Finding Identity and Appropriation Art Essay

Alfred Stevens’ La Parisienne Japonaise is a painting of oil on canvas painted in 1872. This artwork I have chosen is a clear example of Japonisme from its time. The artist’s work of Japonisme blossomed after the Japanese-western trade agreement at the Paris’ World Fair of 1855. The influence of Japanese goods and art in the western world embarked a strong blend of culture in art. Prints, as well as other decorative materials, became exotic goods in the west.

Most people, unless they choose to be an outsider, want to be considered “cool.” Whether it’s to fit in with a peer group, or clique, or to impress someone in particular, like a member of the opposite sex, or a potential mate. Or possibly to gain something from an individual for financial or social gain (see “Scamming”).

As American labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez expressed, “Preservation of one's own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures.” Respecting everyone’s culture is a necessity, no matter their ethnic background, or if they stand out in society. Language, customs, food, and religion are all parts of a culture everyone possesses. All individuals have a viewpoint, a perspective of what cultures the world around them is compromised of. The culture in every human influences how they view the world around them by hiding one’s own culture, giving people biased views of others’ ethnicities, and weighing down the minority groups.

Identity is what defines us as a person. Everyone one on earth has their own unique identity. To showcase my identity, I created a collage of images and descriptive words, called an identi-kit. This identi-kit shows what I feel like is my identity to myself and the others. My identi-kit identifies me as a mixed martial artist. The identi-kit has images of a deadly shark with mixed martial arts gloves on that say mixed martial arts on the front and fight shorts with the words competitor and warrior on them. It also has descriptive words like “killer instinct” and “fight” which describe my spirit. There are three assumptions that come to question when asking about one’s identity. The first is if you were born with this

Topic 2: Identity is a central concern of contemporary life. Critically examine and discuss how design or art has been used to explore, discuss and express identity.

French impressionists such as Gaugin, Manet and Monet are some of the many who were overcome by this bombardment of Asian art. Morimura has introduced wit into this work by substituting rose leaves in the place of fig leaves to hide his genitals. This can be seen as a form of revenge on Manet for he was a ‘pupil’ of Japanese art. This mystery of sexual identity also leads to a sense of intertextuality that stems from Morimura’s role as an androgynous critic.

Meaningful appropriation remains a vital precept of creativity and innovation. In the last 20 years, many artists have constructed knowledge in forms of contemporary art from both social and cultural sources. Artists have continuously remixed contents from certain cultures for new expressive purposes. It is often deemed by members of the originating cultures, that appropriation in the arts is disrespectful, as cultural elements become distorted and lost in translation. Meaningful appropriation however is often misunderstood and is mainly viewed as borrowing that is in some way inappropriate, unauthorised or undesirable. Although, artists in remix culture have not necessarily attempted to destroy cultures, but instead offer a new perspective to individuals by bringing divergent cultures together through art. Artists such as Stella McCartney, a designer famously known for her creation ‘Chinatown Plaid, 2013’ in fashion, utilises dominant creative strategies such as remixing and collaging of fabrics in order to convey her artistic vision, which highly compliments both the ‘Refugee’ work culture and female individuals as strong and resilient. In a similar sense, digital artist Michael Guppy remixes artworks using programs such as Adobe Photoshop in order to remove central elements from famous artworks, a reoccurring theme in his work in which he explores both the social and cultural side of technology and how it transforms society. Whereas, graphic designer Thomas Robson

My identity is something that that no one can take away from me. As I am still growing and learning, I can say that I have found many things that appeal to me. My interests will help define my personality and express myself in ways that I can’t express through words. I enjoy finding new things to do and doing my best in aiming towards my goals. I have many goals, but I know that I can only accomplish them through patience and perseverance.

My father is Mexican, and my mother is White. I was born in California, however, when was 4 yrs. old we moved to Mexico. We did not returned to the United States till I turned 15 yrs. old. Although my first language was English, once I moved to Mexico, I became fluent in Spanish. Life coming back to America was hard, I did understand English perfectly since my mother always spoke to us in English, however, and I could no longer speak it. I was placed in ELL classes, and although I was very smart in many subjects, because I did not speak English, I was placed in easy classes, where we did nothing. They focus so much on learning the language that they fail to teach you. I survived; however, I knew the other classmates looked down at us. They would not speak to us, and they will make rude racial comments when referring to any of us.

