I Support FAIR USE

Featuring examples of really cool art that benefit from the protection of Fair Use. Support fair use, the section of copyright law that allows artists to create new work from existing imagery or ideas, provided the new work "...adds something new, with a further purpose or different character, altering the first with new expression, meaning or message."

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Magical Geographic — Julien Pacaud, 2011

French artist and illustrator Julien Pacaud creates each of his pieces in the digital realm, mixing vintage imagery with photographs and computer generated textures and effects to create surreal visions that could only exist in the artist’s imagination. Here, the black and white magician in the background has been snipped from another source, and (of course) that image is copyrighted by the photographer, book/magazine/showbill from which it originated. To scan, duplicate, and — gasp! — sell this image alone would be an infringement of the original copyright. However, by combining the image with other elements — the hoop, the three dimensional landscape, the rectangular water and land — the artist has created an entirely new and unique work of art, wherein the copyrighted image is repurposed within a broad narrative apart from its original use and intent. As such, Pacaud has transformed the original, creating something entirely new, unique, and unanticipated by the copyright holder.

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Muerto Mouse — Lalo Alcaraz, 2013

In the wake of reports that Disney had intended to trademark the phrase Dia de los Muerto for an upcoming animated feature, illustrator and cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz created this incredibly great poster of a "dia de los" Mickey Mouse ravaging its immense corporate power a la Godzilla through the streets of Everytown, USA. Alcaraz gets it right from the saucer shaped ears right down to the button-like gaps through Muerto Mouse's hip bone.

The illustration works under the protections of fair use on all kinds of fronts:

Disney's original image has been substantially changed.

It's transformative, as Disney has never depicted Mickey as a giant, skeletal monster.

It is parody.

It is commentary on a real world news item.

¡Muy bueno, señor Alcaraz!

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Jack — Ben Durham, 2012

Ben Durham's recent solo show at New York's Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery featured a series of very large graphite drawings, each photo realistically rendered on handmade paper. Nothing very out of the ordinary about that, right? There are tons of people who have mastered the art of graphite portraiture. But these portraits were just a little bit... different.

The source of Durham's portraits were mugshots. Mugshots of former classmates.

Mugshots, of course, are easily obtained as public records, which is how Durham located his source material, merely searching arrest records and finding booking photos of childhood friends and acquaintances from which he could base his drawings. Moreover, fair use provides for the reproduction of copyrighted material (i.e. the mugshot photo) for purposes of "news reporting" and since all arrests are in the public domain... Durham's drawings are, effectively, reporting the news.

Ah! But the story does not simply end there!

Close inspection of Durham's work reveals a bit more than simple lines on paper. Each portrait is actually drawn by the rendering of word, statements, and memories that the artist recalls about knowing that particular person, overlaying words atop words until they can barely be discerned, giving depth, light, and shading to each face.

Jack (detailed view)

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Mona — Modern Eden Gallery, July 20 - August 9, 2013

Past postings to I Support FAIR USE have featured a couple of Mona Lisa inspired paintings (by Mark Bryan and Marcel Duchamp, respectively). And while Da Vinci's original image of Mona Lisa is not protected by copyright law, work inspired by Leonardo's painting is. With that in mind, today we bring you...

An entire exhibition devoted to Mona Lisa reboots!

On display now through August 9th in San Francisco at Modern Eden you'll find two dozen Monas patiently gazing down from the walls. There are Frida Monas, clown Monas, a Conehead Mona and so much more! None, in any way shape or form test the murky waters of Fair Use, but I though I'd share nonetheless.

Buona visione!

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1961 Ford Galaxie 500 Sunliner (Pierrot Le Fou) — Eric White, 2010

It's not often that I reblog posts in I Support FAIR USE, preferring, instead, peferring to add my own spin on examples of fair use I find on the internet. Today, however, is an exception, having just learned of this rather bold and unwarranted appropriation of a great Eric White painting for a Target commercial on the Supertouch art blog.

