The artist that made the famous "Hope" Obama poster is being sued for using a photograph from a AP press reporter to make his art. Shephard Fairey is typically known as a street artist that does 'stencil art'. Do you think it's wrong to create a new piece of art that exists in a different format? Personally, I think there's artistic statement in what he did. Most of our cultural images are a simalacrum of something else.
I think a lot of fuss is being made about "plagiarism." Actually, there is nothing "original" in this world. The same things are done and told and created over and over again in different styles and formats. I am a great admirer of this artist, and it is a pity that he is in trouble for creating art from a photograph. I don't think what he did is wrong.
I see nothing wrong with the artist's actions, and feel the press reporter is being a bit petty. Maybe Obama will send the artist another picture to use, and the artist can send the original to the reporter to shut him up! Surely, there are better ways for the photographer to expend his energy. Isn't there a celebrity that he can stalk, somewhere?
Sampling and duping in music have really opened the door toward it being artistically acceptable (or even expected) to take an existing work and then re-image it in a new interpretation. It's a drag when these things have to be sorted out in court.
Now that I've pondered it a bit, I remember that during Beethoven's time it was considered very bush-league to play someone else's material exactly as it was written. You were expected to show your chops by presenting variations based on a song. I guess that's a bit like duping
I agree, but legally you have to get permission to use samples of another track. That's part of the terms of service in legitimate production music sites, for example. And morally, I hope David Bowie and Queen were well compensated for allowing Vanilla Ice to rap over the loop from Under Pressure.
Remember the hilarious parody Jim Carey did of Vanilla Ice on In Living Color? He was singing "I'm white white baby"? As he said, "I'm not stupid, I just dupe it."
Has there been any news on this lawsuit? I don't think I even heard about it on CNN. Did the plaintiff have a change of heart?
When we were working for Obama, hundreds of people stopped by headquarters looking for just that sticker. That was the most popular piece of campaign items and we had lots of trouble trying to keep enough to give to the people that wanted them. Perhaps the original photographer might ponder how widespread and famous his pic has become. No one made any money that I know of, giving out those stickers.
I would have to agree that this is a petty dispute. But I found another one that I thought many of you would appreciate: Remember the Jiverly Wong guy who killed 13 people and himself in PA a couple of weeks ago? Seems a federal worker was stuck in his building across the street on lockdown over his lunch break. He has filed a complaint and demands to be paid for that time.
You'd think there would be enough to file about the trauma he had to go through, or at least PTSD. Well, I've never had to go through something like this, so I shouldn't judge.