Post-war Japanese society is a world where High and Low art is blurred together by otaku, such as anime, and social class. However, Takashi Murakami straddles the line. Murakami spills a mix of Nihanga and Otaku into the canvases, plastic toys, handbags, shoes, etc; endorsing his own theory/style named “Superflat”. Using strategical subject matter such as popular Japanese comic figures combined with ukiyo-e(traditional Japanese block prints), and addressing these contrasting qualities to outside cultures; Murakami intensifies what Pop Art accomplished, art versus material. On other feelings, one could argue that “Superflat” isn’t a unique, Japan-identified style, that “Superflat” is a humiliation to the Contemporary Art world because of its commercialism. Lastly, that is a continuation of the already well developed Pop Art. On the supporting side, Murakami’s “Superflat” is a high-energy, cross-culture style that serves as a new way to represent the high and low of art that is considerably unique to Japan. To support this, Murakami’s past and present artwork will have to be established chronologically to illustrate how the timeline affects his work.

Throughout history, the issue of appropriation in art has become a heated debate on whether it is good or whether it is bad. Appropriation is fundamentally the act of taking something from somewhere else and placing it into a new context. In art, appropriation is seen as using (or taking) someone else's artwork, manipulating it and ultimately changing the whole meaning behind the work. It is seen as a significant issue as many people (including art critics, art historians and art enthusiasts) see appropriation as whilst, others see it as being inappropriate and immoral, and see the growth in appropriation as being a destroyer of art. It is of the opinion that art indeed "feeds off itself" and every artwork, art movement, and art period is

The traditional Ukiyo-e prints, on the other hand, have to seek out a new way with the threat of Western techniques. This crucial moment leads to the formation of two major moments in Japan. Some of them intend on inheriting and carrying forward traditional cultures and techniques, but endow their prints with entirely different sentiments. This group of artists is known as Shin-hanga in the early 20th century Japan. Another group of artists, on the contrary, who advocate individualism and a new form of creativity: “self-carved, self-printed and self-published ,” are claimed as Sosaku-hanga. Even though Shin-hanga movement has been strongly criticized by its opponent, they aim to redefine the values of Japanese art through the process of making prints, medium and subjects. They embrace and appreciate the characteristics of Western art, but also search for a national identity and nostalgia in the modern community, where no longer sustain the beauty of old Japan

Many times scholars have attempted to put a finger on the exact definition of modernity in Europe. Almost all of these attempts have proven useful for Europe, however, these definitions are difficult to transfer to The East. In regards to art, the search for a definition of modernity has been much more successfully, but, again, fails to apply to The East. Many, including Alfred Barr, the first director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York has called Japanese prints “archaic, primitive, or exotic traditions.” While there was clearly an immense amount of exchange of ideas from east to west in terms of art and philosophy, Europe remained in the forefront in the minds of art historians. As Yorozu Tetsugorō’s piece Landscape Through The Trees (figure 1) shows, Japanese art can indeed be modern. Yorozu’s unique position as an easterner in the world of modern art allows him to cherry-pick the most modern aspects of Western styles to make his piece the pinnacle of modernism. This modernism is predicated on two key concepts: Yorozu learned oil painting in Japan, unlike those before him, and he had access to examples of contemporaneous pieces via different art publications. This paper seeks to locate the Western modern art styles which lead to the production of Landscape Through The Trees. The piece is the pinnacle of modernism because of Yorozu’s position as a non-western artist which allows him to synthesize Japanese prints, futurism, and cubism into a single piece.

The Edo period in Japan was the result of strict social control and economic growth resulting in a burgeoning artistic scene. Art was a way of expressing the feelings and desires that was denied by social norms imposed by an authoritarian government. As a result, there was a clash of ideas that pushed artists to focus on subtle refinement of traditional styles and the values therein. This sentiment not only applied to religious art, but to secular art forms as well due to the wealthy patrons being a part of the systems that restricted society. However, this restriction created a unique environment that birthed art and ideas that are unique to their time and place as the lack of outside influences forced all to turn inwards for inspiration. Therefore, the balance between the visible and the invisible is represented in the design of the art.

Nations certainly exchange cultural, technological, and artistic inspiration, but the west was especially interested in the foreignness of the Asian world during the nineteenth century. Japan opened international trade in 1858 after a period of isolation, introducing their woodblock prints to European peoples. Europe, influenced by Romanticism, was fascinated with “the exotic” and quickly began incorporating Japanese techniques into their artwork, as I will describe in detail using the work of Edgar Degas (Lambourne 7). Europe had a curiosity for the Japanese way of life and aesthetics; moreover, Japan simultaneously began a rapid period of modernization based on the western model and reflected European principles in their art. I observed this transition in Japanese artwork, both through my readings and on the trip to the Dallas Museum of Art. Not only did Japanese culture influence the western artistic world in the late nineteenth century, including the work of Degas and other impressionistic painters, but the European style began to inspire many Japanese works. This two-sided artistic influence demonstrates the exchange of western and eastern culture during the modernization of Japan and explains the roots of the Japonisme and Yōga periods in Europe and Japan, respectively.