AP v. Obey
The freelance photographer who took the Obama image, Mannie Garcia, joined the the AP/Obey Giant Art, Inc. lawsuit on Monday. His lawyer told the judge “The AP is aware — and was aware at the time of filing its copyright application in the Garcia photo — that it was not the true owner of the rights to that photo.” As stated in his court filing Garcia, claimed that he can’t be considered an AP employee, because he was on assignment for five weeks and wasn’t eligible to join a union or receive health, vacation or unemployment benefits. Important to note, that Garcia also claims Fairey wrongfully copied the photograph.
Is this triangular lawsuit a test between the cultural value of remix and adaptive use in the digital age, the perilous work life forced upon creative freelancers, and corporate control of all valuable intellectual property? Or are both Mannie Garcia and the AP trying to cash in on what Shepard Fairey brought to that image that they could not, the authenticity and viral intensity of an image coming up from the street?
Boston v. Shepard Fairey
A hectic week for Shepard Fairey as he pleaded guilty to vandalism in Boston on Tuesday. I wonder, has the Obama ‘Hope’ image put Shepard Fairey into one of the hubs of the digital age? The vandalism Fairey was convicted of is seen by his detractors as an assault on physical property; while detractors in the growing legal battle see theft of intellectual property. I wonder if anyone has considered that the vandalism he was convicted of has created much of what the AP and Garcia find valuable enough to sue for?
Posthumous Market in Graffiti Art
Also on Tuesday New York graffiti artist, Sacer IRAK, died of a drug overdose. The ghoulish art world respectfully waited until Wednesday to start asking what the posthumous market for Dash Snow’s work would be. As the Über-rich De Menil clan scion “who rejected his privileged upbringing in favor of an existence of drugs, sex, and graffiti,” his tragic story is art dealer gold. However, I can’t help wishing that they would actually look at the work. Graffiti art should not be valued or understood purely for its perceived lifestyle. On Friday one of Snow’s art was pulled from a benefit auction for Robert Wilson’s Watermill Center. Said to be pulled out of sensitivity to the artist’s family, the decision is “pending.”
Always Letters First
Evan Roth’s graffiti taxonomy project is on display at Foundation Cartier’s Born In The Streets – Graffiti exhibition in Paris points out the obvious; in graffiti IT IS ALWAYS LETTERS FIRST:
Graffiti Taxonomy: Paris, 2009 from Evan Roth on Vimeo.
Connecting to the Beginning of Art
Banksy’s murals have popped up Mali. Previously seen incorporated into a re-creation of his studio in the exhibition “Bristol Museum vs. Banksy” that opened in June. One of the images is of two figures hunting a bison with bows and arrows. There a strong allusion to the Great Halls of the Bulls at the Lascaux caves in this work, one that attaches it to the depths of art history, to a time when ancient graffiti saw the birth of art.
– Post by PS: the Public Square