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FINE ART Appropriately Appropriated Appropriation involves the intentional repurposing of existing and often iconic imagery to create new meaning. Within Art History, appropriation has long been used as an artistic tool. From Andy Warhol’s soup cans and Barbara Kruger’s slogans, to Marcel Duchamp’s “L.H.O.O.Q.” and Yasumasa Morimura’s recreation of “Girl with a Pearl Earring”, artists have often turned to appropriation to highlight their message. It was first formally utilised by artists during the Cubist movement, finding new significance alongside the rise of consumerism. Today, it is a powerful tool that many Australian Contemporary artists choose to integrate into their practice. Here are 5 Australian artists, appropriately appropriating:
ANNE ZAHALKA Anne Zahalka’s body of work is diverse, but one of her most well-regarded images is “The Bathers” 1989/2008, in which she directly refers to Charles Meere’s iconic painting
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“Australian Beach Pattern” 1938–40. Zahalka has used the same composition as the painting but has changed the characters to be more culturally diverse, thus altering the stereotypical view of Australian culture and challenging traditional representations of the beach.
TOP: ANNE ZAHALKA (born 1957)
The Bathers 1989/2008 c-type photograph ed. 9/12 printed by Colour Factory, Melbourne, 2008 93.5 x 110cm Sold for $8,750 © Anne Zahalka/Copyright Agency 2022 BOTTOM: TONY ALBERT
TONY ALBERT Tony’s latest series borrows from the mighty Margaret Preston, and her striking still life linocuts. Preston herself was considered progressive for her own views on a national Australian identity that acknowledged and incorporated Indigenous iconography (she was one of the first nonIndigenous Australian artists to do this). However, what resulted was the mass market appropriation of indigenous iconography for predominantly domestic objects, especially that which portrayed Indigenous Australia naively or stereotypically. Although this was unlikely to be Preston’s motive, a wave of ‘Aboriginalia’ resulted. Tony Albert collects examples of ‘Aboriginalia’, and in this series, “Conversations with Margaret Preston”, he used a selection of his own vintage fabrics to recreate her iconic still lifes through collage.
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Conversations with Preston: Fennel Flowers and Sturt’s Desert Pea 2020 acrylic and vintage appropriated fabric on Arches paper; 62 x 57 cm © Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney and the Artist