In any case, this is a good example of what I would term a "fair use fail", wherein an artist (in this case, an advertising agency) has used a piece of art — uncredited — as the compositional basis for their own work, in manner that would not be protected by any definition of fair use. The use is especially negligent insofar as it copies White's unique artistic vision of composition and color — effectively taking the essence of a great piece and reproducing it in a way that does not bring new meaning to the original. And that is not fair use.

Bad, bad, bad, Target!

Read all about it in the provided link!

click on over to the above link and read all about 

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Snow White — Herr Nilsson, 2013

Hiding on the streets of Stockholm, artist Herr Nilsson has secreted a collection of colorful Disney princesses, daintily posed and brandishing deadly weapons for anyone who might cross their technicolor path. Each of these characters is, of course, copyrighted by The Walt Disney Company, but as we've witnessed repeatedly in the pages of I Support FAIR USE, to merely reproduce the likeness of a copyrighted character is not necessarily a violation of the owner's exclusive rights. Copyright and trademark law protects rights holders from things like knockoff pillows and sheets which would otherwise confuse the public and actually take money out of the hands of the rightful owners. Copyright law does not, however, prevent an artist from using the likeness of a well-known character in ways that do not compete or confuse. Here, for example, Nilsson choose characters for his street art that have very well known and understood values of "Disney goodness" — no one would look upon his image of Snow White (recognizable though she may be) going all Diry Harry with a revolver, and assume that it is a Disney sanctioned design. It's art; the unique creative vision of an artist.

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The Disneyland Memorial Orgy — Wally Wood, 1967

This unattributed centerfold of The Realist caused a bit of a stir in the late 1960's for its panorama of wholesome Disney icons engaged in all kinds of debauchery. Today, attribution for the drawing is universally credited to Wally Wood who created stunning illustration throughout the 1950's through 80's for comics and Mad magazine.

The image was widely pirated throughout the late 60's and early 70's, but Disney never sued either Wood or the original publisher — perhaps because Wood never claimed authorship, or perhaps because Disney did not want to become embroiled in a legal battle with a counterculture periodical. More likely, Disney may have chosen to ignore the issue (today clearly protected by fair use as a wicked example of parody) because The Realist was not attempting to sell copies of the image, and tracking down the many bootleggers was a very slippery task!

In any case, you may want to keep this one from the kiddies...

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Belinda and friends bear witness to the Second Coming — John Purlia, 2010

I Support FAIR USE was launched in October, 2012, in response to unfair and restrictive content management by Zazzle. I'd opened my Zazzle shop a few weeks earlier with the intention of selling a wide variety of products featuring my photos of toys, records, and various other found objects engaged in conceptually staged scenes. Basically, the same images I show in galleries and sell to collectors and prints. Cool, huh?

At the time Zazzle pulled a couple of dozen of my product designs claiming that my art "infringed on the intellectual property" of other rights holders — Elvis, the Beatles, and — yes — kewpie dolls. Counter arguments and proper legal actions (I filed a Takedown Counter Notice with Zazzle's representative Content Agent that went unanswered) were ignored, so I created and offered for sale a host of censored versions of my art under the moniker of I Support Fair Use. I also started this Tumblr to bring attention to all the incredible art out there that benefits from the protections of the fair use section of U.S. copyright law.

I'm sad to report that Zazzle is at it today.  As I sit here in my office on the 4th of July (a national holiday here in the U.S. where every tech company — including Zazzle, as I called their offices — have a day off) I'm watching a stream of Zazzle content review emails streaming into my in box notifying me that one product or another has been removed from their site for copyright violations. So far, each of the products has featured the above photograph, and each has actually been available for sale in the Zazzle marketplace for many months.

I find it interesting that these notices are arriving on a U.S. holiday... which leads me to believe that those making the determination of whether or not a given image does or does not infringe on an existing copyright (and therefore making determinations with regards to fair use) are not actually doing so from within the U.S..

