Creator of Iconic Obama Poster: No Stranger to Accusations That He Has Ripped Off Other Artists Without Credit
It was a big story recently when Shepard Fairey, the creator of that creepy Obama poster, was sued by the AP for copyright infringement.
At Hot Air, Allahpundit performed some rare legal analysis and determined that Fairey’s use of the photo was fair use, and bloggers — generally resentful of the AP‘s bullying and hypocritical tactics — cheered and agreed.
Allahpundit may well have been right . . . but it’s worth noting that this is not the first time this fellow has been accused of some rather liberal borrowing. In each of the following cases, the first image is the pre-existing artwork, and the second image is Fairey’s, which does not credit or acknowledge the first:
There’s lots more like that at the link. I don’t know if the guy is technically infringing or not (my guess is that he is), but I definitely think he’s a weasel.
A weasel. Supporting Barack Obama! Go figure!
I want to take the goofy Al Franken face from the photo they always use for him at Hot Air and make posters and tee shirts in the style of the Obama “iconic” Obama poster. Maybe with the word “cope” or “dope” instead of “hope”. Could I be sued for ripping off the photographer or the Obama poster maker or both?
Yes, I’m asking for some free legal advise.
j curtis (22be74) — 2/9/2009 @ 10:55 pmJ Curtis,
Obamicon.Me will get the job done.
Legal advice not included 😉
Bob Loblaw (6d485c) — 2/9/2009 @ 11:06 pmYou know, in academia, when you copy someone’s course plan, it’s not called “copying.” It’s called “modeling.”
So I guess that the artist was “modeling” the work of others. The real test, though, would be to find some original artwork by the follow (if possible) and then copy it—to see if he would try to sue!
I’ll bet he would.
j. curtis: I think that Che-style poster with Franken’s sneering mug and the word “TOOL” under it would be a big seller at CafePress.
Eric Blair (ec334b) — 2/9/2009 @ 11:07 pmOh, so when professors do it, it’s modeling and when students to it, it’s called plagiarism. I get it now.
John Hitchcock (fb941d) — 2/9/2009 @ 11:11 pmIt bears pointing out that Fairey was arraigned in Boston today. Silly tagger.
Pablo (99243e) — 2/9/2009 @ 11:13 pmA Ward Churchill wannabee.
Perfect Sense (0922fa) — 2/9/2009 @ 11:14 pmI gift my idea to Patterico to finance his website expenses. I’ll take 30% of the royalties after the first $25,000.
You can also do one of the pope with “pope” written underneath. That should sell 100,000. Lots of Catholics out there.
j curtis (22be74) — 2/9/2009 @ 11:18 pmJohn, I can do better. Most college have quite a problem with plagiarism. So there are several websites where you can submit a paper to check it for plagiarism (there is quite a database out there). Honestly, some elements of plagiarism can be unconscious, and professors are after students about this like a chicken on an earthworm.
So I know a professor who was really pushing for this plagiarism-checking program on my campus. It was infallible and so forth. You know what is coming, don’t you? Someone entered one of the professor’s publications…and guess what?
The professor is pretty quiet now.
Remember, five or six words can set off that program.
Goose, meet gander.
Eric Blair (ec334b) — 2/9/2009 @ 11:21 pmheh, oops
John Hitchcock (fb941d) — 2/9/2009 @ 11:23 pmEric Blair — 2/9/2009: So I guess that the artist was “modeling” the work of others. The real test, though, would be to find some original artwork by the follow (if possible) and then copy it—to see if he would try to sue! I’ll bet he would.
http://animalnewyork.com/news/2008/04/shepard-fairey-threatens-to-su.php
Fairey copyrights the images he steals and from fair use sources after slapping an ‘Obey’ logo on them. The only kind of artist Fairey is, is of the rip-off variety.
the other JD (51ca0c) — 2/9/2009 @ 11:35 pmGreat job, TOJD!
From another context: “Have you no shame, Mr. Fairey?”
Apparently not.
Eric Blair (ec334b) — 2/10/2009 @ 12:03 amThis is the Ward Churchill-Communist Chi Com school of thought on intellectual property rights–what is yours is mine, what is mine is mine!
