Selective Historical Precedents in Appropriation as Cover Version

Abstract

abstract:This article focuses on selective historical precedents in appropriation as cover version that highlight how difference is produced through repetition in the visual arts. The article focuses on three historical periods. The first examples emanate from the 1930s: Marcel Duchamp’s Boîte-en-valise and Kurt Schwitters’s Merzbau. The second period is the 1980s and looks at appropriation in North American art. I draw on the writings of Douglas Crimp, who contrasts the appropriation of style to the appropriation of material, and the writings of John C. Welchman, who contrasts the work of Sherrie Levine and Richard Prince from the 1980s to that of Mike Kelley from the 1990s. Third, I consider the interpretation of appropriation in Australian art in the 1980s and 1990s, drawing on the writings of Rex Butler. This article provides a context for considering appropriation as cover version, in general and specifically in relation to visual arts practice.