Topic > The use of appropriation in the art of Jeff Koons and Barbara Kruger

Contemporary artists appropriate works of art from the past to repurpose them so that they are more relevant to future society. Postmodernism was a broad movement that developed in the mid-to-late 20th century as a reaction to Modernism. It can be said that modernism paved the way for postmodernism, however while modernism was based on idealism and reason, postmodernism is about skepticism and suspicion of reason. Postmodern art usually causes the public to question pre-existence theories formulated about art, social, political and economic and challenges the idea that universal certainties or truths exist. There are no rules about style in postmodern art except “traditional and typical” and technology was accepted as the medium. Stereotypes, mass media, cartoonish images and kitsch become acceptable. There are devices used by postmodern artists: appropriation, parody, pastiche, satire and irony. Appropriation art is when an artist borrows, adopts, recycles a pre-existing artwork and makes a few changes to it, adding to or recontextualizing the meaning of the original artwork. Many artists have used appropriation to express how they feel about social media and bring attention to the topic they believe people should pay attention to, Barbara Kruger and Jeff Koon are some of the successful ones who have done so. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayBarbara Kruger is an American conceptual artist, collagist, and feminist artist. His famous signature style is photographic work in which an appropriate black and white photograph was taken from magazines with a directive and provocative slogan stated in white on bold red to question cultural assumptions and question the way which the mass media influence the role of women in society. Those words about his art introduce ironies into cultural idioms and prompt the viewer to dwell on those words in their mind. One of his iconic works was “I buy therefore I am,” so famous that it was reproduced on items such as a shopping bag and T-shirt. This image contains a black and white image of a hand and the slogan I shop so I am written in white Futura Bold font in a red rectangular box in the center of the image. The choice of color helps the slogan stand out and the text has an immediate impact on the audience. The statement “I buy therefore I am” was borrowed from René Descartes' philosophical statement “I think therefore I am”. The meaning of this statement is that anyone who is capable of simply thinking is already proving their own proof of existence. By simply changing the word "think" to "buy", Barbara used this statement to criticize how people are not seen and judged based on what one thinks but rather based on what they have, replacing their self-esteem with materialistic elements. “I buy therefore I am” helps express his concern that modern society is turning into a plastic society where people focus on what they own and their social image rather than who they are and their achievements . An important point here is that the message is even more relevant now than when the artwork was made since social media is such a big thing in today's society. Jeff Koons is one of America's most famous contemporary artists, and his subject matter usually involves taste, pleasure, celebrity, and commerce. He uses appropriate usages in many of his..