Shepard Fairey Arrested in Boston

I have been meaning to write about the AP's bullshit claim against Shepard Fairey for using their copyrighted photo to make his Obama "hope" poster (above); then I open the newspaper today and find that Fairey was arrested last night outside the Institute for Contemporary Art. I have no idea what that's about, but I'm pretty sure the AP's case against him is bogus. Did Campbell's Soup sue Andy Warhol? (runs to google to check...yes they did! But dropped the case, whether because they liked the exposure for their brand, or because they were going to lose on the merits of whether Warhol's work infringed on their brand.)

So, is the AP claiming a copyright on Obama's face? I would think if anyone has the right to "use" the photo, it's the subject.

We all know why AP is suddenly doing this more than a year after the poster came out. Newspapers are in the toilet, cutting costs left and right including cutting AP, and they need money.

Boston.com: AP wants credit for Fairey's Obama image

Boston.com: Street artist arrested on way to event at ICA

Shepard Fairey, the controversial street artist riding a roller coaster of publicity with his red, white, and blue posters of President Obama, was arrested last night on his way to deejay an event kicking off his exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art.

Fairey, 38, who is known for his countercultural style, was arrested on two outstanding warrants and was being held, according to a police official with knowledge of the arrest who requested anonymity. Police could not describe the nature of the warrants, but said they originated in Massachusetts.

Fairey has been arrested at least 14 times, he has told the Globe.

The artist was arrested at about 9:15 p.m. as he was about to enter a sold-out dance event at the ICA on Northern Avenue, known as "Experiment Night." The event is geared toward a younger crowd, with techno-style music, and more than 750 people were waiting for Fairey, some of whom had bought tickets on Craigslist for as much as $500.

Fairey was supposed to appear as a guest disc jockey for the kickoff of his exhibit, "Supply and Demand," which will run through Aug. 16. He was scheduled to go on stage at about 10:30 p.m., and an hour later organizers told the crowd that he was arrested.

"We're very disappointed," said Paul Bessire, deputy director of the ICA.

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Water-bound azalea maze at Getty Central Garden in Los Angeles
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Just some stuff I saw on the Interwebs this week.

In the studios we've been talking about a new Dale Chihuly exhibit that's coming to RISD in October. He's got a big show right now at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, which the San Francisco Chronicle art critic hated. Here's a photo from one of the many parts of the exhibit:

The de Young originated the Dale Chihuly exhibition, which includes "Tabac Baskets," vessels evoking American Indian baskets.

More pics of the de Young exhibit can be found at Chihuly's own site. (Oh, and incidentally, I also found that Chihuly settled the lawsuit he filed against a former employee for copyright infringement; interesting post on the whole situation on The Stranger blog.)

Group News Blog has a post about the Art-O-Mat project, where old cigarette machines are recycled into dispensers of random cigarette pack sized pieces of original art. There's only one in Massachusetts, in Northampton; the one in Providence, Rhode Island is probably just as close. The state with the most is North Carolina, and that's because the project was started by North Carolina artist Clark Whittington. Here's a podcast of an interview with Whittington.

A woman in London hired an artist to cut the Mona Lisa into her lawn.

This aluminum can art exhibit at the Renwick in DC looks cool.

James Brown owned a lot of tacky stuff. But I love that red leather couch.

I'm a Criminal

Sez the RIAA, the Recording Industry Association of America, because: I put my CDs on my IPod. Ooh, bad girl. The Washington Post reported this week that the RIAA is making this absurd claim in a lawsuit against a consumer in Arizona.

However, I don't think I am a criminal, because at the time I put my CDs on my IPod, the RIAA had an entirely different view of the matter, and I was relying on it. That's called estoppel, baby. Put that in your corporate pipe and smoke it.

"If you choose to take your own CDs and make copies for yourself on your computer or portable music player, that's great. It's your music and we want you to enjoy it at home, at work, in the car and on the jogging trail."

The quote is from the RIAA website. It has since been removed, according to BoingBoing which decries this revisionism. Also, arguing before the United States Supreme Court in 2005, the RIAA attorney said this:

"The record companies, my clients, have said, for some time now, and it's been on their website for some time now, that it's perfectly lawful to take a CD that you've purchased, upload it onto your computer, put it onto your IPod."

Hat tip to BoingBoing which is invaluable on issues of overreaching copyright and privacy.