled series of collages, various film star images have been cut diagonally in half and thoughtfully balanced together to create a distorted portrait. By doing that Stezaker is appropriating someone else's work of photography and turning it in to his own unique works of art. Another example would be the Mask series, where he again uses film stills only this time placing postcards of very impressive nature imagery on top of the portrait. I see it as a comparison of beauty, a subliminal message of natural beauty in women.
1 comments:
Great - so glad you went to see this show. In his marriage series he combines the faces women and men to make a kind of new gender. Do you think he is thinking about the natural beauty of women? I think his interest in using old photographs has something to do with resurrecting these old unknown actors from the past and giving them a new life. What does the gallery information say about his work. Perhaps you could try quoting them or reading it to inform you further about his work. A really good effort though - well done!
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