The Artist

The artist: disciple, abundant, multiple, restless.
The true artist: capable, practising, skilful;
Maintains dialogue with his/her heart, meets things with her/his mind.

The true artist: draws out all things from his heart,
works with delight, makes things with calm, with sagacity,
works like a true Toltec, composes his/her objects, works dexterously,
arranges materials, adorns them, makes them adjust, invents.

The carrion artist: works at random, sneers at people,
makes things opaque, brushes across the surface of things,
works without care, defrauds people, is a thief.

- Toltec poem translated from the Spainish by Denise Levertov

Copyright who?

Recently I read about this copyright controversy happening over an image of Barack Obama created by the artist Shepard Fairey. Apparently “The image, Fairey has acknowledged, is based on an Associated Press photograph, taken in April 2006 by Manny Garcia on assignment for the AP at the National Press Club in Washington.” (yahoo news). Now the AP (Associated Press) claims that the copyright lies with them, and they should get compensation. The artist does not quite agree.

In this case, I agree with the artist, because it seems he has used the photograph as a reference to create a new piece of art. It has been worked upon a good deal. If he had just applied a sepia tint to the photograph and claimed it to be his, then that would be copyright infringement. But he has changed the visual. It has been transformed from a realistic photograph to an illustration.

On the other hand the work of photographers has to be protected as well. We tend to take photographs for granted once they are published in the press or online. We need to know when to draw the line, when does a visual change from ‘theirs’ to ‘mine’. As designers we need to be aware of the copyright issues, and what we can use, and what we can claim as our own. All artists, designers etc draw upon an existing bank of images and concepts in their head at some point in the creative process. It seems really hard to create something so new and original that no one has ever seen it before. Not to say that designer’s copy, but they do take reference and inspiration from different sources. Giving credit, and compensation, where its due is essential, and a part of design ethics.

Anyway, Shepard Fairey is not a crook. So claims the New York Times. But after reading this article, it looks like he has done a bit too much copy paste. It does seem like some of his previous work is a rip-off, even if his Obama poster isn’t. Getting inspired is one thing, just copying someone else’s art is very different. At the same time, he seems to do it intentionally. He wants to make a statement by using that art. So is it copying or not? I am still confused.

The last artist

Yesterday I heard someone say, that one of the biggest threats of our time is the supression of creativity. And this seems very true. Just take a look at the Indian newspapers to get an idea. The media seems to be run by the corporates, the film industry, and the ad agencies, who are in turn run by the corporates. And there is less and less space for the intellectuals, feminists, or leftists.

Another person also expressed a similar concern. When asked what she thought was the biggest threat today, she said it was the supression of the creative individual, as corporates and govenments bull doze those in their way.