Warhol and me – battle of the authors: Hanna-Kaisa Korolainen — Research in Arts and Education

Korolainen, H. K. (2021). Warhol and me – battle of the authors: from copying to sharing. Research in Arts and Education, 1/2021, 50-71.

This paper presents two case studies which tackle issues of authorship and sources of inspiration. To what extent can the sources of inspiration be used as a part of the creative process before there is a risk of copying? To enable an understanding of what defines an authentic work of art and how we all become authors, this paper looks into specific concepts, such as Walter Benjamin’s ‘aura’, David Joselit’s concept of ‘buzz’, and postmodernism, the time when reproduction became an accepted form of art. These themes are investigated in greater detail by analysing two related artistic case studies that were inspired by American artist Andy Warhol, the undeniable master of the art of copying. Case studies follow Warhol’s example by using repetition and borrowing images made by others as the basis of the creative process. The paper proposes that to be able to find answers the border between inspiration and copying needs to be crossed and the experience of copying lived in order to cultivate a deeper understanding of the topic. Sources of inspiration become an important part of the process and the traditional concept of single authorship might need to be replaced by ‘shared authorship’.