Read a think piece on "the importance of appropriation in art" that, presumably by coincidence, was published in the wake of the Guggenheim Balboa scandal. (For the uninitiated.)
The effect of willfully conflating “appropriation” à la Duchamp or Prince with the erasure of the labor of Black queer artists by white artists using their concepts and images without attribution equates to white supremacy. Full stop.
dayday, while an accomplished artist, did not have the iconic fame of the Mona Lisa, the Marlborough Man or even pulp fiction cover illustrations. Moreover Knorr’s paintings were not about appropriation. Most viewers would have no way to relate Knorr’s work back to source material or any indication that was even a part of the piece. Unchecked, Knorr’s work would have been celebrated, and dayday’s would go unrecognized.
This was never the case in the iconic examples of “appropriation” that get trotted out every. freaking. time. people ask that white artist be held accountable.
Fortunately, Knorr and Bilbao Guggenheim were swift to rectify the situation. In showing dayday’s film alongside the paintings the quality of Knorr’s paintings has not changed, even if the context has. so why do some still believe that she “needs” defenders?
The artworld is still so painfully contorted to serve white male interests and power. Queer, BIPOC & white women artists are only valuable in the ways that they support this concentration of power. erasure becomes vital as a tool for realigning challenging work of BIPOC & white women artists with actors who will be more cooperative with the system. “You like dayday’s work? But you feel it’d be safer coming from a white woman? We can make that happen.”
The iconic “appropriation” or borrowing we look to in art is an expansive collaborative build on the canon and visual lexicon of art. “Stealing” is the opposite — it’s covert, intended to silence, and to edit the experiences of marginalized people out of the narrative.
Finally, the pervasiveness of that dumbass "Picasso" quote is only a great example of how willing the artworld is to let toxicity ride when they get to pick their favorite actor. And how willingly complicit many white artists are in the ruse.