Art and its double

• Published in: Kunstforum international no. 173; pp. 112 - 131
• Main Author: Holzer, Walter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: German
• Published: 01.11.2004
• ISSN: 0177-3674

Discusses the notion of copies, reproductions, imitations, and appropriation in art. The author introduces the opposition between an `original' work of art and those that follow it, argues that artists have always copied themselves and their colleagues, and outlines what he understands to be an original work of art or artistic idea. He considers the mirror and window in works by Richard Artschwager, Bertrand Lavier, and Marcel Duchamp, focuses on the notion of the copyright in relation to Duchamp's Fresh Widow (1920; col. illus.), and examines works by Christo, Yves Klein, and Joseph Kosuth in a discussion of the artistic idea. He notes Klein's patenting of a Plexiglas table and his International Klein Blue paint colour, relates the connections between art and advertising, and highlights artists' exploitation of brand names and images and the form of commercial products in their work. He focuses on Erwin Wurm's `One-Minute-Sculptures', comments on the relationship between Duchamp's Belle Haleine (1921; col. illus.) and Valie Export's Selbstportait (1970; illus.), and explores Duchamp's serial phonograph records Rotorelief (1934; col. illus.). He presents Louise Lawler's photographs of other artists' work, analyses the idea of the artistic `doppelganger', and concludes by observing the existence of `real fakes'.