Hmmmmm...

Yes, the notice does claim that Zazzle is issuing the takedown notice as the result of being contacted by the copyright holder (here, the entity that licenses kewpie as a brand), but I have reason to doubt this claim as Zazzle has in the past failed to properly (and as they are legally obligated) share with me specific notifications from rights holders, as is required by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

Hmmmmm...

I've also, in the past, exchanged email with members of Zazzle's content review team who claim that they've been told that they must reject all submitted images with certain content (Elvis, etc), which would be another violation of the DMCA (i.e. there is no such thing as a "blanket takedown").

Hmmmmm...

You can read more about by past travails with Zazzle in a couple of posts I made on my main blog, here and here, which goes into a fair amount of depth on copyright, fair use, and what the legal responsibilities are for web site that host content.

In the meantime, Zazzle is clearly NOT a friend of fair use!!

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Kenneth Tin Kin-Hung

So... I've spent the past several days trying to determine the title and year of creation for this digitally created piece from Kenneth Tin Kin-Hung, but details elude me.

In any case... wow! Pretty cool example of fair use, wouldn't you agree? The target is, of course the, McDonald's Corporation, with Hung's use of the McDonald's logo, colors, and even the striped suit of Ronald McDonald all protected. How? In this case, as both criticism (explicitly called out in copyright law) and parody, as defined by the Supreme Court in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music.

I'd love more information about this piece if it rings a visual bell with anyone!

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Hi there! Thanks for posting one of my Smile paintings awhile back. I just wanted to clarify one detail, it was only Van Dyke Parks (who was never an official Beach Boy) who threatened to sue, not the Beach Boys or Brian Wilson. Brian Wilson promoted my Smile show on his Facebook page. In any case, no formal resolve was ever met. I had my lawyer write a letter which was never responded to, so I'm moving forward. Did you see my new David Bowie mural? Best, Erik

Thanks for the correction, Erik, and it's really cool that Brian Wilson was so supportive of your work. I haven't seen the Bowie mural as of yet, but I'll definitely check it out. 

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Vandalism Danger — Eine, 2013

UK artist Eine (Ben Flynn) has created a large and impressive body of work ranging from traditional street art to meticulously crafted gallery pieces.  His most recent show (currently on display at Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City) includes a mix of the stylized alphabet images for which he is best know, and large compositions that bridge the gap between graffiti and collage.

The above piece, Vandalism Danger, is created from a variety of images and stencils — including those sourced from vintage coloring books.

Though I've yet to meet anyone who identifies themselves as a "coloring book artist", one could reasonably guess that coloring books are, in fact, copyrighted — which is besides the point. Once those innocent outlines are clipped from their vintage pages, black-lined into anonymity, and repurposed as actors in the narrative Eine brings to his compositions, their use and purpose has been transformed through his unique artistic vision.

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Weasels Ripped My Flesh — Neon Park, 1970

Fans of Frank Zappa will of course recognize the cover of The Mothers Of Invention's 1970 LP, with cover art courtesy of graphic artist icon Neon Park.  While the cover looks to be entirely original (I mean, who but Zappa and Park would imagine such a horrific scene?), the image is actually based on — not one, but two — previously copyrighted works! Zappa sourced the title of his album from a 1956 issue of Man's Life magazine, which depicted a bare chested brute fending of a churning storm of biting weasels.

Zappa provided this cover to Park, requesting that the artist develop a graphic concept even more outrageous than the pulp cover.

Park's solution? Recast the flesh shredding weasels on the magazine cover as electric razors, mimicking a vintage advertisement for Schick razors (circa 1951). Park basically copied the ad, which featured an angled photograph of a smiling businessman giving himself a close shave with the new "Schick 20". Brilliant!

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Hell — Marc Burckhardt

American artist Marc Burckhardt created the above piece as the left side of a two panel diptych, mimicking the style of Byzantine icons of the 13th and 14th centuries, though it is not exactly typical to see an iconairbrushing a portrait of a Teletubby whilst being tormented by pitchfork poking demons.

