Shepard Fairey Pleads Guilty Over Obama ‘Hope’ Image (Feb)
Last edited Wed May 2, 2012, 04:50 PM - Edit history (4)
The street artist Shepard Fairey, whose “Hope” campaign poster of Barack Obama became an enduring symbol of his last presidential campaign, pleaded guilty Friday to a charge stemming from his misconduct in trying to bolster claims in a lawsuit over which photograph had been used as a basis for the poster.
Mr. Fairey, 42, sued The Associated Press in 2009 after it contended he had infringed on the copyright of one of its photographs in creating the poster. Mr. Fairey had claimed in his suit that he had used a different photograph of Mr. Obama, but later admitted that he had been mistaken and had tried to conceal his mistake, by destroying documents and fabricating others.
Mr. Fairey, of Los Angeles, pleaded to one count of criminal contempt and could face up to six months in prison. A prosecutor, Daniel W. Levy, told the magistrate judge, Frank Maas, that the government was likely to seek some term of imprisonment for Mr. Fairey, who will be sentenced on July 16.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/24/shepard-fairey-pleads-guilty-over-obama-hope-image/
Shepard Fairey, serial tracer.
On edit:
Just to be clear, Fairey isn't in trouble because he used the image for his poster. He's in trouble because he used the image without attribution, then denied it & sued AP, then destroyed evidence and created fake evidence in order to win the suit that *he* instigated.
The serial tracer didn't want to pay a fee for the photo, but he has no problem going after others for infringement of copyright where his own work is concerned.
And since his "own" work consists of other people's unattributed images with an "Obey" logo pasted on them in a stance of faux-rebellion used to sell T-shirts, it's ironic.
http://www.art-for-a-change.com/Obey/index.htm
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So, he's been walking free for two months. Bet that'll give you nightmares.
More
Then he goes after people who appropriate his work for copyright violations.
Not to mention he appropriates the work of left-wing artists little-known in the US, brands it with his stupid logos & copyright and styles himself a rebel against the machine while making big bank.
Big fat fraud.
Still from director Michael Anderson’s 1956 film adaptation of George Orwell’s cautionary story of a dystopic future, 1984. Right: Fairey unmistakably stole his image from the "Big Brother is Watching You" propaganda posters used in Anderson’s film, without crediting the source.
Ver Sacrum - Koloman Moser 1901. Front cover illustration for the Vienna Secession magazine, Ver Sacrum
Fairey's ripped-off poster version of Moser’s art
Left: Fairey’s plagiarized poster. Right: Original street poster from Czechoslovakia’s, Prague Spring - Artist unknown 1968. The poster depicts a Soviet Red Army soldier in 1945 as a liberator, then as an oppressor in 1968.
One Big Union - Ralph "Bingo" Chaplin. 1917. Artwork created for the Industrial Workers of the World.
T-shirt created by Fairey for his OBEY clothing line. Neither Chaplin nor the IWW are given any credit by Fairey.
Untitled Silk-screen poster - Rene Mederos, Cuba, 1972. This double portrait by one of Cuba’s most famous poster artists depicts the revolutionaries Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos.
Screenshot taken from the "Bombing Science" website 7/18/2007, where the Fairey rip-off of Mederos’ poster was being sold as a T-shirt. Fairey printed the graphic without permission from the Mederos estate.
http://www.art-for-a-change.com/Obey/index.htm
It's completely laughable to compare Fairey to Ansel Adams.
