He "appropriates" work from older styles and changes it to fit his agenda, he is anti-capitalistic and makes reference to early socialism posters. Its perfectly ligit!
That's exactly why this is a good topic for discussion; when is appropriation legit, and when does it cross the line and become plagiarism. Lawyers and philosophers have argued about this for centuries, and the debate rages on!
I say he's legit. The whole point is that he work references old propaganda in a way that strips it of its message and content. It's the same as lichtenstein's comic paintings or warhol's diagram paintings, no?
There is clearly a great deal of debate among artists, art historians and attorneys about appropriation and it's implications. This entry on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appropriation_(art)(not the most scholarly source) is the tip of the iceberg, but it shines a light on an age-old dilemma about what art is, and what is art.
The Colbert Report did an addendum story on the famous Obama "Hope" poster that Fairey parlayed into a promotional, if not monetary goldmine this campaign season. It was an interesting and very funny discussion, and a follow-up to a previous piece he did with Fairey in January. I would post a YouTube video from that January interview, but Viacom has pulled it for legal reasons...curiouser and curiouser.
8 comments:
I love his work, but with fame comes scrutiny. Check out these supposed Fairy infringements.
http://www.art-for-a-change.com/Obey/index.htm
Good find, Jay. I always knew his work was derivative, but had no idea to what extent. This is a valuable topic for discussion in class.
He "appropriates" work from older styles and changes it to fit his agenda, he is anti-capitalistic and makes reference to early socialism posters. Its perfectly ligit!
That's exactly why this is a good topic for discussion; when is appropriation legit, and when does it cross the line and become plagiarism. Lawyers and philosophers have argued about this for centuries, and the debate rages on!
I say he's legit. The whole point is that he work references old propaganda in a way that strips it of its message and content. It's the same as lichtenstein's comic paintings or warhol's diagram paintings, no?
There is clearly a great deal of debate among artists, art historians and attorneys about appropriation and it's implications. This entry on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appropriation_(art)(not the most scholarly source) is the tip of the iceberg, but it shines a light on an age-old dilemma about what art is, and what is art.
The Colbert Report did an addendum story on the famous Obama "Hope" poster that Fairey parlayed into a promotional, if not monetary goldmine this campaign season. It was an interesting and very funny discussion, and a follow-up to a previous piece he did with Fairey in January. I would post a YouTube video from that January interview, but Viacom has pulled it for legal reasons...curiouser and curiouser.
Here it is on Hulu.com
http://www.hulu.com/watch/57787/the-colbert-report-obama-poster-debate---david-ross-and-ed-colbert
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