Accused of ripping off my own ripped off art....

Jan 05, 2011 14:37

A few weeks ago I got a mysterious comment on my blog, accusing me of ripping off my 2009 Dia de Los Muertos poster from a pair of Mexican artists ( Read more... )

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Comments 23

mcruthless January 5 2011, 22:54:44 UTC
Wow. That sucks. If I were a restaurant owner I'd want to know if the artwork I paid for was a ripoff. Have you considered contacting them about it? (Assuming you haven't already.)

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kiri_moth January 5 2011, 23:05:28 UTC
I gave them a call but the owner wasn't in, so I'll try again tomorrow. No point in harassing a random employee.

Funny thing is that if someone hadn't accused me of stealing my own art I probably NEVER would have known about it.

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mcruthless January 6 2011, 03:12:35 UTC
Yeah, that's so crazy. I'd like to hear what the outcome is should you ever get in touch with the owner.

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upstart_crow January 5 2011, 22:54:47 UTC
Wow, that's awful. :x I'd be furious!

I like yours better, though :)

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kiri_moth January 5 2011, 23:08:49 UTC
It's infuriating and kind of funny. After getting some flack for drawing 'Hispanic art' while being white, it gets copied by a couple dudes in Mexico. And the other artist whose art was ripped is Asian! A strange circle of cultural appropriation.

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zagzagael January 5 2011, 23:23:43 UTC
That is utter bullshit. I'm sorry you're having to deal with this. Currently, there are some issues with "calaveras" artwork and you are not the only one being accused in that way. It's crap, really.

Makes you want to make your lj locked down.

Hang in there.

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kiri_moth January 6 2011, 04:52:56 UTC
Well, they may not have found the art on LJ. They may have found it on the Marigold Project's site, and it comes up within the first two pages if you Google image search for la Catrina Calavera.

The person who accused me just didn't bother to look at WHEN I created my artwork. How would I have seen the artwork in a restaurant that wasn't even open in 2009?

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buboplague January 5 2011, 23:34:49 UTC
I don't know if it's possible, but is there any way to convince the owner of the shop to take the art down? He's promoting theft by leaving them up basically. I don't care how much he paid for them, he shouldn't display stolen works publicly. Or is it at all possible to get the a hold of the artists from the owner and speak to them directly?

I don't know, art displayed in shops is a huge project that can pay a ton of money on commission, and the fact they're just ripping people off is ridiculous. I personally would be throwing a shit fit, this is NOT professional at all, on the commissioner's/owner's hand if he knew all they do is copy, and on the artists. Its the principle I guess.

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kiri_moth January 6 2011, 04:55:56 UTC
I have no idea. I doubt the owner knew they were buying illegal reproductions, and I don't even know how copyright laws work in Mexico, so it might be worthless.

What I'd like is for the owner to at least acknowledge that the works are reproductions and credit Ji and me as the original artists. If nothing else, a little recognition and not getting slammed for ripping off my own art would be nice.

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buboplague January 6 2011, 06:33:26 UTC
baaah that's true.

I think if the owner is reasonable I see no reason for him to not do that. I hope it all works out!

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thunder_kitteh January 5 2011, 23:44:45 UTC
Entertaining that some online sniper assumed _you_ were the one stealing. Sheesh.

I'm actually curious what the restaurant's reaction will be. While I was typing, buboplague wrote some similar thoughts: Would you like to see the work taken down, or credited properly, or to get contact with the copiers to take it up with them? The restaurant may just say they paid good money for the paintings and that it's not their problem (which is not fair to you, but most people don't respect art and copyright enough).

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kiri_moth January 6 2011, 05:00:59 UTC
I know, right? I find the circle of cultural appropriation to be kind of funny.

I would like to be credited properly, and the work acknowledged as reproductions. My guess is that the owner didn't know what he/she was buying, and it wouldn't really do me any good to take the painting away from them. I would just like to be recognized and not get bothered by people thinking I stole the work. ;)

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