12ozProphet

I respect Shepherd Fairey for blowing himself up to such epic stature in the arts, but almost all of it has been ripped off from political and cultural movements. He only does so for HIS profit. His plagiarism is blatant and has NOTHING to do with fair use. Homeboy finally got caught and someone decided to do something about it. Period. Props for his brilliant execution, he’s got design skills no doubt but HE IS A THEIF. He can spin the damage control however he wants, the truth is the truth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDUzLe6-YVk

Vargucci, please explain. The use of capital letters explains your strong feeling, but doensn’t convince me that there is absolutely no rightful claim to fair use in this case. Do you believe that there is or should be fair use in any instance? And do you think there is actually a problem with artists, industrialists, bankers or anyone creating anything for their profit. In this case Fairey profited in helping to get his favored candidate elected. He also profited in stoking his own fame. No doubt. but mixed motives make the world go round.

Yo, I’ve seen hope shirts, bags,anything they can print that graphic on for sale through the obey line. He is absolutely making money off of that image.  Hey props to the man, but lets not make him some kind of innocent bystander in all of this, or an advocate for fair use. If someone made a giant profit off of a picture you took and denied it was yours, I doubt you would respect his artistic freedom to create.
just sayin’.

“All proceeds from the sales of the Shepard Fairey/Upper Playground collaborative Obama t-shirt will go directly to creating more campaign t-shirts, posters, and stickers by other artists in support of Obama’s bid for President”
- http://obeygiant.com/headlines/barack-obama-t-shirts

I dont know the status of profits since the inauguration.

The second part of your statement is spot on though. None of us want to be a stepping stone for someone elses profit. And that is why I am split on the issue. Because lets face it, the Obey/Obama is something new, morphed and different than just a photo, And stronger, than the photo alone. But it owes its existence to that photo. The question I’m posing is what else does it owe that photo/photographer? Because I think it is important to promote and not stifle artists to create. And basically the question in this case is, which judgement would stifle future art more? Defense of the photographer, or of the poster designer. See my post about Damien Hirst from a couple weeks back.

Handselecta- As a movie poster designer and illustrator, I am a believer in fair use. Shepherd Fairey is undoubtedly a very talented individual, but his plagiarism is just so rampant and shameless. At least have the decency to give credit where credit is due. If you’re a tastemaker and art/graphic connoisseur that remixes visuals then so be it. Do so openly, do not conceal the source! How is that fair? How can you create something as iconic as the Obama Hope image and not remember where you got it from? Really? I have yet to see him give credit to anyone he has “borrowed” from. My objection is that Shepherd Fairey isn’t the champion of this cause, if anything, to me he is an example of unfair use. The irony of it is how many times Shepherd Fairey has gone after people for imitating him. So in his case, he’s just protecting his brand?

Artists should be able to create freely, no doubt about it. Artists should also be protected from anyone making a profit off something they created. I don’t think you will find any artist that is either pro or con. Like most, I’m torn.

...just to clarify - i believe in fair use, as in: if someone makes a profit off something that can be undoubtedly referenced back to another source, then credit and possible profit sharing should be required. the question is, how much change to an image constitutes it being a completely new image?

Fairey really screwed the pooch on this one. First, he didn’t give credit where credit was due (after all, it was “just” an AP photographer, that he probably does not perceive as an artist since he tends to steal his images from the unnamed at will) as opposed to more recent work where he states that a design is a collaboration (mostly with “cool” photographers or people in his clique who he wants to maintain good relationships with). He’s is a big money making adult and has to play by the same rules as other COMMERCIAL art entities - whether they be editorial magazines, newspapers, or websites who have to pay other artists for their work directly or through middlemen like Getty Images, or whether it is a clothing line that wants photos of their products on a model for a catalogue. Now, he is lying about the photo he used and trying to cover up about it? This is no gentleman. He has stickered and defaced plenty of personal property over the years, and if he was a true gentleman, would establish a cleanup fund to go back and repair areas he destroyed.

The true gentleman comment was in reference to his coming clean. Its not easy to make a statement like that. Granted, for many of us, and probably him we hit a point where we had no choice. But it still shows character.  True character will be when we find out what the full responsibility for his actions actually entails.

this is far from the first time that Shepard has blatantly plagiarized imagery. He has built a disgusting amount of his career on it. This just happens to be the first time he was actually called out for it.

http://www.art-for-a-change.com/Obey/index.htm

As a design piece I don’t think that the Obama Hope poster has much merit. It follows the same canon as the rest of Fairey’s work in terms of the colors and the fact that it’s a blatant rip off. It just got lauded because we were all caught up in the cult of personality that is Obama. And if he was so concerned with the fair use issue being at the forefront of the case then he would’ve just owned up to it in the first place instead of lying and making himself look stupid and irresponsible.

not to pour it on, handselecta, but fairey is a hack.  how can anyone read the critique by Mark Vallan (posted 2 comments above) and objectively give fairey any credit, let alone call him an artist?  and sorry, admitting you’re a thief does not a gentleman make. 

if i lifted your work - but admitted it - would i be a gentleman?

i’m hoping fairey’s days of blatantly ripping others off are nearing an end.

There is a big difference between critique and player-hate. And all the comments above has the seed of honest ctritique. I know this and most blogs tend to feel like a cool guy circle jerk. That was not my intention with this post at all. And on the contrary am very happy with the discussion it has created.

For the record, the title was a reference to Picasso’s quote’ “Good artists copy, great artists steal” I do believe the statement and act of honesty was honorable, even if the motives were not. As I would wish anyone to do, when they’ve fucked up.

i HOPE someone beats this foos ass…. somethin must be done!

History personified will review Shepard Fairey works and words as those cited by one who is lost in timeless contradiction and ignorant of culture and history at large..
Shepard Phoney is nothing other then the Rosie Ruiz of the Graffiti Art-world as the one who arrived in world class record time and embarrassed at his own Finished line!

The Phantom Street Artist

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDUzLe6-YVk&fmt=18
http://disobeyduhfairey.vox.com/
http://plasticwatermag.blogspot.com/