Joe (17aeff) — 2/10/2009 @ 7:15 amPersonally, the AP complaint seems a bit of a stretch. Do they have a copywrite on the physical appearance of Obama? And this guy did not trace it, it appears changed. Yeah he was inspired by the photograph image, so what?
But the examples below you cite? Artists often rip off other artists to make a point–arguably you could make that point with the 1984 movie image of Big Brother. That is fine to a point. But his work is going beyond that, certainly with the image of the Art Nouveau image of the girl or the si
Joe (17aeff) — 2/10/2009 @ 7:21 am…silhoette of the solder. But what the hell, he is ripping off fellow socialists, so enjoy it comrades!
Joe (17aeff) — 2/10/2009 @ 7:22 amA weasel. Supporting Barack Obama! Go figure!
Gratuitous Cheap shot. No surprise there. And it’s so inaccurate it’s embarrassing.
Fairey’s work is important, corporate over-zealousness towards content ownership is dangerous and wrong. AP is a good case in point. Whatever right they had over that image is now utterly in the public domain. Disappointing action by them.
Fairey is using visual “sampling” taking iconic styles and images and re-appropriating them to a new message. Sometimes even creating entirely new icons and new meaning from a popular figure. Fairey’s most famous “campaign” was formerly a street project called : Andre the Giant Has a Posse. You can’t talk about the man or his work without referencing that first and foremost, sorta like talking about Warhol and failing to mention the Campbell’s soup can, but as long as a cheap shot can be gotten in there, who cares about accuracy?
Peter (e70d1c) — 2/10/2009 @ 8:12 amYou can’t talk about the man or his work without referencing that first and foremost, sorta like talking about Warhol and failing to mention the Campbell’s soup can, but as long as a cheap shot can be gotten in there, who cares about accuracy?
Ripping off Andy Warhol too. What a bastard he is!
Hey, I agree with you AP’s complaint is pretty lame. I agree that Obama poster is an effective and original iconic image (unless the artist ripped off someone else I am unaware of). AP does not “own” Obama’s likeness.
Some times borrowing an image and reworking it is fine, and frankly artists have been doing that since Lascaux. Other times it is just a short cut for someone who is lacking real original talent. I liked the Andre the Giant campaign. I thought it was funny, but it was a one liner and there is not a lot of substance there. Sorry. And some of the stuff Fairey ripped off he well, plagerized. It is all good. If it works for Biden, why not for an Obama flunkie.
Joe (17aeff) — 2/10/2009 @ 8:27 amWhatever. Fairey’s a hack – playing off the inflated sense of political savvy of a generation of half-bright dilletantes. Those “Hope” posters are the Che Guevara T-shirts of the Obama era.
Leviticus (d56bc4) — 2/10/2009 @ 8:29 amThe Andre the Giant campaign was perplexing and annoying when I first saw it (I think he began it as a student at RISD in Providence, RI), but pretty soon as it spread out it’s power became apparent. Seems anyone could become and brandname iconic and any message could be made into a “truth” if it was repeated enough and there was a semiotic dismantling or dissection that is almost genius.
I’ve since come to really like his work and I think the Obama poster is amazing. It will be one of the definitive images of this decade hands down.
Peter (e70d1c) — 2/10/2009 @ 8:37 amAlready is. It serves a nice purpose, so as to identify those that have chosen to join the Cult.
JD (c6800b) — 2/10/2009 @ 8:50 amThis is all Barack Obama’s fault. Another example of Change We Cant Believe in. I blame him for this. What’s the art word for plagiarism?
Emperor7 (1b037c) — 2/10/2009 @ 9:02 amI love Andy.. like Shepard Fairey, he launched his art through capitalism. (Former art illustrator on Madison Avenue in the fifties.) He was probably sampling Rauchenberg a little. But he’s the reason we communicate and think and express ourselves through pop art.
As for the poster, Fairey’s work is important. It communicates instantly that Obama is a socialist. And because of Obama, Shepard Fairey enjoys the benefits of capitalism. Utterly ironic.
By the time Fairey was doing his borrowed prints, his ideas were just that. Borrowed.
Vermont Neighbor (ab0837) — 2/10/2009 @ 9:06 amAnd what is that “truth”, Peter?
