Jeff Koons and Richard Prince: echoes of postmodernism – theft, plagiarism, or inspiration?
By Anya Znaenok
In contemporary art, the boundary between originality and plagiarism is incredibly blurred. Legal battles, claims by authors, and various unpleasant news about plagiarism are constant companions of the careers of two commercially successful artists – Koons and Prince.
Their works present crucial questions about what constitutes originality and how we understand copyright in art. Nowadays, when the lines between borrowing and creating something new are becoming increasingly blurred, the practices of Koons and Prince continue to spark numerous debates and discussions.
It’s important to consider not only legal norms but also the cultural context and approaches to creating art. Sometimes what is labeled as ✨reinterpretation✨ is actually a repetition of someone else’s work.
Artists like Koons and Prince often use existing materials and images to create something they believe is entirely new and relevant. While such practices often expand our understanding of art and make it more accessible in a contemporary context, they also embody a fundamental characteristic of art – intertextuality. This approach primarily demands maintaining a delicate balance between respecting original creators and contributing something unique.
Let’s examine the creative approaches of these renowned artists.
Jeff Koons and reinterpreting other artists’ art
Koons’ works, such as the famous Balloon Dog, Ballerina, and Rabbit sculptures, frequently raise questions about the boundary between originality and borrowing. Koons creates pieces using pre-existing images and objects of others’ authorship, which he transforms into other mediums. His approach suggests that the object of creativity is not the item itself but the concept and cultural significance it carries.
However, Koons has faced numerous accusations of copyright infringement. For instance, in his work ‘Made in Heaven’, Koons poses with actress Cicciolina on top of a sculpture that depicts a stone entwined with a snake. However, this sculpture has an author – Michael Hayden. Hayden claimed that he was not asked for permission. In court, Hayden argued that this was a direct violation of his copyright and demanded monetary compensation, as well as an official ban on Koons profiting from Hayden’s work in the future.
This is just one of many legal disputes involving Koons. These legal battles highlight the difficulty in determining where inspiration ends and infringement begins. For Koons, as for many others, the issue is not whether the object was borrowed but how it was interpreted and transformed. For the original authors, the key issue is the massive monetization that Koons's works have generated, rather than their own.
Richard Prince and the reinterpretation of advertising and Instagram aesthetics
Richard Prince is known for his series of works that use other people’s photographs and advertising images. For example, his Cowboy series consists of reworked images from advertisements that he presents as his own, standalone artworks. Prince argues that his art is an exploration of cultural symbols and their meanings within the context of postmodern reinterpretation
Legal disputes over how far Prince has gone in using others’ images are frequently covered in the press. One notable recent case involves Prince’s use of photographs taken by real people and posted on their personal Instagram profiles. Courts often grapple with the question of whether the reworking of such materials is sufficient to consider them a new piece of art or merely plagiarism.No single scientific definition of the term exists, and it has been applied to a variety of rock features that fall into one of four general categories: - A glacial erratic is a boulder that was transported and deposited by glaciers or ice rafts to a resting place on soil, on bedrock, or on other boulders. It usually has a different lithology from the other rocks around it. Not all glacial erratics are balancing rocks; some are firmly seated on the ground. Some balancing erratics have come to be known as rocking stones, also known as logan rocks, logan stones, or logans, because they are so finely balanced that the application of just a small force may cause them to rock or sway. A good example of a rocking stone is the Logan Rock in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom; another is the Trembling Rock in Brittany, France. - A perched block, also known as a perched boulder or perched rock, is a large, detached rock fragment that most commonly was transported and deposited by a glacier to a resting place on glacial till, often on the side of a hill or slope. Some perched blocks were not produced by glacial action, but were the aftermath of a rock fall, landslide, or avalanche.
From a postmodern perspective, such works can indeed be viewed as an example of conceptual blending and reinterpretation, where the boundaries between author and artwork are blurred, and new meaning is created within a cultural dialogue and intertext.
Postmodern perspectives encourage borrowing and reworking existing cultural artifacts. They become building blocks in constructing new meanings. Philosophically, such approaches may be seen as manifestations of deep irony and critique, where traditional categories of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ become less clear-cut and are questioned. As the saying goes, the conclusions are yours to draw.