Appropriations in modern paintings by Nigerian artists

Abstract

Appropriation in Art, is the act of taking compositions and design components from existing works (paintings) to produce new ones, and can be traced back to leading exponents of Art through many of the Art Movements. Cogent statements of war, politics, social and cultural issues are sometimes used as compositional influences targeted at fulfilling purely aesthetic yearnings. Since modern artists of European descent have done immeasurably well of appropriation, this paper attempts to view into selected appropriations done by Nigerian artists. The paper tries to understand the obvious and subtle motivations for appropriating elements and compositions from other artists’ works. It takes a look into the emotive, aesthetic, perceptive, social or psychological levels. This research adopts a Qualitative Research method and engages a narrative research design. In view of the comparative complexities involved in this research, the study weaved together a sequence of events, from many documents to realise its aim and objective(s). The study’s data is collected from stories that form these documents. This research found out that various levels of appropriation that characterise the paintings under review; some are partial, others total, or compositional formats from the original in order to make new, valid and aesthetic statements. That once an idea is reproduced by another painter, no matter the source, it ceases to be that idea and transmogrifies into a new expression. The original then, have been a source of inspiration upon which it was meant to grow and make meaning among others.