Mónica Yoldi /// The Discourse of the Copy

In the XX century the work of art, due to technical reproducibility, is objectualised, loses its uniqueness, and, to a certain extent, becomes one more product of the market system of the capitalist economy. As a result, the concept of originality becomes disfigured, now that the work of art may be reproduced in multiple copies. If Marcel Duchamp was one of the first artists to make use of what mechanical reproduction supposed for art, Sherrie Levine (Hazleton, Pennsylvania, 1947) takes up this issue and elaborates a work that questions the myth of the original artist and the work of art as a unique piece.

In Sherrie Levine’s work two basic pillars stand out. The first is the great influence exercised by Marcel Duchamp on her work. The second is her admiration for the literature of Borges, full of doubles and paradoxes. Added to all of this is her constant interest in configuring her creations from pre-existing elements, taking images from magazines, books and catalogues, a technique which will reach its peak when Levine decides to appropriate other artists’ work.