Pablo (99243e) — 2/10/2009 @ 9:11 amFairey had the money to go to Risdy? There’s a real humble socialist. Grants, scholarships, whatever.
No wonder he supported Obama. Hypocrites enjoy the best but deny the rest. I think we’re seeing a pattern here.
Vermont Neighbor (ab0837) — 2/10/2009 @ 9:12 amHe says of the guy who copyrights his versions of the stuff he steals from other artists…
Pablo (99243e) — 2/10/2009 @ 9:14 amthe guy who copyrights his versions of the stuff he steals from other artists…
Pablo, too funny. That’s what’s so obvious.
Vermont Neighbor (ab0837) — 2/10/2009 @ 9:25 amGood comment Pablo, too funny and too true. I always enjoy seeing socialists freak out when their property rights are being impacted!
And RISD is only $35 K a year. A bargain!
Joe (dcebbd) — 2/10/2009 @ 9:37 amAfter you do finger-painting in kindergarten, you progress to tracing other people’s pictures. Fairey never got past that point.
luagha (5cbe06) — 2/10/2009 @ 10:58 amA weasel supporting a pathological liar how quaint. I think most of us did what that Fairey did, but we were in kindergarten or first grade, used tracing paper, and didn’t know enough to think that passing off someone else’s work as one’s own wasn’t kosher.
eaglewingz08 (c46606) — 2/10/2009 @ 12:54 pmHey Joe, even better is Bill Ayers with his new book deal. Kapitalism for radicals and other professors!
Vermont Neighbor (ab0837) — 2/10/2009 @ 2:44 pmSomeone over at Hot Air posted this piece about narcissism and you-know-Hussein. (That little -ism is courtesy of L.N. Smithee!) It nails the cult of personality, the narcissism of BHO, the need of his followers, etc. A great read if you like this type of article.
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http://www.faithfreedom.org/obama.html
Pathological narcissism, is not akin to typical narcissism—-someone with a hedonistic or self-centered sense of self-—but rather someone with a very weak sense of self. Obama’s narcissism is pathological.
Narcissists seek power. That is the whole purpose of their existence. Power for them is the elixir of life. Those who know about NPD can’t help but notice it in Obama’s posture, the tone of his voice, his demeanor and particularly his grandiose claims and unscripted adlibs.
Narcissim has degrees. When it is extreme it shows in the posture and the way the narcissist walks and talks. Obama’s posture, exudes haughtiness. He is all puffery. Compare his posture to those of Hitler, Stalin and Saddam.
According to Vaknin, Obama displays the following behaviors, which are among the hallmarks of pathological narcissism:
– Subtly misrepresents facts and expediently and opportunistically shifts positions, views, opinions, and “ideals” (e.g., about campaign finance, re-districting). These flip-flops do not cause him overt distress and are ego-syntonic (he feels justified in acting this way). Alternatively, refuses to commit to a standpoint and, in the process, evidences a lack of empathy.
– Ignores data that conflict with his fantasy world, or with his inflated and grandiose self-image. This has to do with magical thinking. Obama already sees himself as president because he is firmly convinced that his dreams, thoughts, and wishes affect reality. Additionally, he denies the gap between his fantasies and his modest or limited real-life achievements (for instance, in 12 years of academic career, he didn’t publish a single scholarly paper or book).
– Feels that he is above the law.
– Talks about himself in the 3rd person singluar or uses the regal “we” and craves to be the exclusive center of attention, even adulation
– Has a messianic-cosmic vision of himself and his life and his “mission”.
– Sets ever more complex rules in a convoluted world of grandiose fantasies with its own language (jargon)
– Displays false modesty and unctuous “folksiness” but is unable to sustain these behaviors (the persona, or mask) for long. It slips and the true Obama is revealed: haughty, aloof, distant, and disdainful of simple folk and their lives.
– Sublimates aggression and holds grudges.
– Behaves as an eternal adolescent (e.g., his choice of language, youthful image he projects, demands indulgence and feels entitled to special treatment, even though his objective accomplishments do not justify it).
continued…
Vermont Neighbor (ab0837) — 2/10/2009 @ 7:26 pm