How do you feel about having your work "appropriated" without permission. In the internet age the common perception is that if it's on the internet it must be free. Images are appropriated, grabbed, copied and used without the creator ever knowing.
In some cases people have profited by this - I'm thinking of Mr Richard Prince who has appropriated images and sold them as his own with only the slightest modification and without permission or awareness of the image creator. And this is legal. So, I'm intrigued by this notion of appropriation. I begin to see all kinds of possibilties with my "visual glossolalia" approach to image creation. Below are three creations where I have appropriated an image from the internet by using screen capture and without permssion or awareness of the creators. Unlike Mr Prince I have severly altered the image to create something completely different and unmistakeably my own. I think this is a healty approach to appropriation - although I may need to start a support group called AA (Appropriationist Anonymous). Curious as to what you think.
Is appropriation okay?
Would you like your work appropriated?
How much alteration is needed?
What is inspiration?
Who needs permission?
The only way to prevent appropriation is to not post work on the internet and also to prevent others from using technology. Is that what we really want?
HIGHWAYS & BI-WAYS
The source image for this little creation was actually a screen capture from google maps
that features a major highway interchange near where I live. It was also my first experiment with appropriation.
FENDER ROADS
This image is based on a screen capture of a photo from flickr.
In this particular instance I will provide a link to the original for you to compare because the photo posted to flickr was from a friend of mine. And I told him what I did (after the fact) so he knows all about it. Here's the link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/3blackdogs/16975722419/
ON THE SUNNY SIDE
This title is the same as the original image from 500px that I used to create this abstract.