Did Bob Dylan Rip Off Classic Photos for His Gagosian Show? See the Evidence

[winston53660]

Now then my opinion on this is "Fine I'm glad I could inspire your creativity or rather desire for that." But But you have used these in a for profit venture and I deserve half of it if not more. I'm willing to pay for your celebrity I do find value in that I also happen to find value in my work and efforts.

[h=1]Did Bob Dylan Rip Off Classic Photos for His Gagosian Show? See the Evidence[/h]

Left: Gagosian Gallery / Right: © Musée Albert Kahn
Bob Dylan's "Opium," (2009) next to a photograph by Léon Busy, taken in Vietnam in 1915

NEW YORK— Time and time again folk rock legend Bob Dylan has blatantly borrowed for his lyrics. Christie's auction house acknowledged in 2009 that a handwritten Dylan poem that was up for sale really consisted of words from a song by country crooner Hank Snow. Director Martin Scorsese showed in his 2005 documentary, "No Direction Home," how Dylan stole the line "Go away from my window..." — the immortal opener of his 1964 song "It Ain't Me, Babe" — from singer John Jacob Niles. Dylan also purloined text from Japanese writer Junichi Saga's novel "Confessions of a Yakuza" for his 2001 album "Love and Theft." And that's not the only thing Dylan lifted from Asia. For the current exhibition of Dylan's paintings, "The Asia Series," which runs from September 20 to October 22 at Gagosian's Madison Avenue gallery, the artist painted 18 images — and some of these are copied from well-known photographs, the New York Times reports. Gagosian claims on its Web site that the show is "a visual reflection on his [Dylan's] travels in Japan, China, Vietnam, and Korea," and the "people, street scenes, architecture, and landscapes" that he encountered there. But some digging on a discussion page at the Dylan fan site Expecting Rain, which furnished the evidence that prompted the New York Times article, reveals that no less than ten pieces in "The Asia Series" may in fact be a visual reflections of Dylan's travels through online photo archives rather than of any personal journey.
As a matter of fact, no less than six photographs in the show are seemingly drawn from a single source: Flickr user Okinawa Soba's photostream. "Imagine my surprise to see at least FIVE or SIX Dylan paintings on the Gallery walls that appear to have been painted from photographs in my personal collection (the originals still in my possession), and posted by me to FLICKR," the user posted on the Expecting Rain message board. The photos include a 1900 James Ricalton photo of a Manchu bride and groom in Beijing, a 1923 photograph of a Canton canal crowded with river boats, and circa 1880 photograph of a Japanese pack horse in front of Mount Fuji. In these instances, Dylan cannot be said to have broken any laws, because the photographs fall in the realm of public domain.

Did Bob Dylan Rip Off Classic Photos for His Gagosian Show? See the Evidence - ARTINFO.com

And:

[h=1]French Photographer Patrick Cariou on His Copyright Suit Victory Against Richard Prince and Gagosian[/h]

Courtesy Patrick Cariou
A work by Patrick Cariou, left, with Richard Prince's appropriation of it

NEW YORK—In a landmark decision handed down in spirited fashion last Friday, Manhattan federal court judge Deborah Batts ruled against Richard Prince and the Gagosian Gallery in a copyright lawsuit brought by French photographer Patrick Cariou, who claimed that the prominent appropriation artist had unlawfully used his photographs in a series of paintings and other works. The ruling both affects millions of dollars worth of Prince artworks and promises to send tremors though the art community at large, where appropriation has become a widespread artistic strategy despite its often tenuous legality under the United States' statute of "fair use." Filed in 2008, Cariou's lawsuit stems from photographs that he took of Rastafarians in Jamaica over six year and then published in the 2000 book, "Yes, Rasta." According to the suit, Prince then lifted 41 images from the book for a series of artworks called "Canal Zone," which were featured in a Gagosian show that opened in December 2007. Several of the artworks, which were composed of Cariou's images overlaid with brushy strokes in the style of Willem de Kooning and collaged with pornographic images, sold for more than $10 million, with other collectors acquiring several more million dollars worth of art for Prince and the gallery through trades. Cariou received no compensation for these works, and both Prince and gallery representatives testified in court that they had not requested permission to reuse the photographs.

In a 38-page decision that draws legal precedent from cases involving the music and movie industries as well as a 1992 case against Jeff Koons that involved appropriating a commercial photograph, Judge Batts rejected the defense put forward by Prince and Gagosian that the artworks were "transformative" — thus constituting fair use — and that Cariou's photographs did not constitute creative works in their own right because they are mere "genre" photography: "Unfortunately for Defendants, it has been a matter of settled law for well over one hundred years that creative photographs are worthy of copyright protection even when they depict real people and natural environments." Prince's paintings, she concludes, are "instead infringing derivative works."


French Photographer Patrick Cariou on His Copyright Suit Victory Against Richard Prince and Gagosian - ARTINFO.com