Archive for the &;&; Category
Fairey and FairUse
October 28, 2009
Use, unfortunately, is an anagram of &;sue&;.
Charlotte Allen makes some good points about Shepherd Fairey&;s &;expropriation&; of the image he used to &;create&; the now-ubiquitous red-white-and-blue Barack Obama image. (She also credits Photo District News, which has clearly been on the case.)
And Fairey hasn&;t helped his own case by lying to his attorneys about which image he used, or by his 15 arrests for graffitti.
He probably should have asked for permission, or if he&;s made any money on the use of Manny Garcia&;s photo, pay something to Garcia and the AP (which I&;m sure is why the AP is suing, rather than &;the principle of the thing.) Speaking as a writer whose work has been used without permission or payment, I certainly sympathize.
But the reality is that artists over time have stood on the shoulders of others, &;borrowing&; work to make something new.
My favorite &;borrowing&; is Mona Gorilla, by Rick Meyerowitz, which I &;borrow&; below. (I will take down these images if asked, but I use them to make a point&;and to create something new, this blog post, for which, alas, I do not get paid.)
I&;ve &;borrowed&; myself from press releases for news stories. &;I used to be a writer, now I&;m a cut-and-paster,&; I joke.
My least favorite borrowing? Peter Benchley&;s Jaws&;modernizing Moby Dick for the money.
Tags:Barack-Obama-poster, , fair-use, Jaws, Moby-Dick, Mona-Gorilla, Shepherd-Fairey Posted in AP, | Leave a Comment &;