The Teletubbies may be wholesome and kid friendly, but they've been known to haul their multicolored briefcases into court to prosecute all kinds of challenges to their psychedelic domain of morning TV: lookalike plush toys, video parodies, art... all kind of stuff!

Here, Burckhardt's rendering is classic parody — putting a 180 degree spin on the wholesome values normally associated with the character's TV "personality" (insofar as a fictional character can have values or a personality). And, as we of course know, parody has been upheld by the US Supreme Court as fair use in cases of copyright infringement.

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Every Second Counts — David Hochbaum

Somewhere between the realms of collage, painting and photography lies the art of David Hochbaum. Hochbaum's technique involves the arrangement of found images — copyright alert! — from books, magazines, and other sources, around a live model. Essentially, he builds a stage set, which he then photographs and prints, embellishing upon that print with paints and other physical effects to achieve the final image.

Within that final image, of course, are the images clipped from other sources such as the buildings above in Every Second Counts. Hochbaum didn't photograph or illustrate these architectural marvels; someone else did and that artist or photographer may choose to stomp his or her feet and call up their local copyright attorney.

Hey! I just saw my photo of Buckingham Palace in some guy's art! He's ripping me off! That's MY image and he should pay me! Sue! Sue! Sue!

Probably not a wise legal choice. The photo may have been snapped by someone else, but the use within one of Hochbaum's creations takes that original and transforms its meaning and use in a way that deviates (but does not derivate — important distinction!) from the original.

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Declaracion Matinal — Jorge Carrillo, 2012

Chilena artist Jorge Carrillo incorporates many pop culture references in his large acrylic paintings.  A quick scroll through his blog reveals a wealth of familiar faces: Captain America, Elvis, Fred Flintstone, Pinocchio... and here, Spiderman and Yosemite Sam.

Are these merely paintings of well known (and copyrighted) characters, or do they serve a broader purpose that would be protected by fair use? Of course, such as in the above painting which tells a very different story than how we naturally relate to these characters on the movie screen, in the pages of a comic, or on Saturday morning cartoons. Carrillo's use is transformative (yet again) in so far as the characters (especially Spiderman, cast here a bit out of shape) have meaning and purpose beyond the scope of what we expect.

Muy bueno!

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George Barris King of the Kustoms — Doug P'Gosh

Paying tribute to Batman, The Munsters, and The Monkees, all in the same painting?!?! Oh, yes! This recent acrylic from illustrator extraordinaire, Doug P'Gosh, pays tribute to these three iconic 1960's TV shows by basing its composition on an unexpected common thread — the custom car designs of George Barris. Barris (depicted here as a floating genie bringing forth his crazy creations from a magical lamp) designed and built the custom hot rods seen in each series: the Batmobile, the Munster Koach, and the Monkeemobile.

If fair use had an engine, it would say:  Vrrrroooooooommmmmmmmm!

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Snow White — Matthew Grabelsky, 2013

Currently on display at Copro Gallery in Santa Monica, this large oil on canvas piece from Matthew Grabelsky is an intriguing take on the Disneyfied image we all have of Snow White. Though the tale of the fair maiden was originally told by the Brothers Grimm over 200 years ago, the copyright on the image of Snow White (yellow dress, blue top, red bow) is owned and closely protected by the Walt Disney Company.

Here, Grabelsky, roughs up the image we conjure in our minds, tightening and shortening the skirt, removing the sleeves, and recasting the Disney character as a runaway teen contemplating the tempestuous lure of a juicy red apple as she stands against a wall tagged with the names of the seven dwarves. Noteworthy is the expression on Snow White's face, which invites interpretation from the viewer. What is she thinking, and how does that provide new context to the character that we think we know?

It is this different and counter view on an otherwise familiar character that makes Grabelsky's painting transformative, and a really great example of fair use.