Lecture week 3 - Connectivity

Artists are often inspired by each other’s work or historical events or movements that have already happened, but can lead them to imitating others work. History also plays a massive part in being the influence for their work as previous art works, events are often re-created in their work. In fashion looks and styles often come back time and time again and are still accepted in the industry and worn again.

This can also be applied in photography where the paintings of Adam and eve by Jan Gossaert Called Mabuse and Lucas Cranach are often re-created. The questions that are often asked in modern re-creations of art is who came up with the idea first? What is the story behind the piece? What is the link between the original and the new artist interpretation & how the piece has been re-worked or re-used? For example David LaChapelle's piece with Naomi Campbell called "the rape of Africa" imitates a pre-Raphaelite image by Botticelli Venus and Mars - 148 but the meaning behind the image tells a different story. The title of the image is what gives away what is really happening in the image as it is about the destruction, poverty and abuse of Africa.

Then there are obvious copies of artists using each other’s work, for example Rihanna’s video for her single S&M directed by Melina Matsouka is a direct copy of David LaChapelle’s Italian Vogue photographs and the "Striped Face” photo in particular. The use of lighting, colour scheme, the video’s theme and styling is at times almost identical to the photographers work; LaChapelle did sue Rihanna and claimed “"directly derived" from some of his magazine shots.” The video was also again attack for its unoriginal ideas as 19 year old photographer Phiipp Paulus claimed that his photograph “paper world” had been copied in the video as well. As at one point video is shows Rihanna trapped in a plastic sheet with duct tape crosses, the two images show an obvious comparison between the two pieces of work. Not only is the setting similar but both of the images show strong use of the colour red as Phiipp Paulaus’s image has the model wearing a bright red dress with a rounded/bubble shape and in Rihanna’s video her hair is also bright red and styled in exaggerated curly bob.

click here for guardian article

When re-working an image it is important to show your own work in the image, so the image can show the audience the foundations of the old image, but shows your interpretation of it and to also show the link between why you have perhaps intentionally shown why you have chosen to copy this piece.