Art or Appropriation? Rephotography and Fair Use for $Hundreds of Thousands

Liosse de Velishaf · May 23, 2015

http://petapixel.com/2015/05/21/ric...-instagram-shots-without-permission-for-100k/

Artist Richard Prince is notorious in the art world for taking other people’s work, “appropriating” them as his own with various changes, and then selling them for large amounts of dough. His latest endeavor is once again raising eyebrows: Prince is selling other people’s Instagram photos for up to $100,000 each.

In a gallery exhibition titled “New Portraits,” which ran at the Gagosian Gallery in NYC from September through October 2014, Prince displayed 38 portraits featuring photos taken from his Instagram feeds — other people’s images, and without permission.

The large 48×65-inch works featured a screenshot of the photo as it appeared on Instagram and a short message posted by Prince himself as the last comment on each one.

Like, maybe it's technically legal, but is it ethical? Doesn't seem like he adds enough to me, and I thought fair use generally prohibited commercial gain, especially when you're using the whole work and adding almost nothing of your own.

Alessandra Kelley · May 23, 2015

It's not even technically legal and you would think the Gagosian Gallery would know better than this.

International bestelling(so to speak) artist Jeff Koons, known for his appropriated image sculptures starting in the 1980s, got hammered so hard for copyright violation in a lawsuit that I am amazed anyone would still try so blatantly to swipe and sell images.

clintl · May 23, 2015

Looks to me like blatant copyright violation. I hope he gets sued. Hopefully by many people.

Williebee · May 23, 2015

Ethical? I'd say probably not. Although that is not a blanket statement on all his pieces. And what does it say about the people who purchased these pieces? Have they given thought to what they are purchasing, and all it represents? dunno.

ETA - He's been sued, [Link to that info is in the link from the OP] and won on appeal. Although that was for a piece he actually made a change/commentary on.

I'd really like to know what the Gagosian has to say about exhibiting this kind of work.

Liosse de Velishaf · May 23, 2015

Someone pointed out to me that the photograph is only part of the composition, which includes all the social media add-ons like likes, comments, view counts, etc.

Does that change the issue, I wonder.

Williebee · May 23, 2015

I suspect it means he stole from Instagram, too. It would certainly appear to violate Instagram's TOS. (Specifically, #6)

Liosse de Velishaf · May 23, 2015

What about the idea that placing the image/post in a different context qualifies it as a transformative work, and thus distinct from the original in terms of copyright law?

Nymtoc · May 23, 2015

Liosse de Velishaf said:
What about the idea that placing the image/post in a different context qualifies it as a transformative work, and thus distinct from the original in terms of copyright law?

Yeah, I think I'll take someone's short story, rebrand it as a memoir and publish it as my own.

The whole thing smells of theft, IMO.

robeiae · May 23, 2015

Honestly, I can't believe people are dumb enough to shell out that kind of money for this stuff. Go browse Instagram for a while, take a screen shot of something you like, have it enlarged and mounted. Viola, art.

But hey, if people are dumb enough to pay for it, so be it...

Liosse de Velishaf · May 23, 2015

Nymtoc said:
Yeah, I think I'll take someone's short story, rebrand it as a memoir and publish it as my own.

The whole thing smells of theft, IMO.

Well, technically, the photos themselves are not the art. They are part of the art, along with the comments, stats, instagram icons, etc. If he'd stripped out just the pic and made prints of it, I think it would be an open and shut case, easy.

Xelebes · May 23, 2015

robeiae said:
Honestly, I can't believe people are dumb enough to shell out that kind of money for this stuff. Go browse Instagram for a while, take a screen shot of something you like, have it enlarged and mounted. Viola, art.

But hey, if people are dumb enough to pay for it, so be it...

Oh don't be so provincial, rob. If you had money like true art collectors, you'd shell out big money for pieces of art like this.

Art or Appropriation? Rephotography and Fair Use for $Hundreds of Thousands

Liosse de Velishaf

Alessandra Kelley

Sophipygian

clintl

Represent.

Williebee

Capeless, wingless, & yet I fly.

Liosse de Velishaf

Williebee

Capeless, wingless, & yet I fly.

Liosse de Velishaf

Nymtoc

Benefactor Member

robeiae

Touch and go

Liosse de Velishaf

Xelebes

Delerium ex Ennui