Appropriation: Life & Art

Honestly, I think everything we do can be traced back to appropriation. We learn how to perform all basic functions in life (walking, going to the bathroom, and just about everything else) by appropriating it in some way from someone else. Chuck Palahniuk writes in Invisible Monsters: "Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everybody I've ever known." I think this is true for everyone. We are all just a combination of behaviors and interests that we have appropriated from someone else, somewhere. Not necessarily people we have actually met, but just people we've somehow come across.

Appropriation becomes even more obvious within the context of art. We learn art by watching someone else do it. We learn techniques and movements in art by looking at someone else's examples. Sure, there was a time when all art was actually original, and there's always one or two people who come up with a different technique or style by themselves, but most of us are just appropriating. We take styles, techniques, - and sometimes even ideas - and place our own interpretations onto them. I do this in my own art constantly. I cannot count the number of times that I was inspired to try a certain style in my own work because I saw it done by someone else. Of course I always change something about it to better suit my own vision, but it's still essentially appropriated from someone else. Even my ideas are usually inspired by someone else in some way. It could be something said to me in passing, or an observation of someone I spend time with, anything like that.

Appropriation is everywhere, all the time. I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. It's just human nature.