Appropriating appropriation: the artist's practice as always already-made

This exegesis tests the proposition ‘The artist’s practice as always already-made’. Its focus is not the legacy of the Duchampian readymade. Rather, it investigates modes of appropriation in relation to my studio practice, particularly the generation of new work through the accumulation of materials and the process of remaking. The exegesis opens with a survey of select historical precedents of appropriation practice to establish a framework for rethinking appropriation in relation to my work. These approaches fall into two categories: appropriation as accumulation and appropriation as remaking. Discussion of these categories using specific examples provides a context for the examination of my practice. Appropriation as accumulation points to the activity of gathering material — my previous works, found objects and studio detritus — that resource my ongoing practice. Appropriation as remaking — drawing on my back catalogue of past works to generate a continually unfolding sequence of new playlists — re-interprets my previous work, projecting it into the present and activating the potential for its future re-use. Through the examination of theory spanning the writings of Douglas Crimp, Walter Benjamin, Henri Bergson, Nicolas Bourriaud, Rex Butler, Gilles Deleuze, Elizabeth Grosz and John C. Welchman, the research addresses multifaceted dimensions of the proposition ‘The artist’s practice as always already-made’ to argue for its importance in understanding key aspects of my practice.