NEWSgrist - where spin is art

Gone Fishing

We're on Summer Vacation....see you in September!

 

Blood on the Tracks? Dylan's Ballon Dogs

First there was this piece in the NYTimes artbeat blog about Bob Dylan's paintings being based on nay, copied [GASP!] from famous photographs. Ho hum. Then there was something amusing in ARTINFO about a guy and his flickr stream of old images, [Dylan Shanghaied My Flickr!], which somehow manages to downplay the major fact that the guy collects public domain images, which means neither he nor anyone else owns the copyright to them; he just collects them and makes them freely available online.

Okay, so far, no one has much of an angle on this story.

Happily, Mike Masnick of Techdirt points to the obvious: Dylan's copyright hypocrisy. (Think Koons and balloon dogs).

Mike's belittling comment, "Painting from a source photograph is a good way for many to learn how to paint," is pure snark aimed at Dylan's Sunday painter cred. But it should be noted (again and again) that painters have used photographs as source material since the invention of photography (Manet, Degas, Sickert...); and if you really want to go there, you can think hard about Vermeer's use of pinhole cameras to mediate and project images of his interiors before painting them. Imho, the more productive narrative about painters and their age-old use of photographs as source material is not the one about copyright and ownership, but the one about technology and mediation. But that's another story for another post.

Here's Mike's post - don't forget to read the priceless comments.

via Techdirt:

Bob Dylan, Defender Of Strong Copyrights, Once Again Caught Copying Others

from the sing-a-song-of-hypocrisy dept

by Mike Masnick

Thu, Sep 29th 2011 11:40am

Bob Dylan has a pretty long history of appropriating works from others, but then going after anyone who has built on his works. He's also been held up by copyright maximalists as someone whose career just wouldn't be the same without strong copyright. So it's somewhat amusing to discover, once again, that he's been caught outright copying others. Emily Goodhand points us to the news that Dylan has a new painting exhibit, and people have started noticing that some of the paintings appear to be clearly copied from old photographs. Take these two comparisons from the NY Times:

 

 

The images on the left are from Dylan's exhibit (photographs taken by the NY Times' Marcus Yam). The top photo on the right is by Henri Cartier-Bresson, and the lower photo is by Leon Busy. It would be difficult for anyone to argue that the paintings were not based on these photos. Dylan had claimed that the paintings were all based on scenes he had seen in his travels. I guess he may have seen those photographs during his travels, but that's certainly not the implied origin of the paintings.

Now, to be clear, I actually don't see anything wrong with Dylan making such paintings. Painting from a source photograph is a good way for many to learn how to paint. On top of that, the paintings don't take away anything from the photos, and may actually create more attention for the photos. It does feel sleazy, though, to not credit the source. But the bigger issue is the hypocrisy of it all -- of arguing that others can't appropriate his works, while regularly and directly appropriating the works of others... and then refusing to admit to it.

34 Comments

 

Sarah Trigg's GOLDMINER Project

Sarah Trigg's intriguing Goldminer project needs your support:

Started in May of 2009, GOLDMINER is an anthropological approach to observing the practices of visual artists. To date, the project includes over 100 artists in the US and abroad. Their curiosities (excluding artwork) are photographed and archived within the following six categories: MASCOTS, COLLECTED OBJECTS, RITUALS, RESIDUE, MAKESHIFT TOOLS, and HABITAT. The following is a collection of photography and writing on the conversations that have come forth.

More Info / PRESS

Recently awarded a residency at Threewalls in Chicago, Trigg hopes to travel there this August to include 30 more Chicago-based artists in the project. To help her take advantage of this great opportunity you can donate to the fundraising campaign hosted by United States Artists. Right now there are MATCHING FUNDS available for a limited time. If you pledge now, your donation will be DOUBLED.

GOLDMINER gift awards are available for every donation level. All donations are fully tax-deductible, and your gift will not only be a tremendous support for the project but will increase awareness for this unique arts organization that promotes a new paradigm for funding the arts in the US.

The project must be fully funded by July 22nd, 2011 in order for the pledges to be collected. This trip will only be possible if the fundraising goal is met! There are less than 18 DAYS LEFT to fund CHICAGO trip.

GET DIRECTLY INVOLVED WITH THE PROJECT AND HELP GOLDMINER VISIT ARTISTS IN CHICAGO - DONATE HERE

 

Winkleman Gallery featuring new work @ PULSE Miami

Joy Garnett Harbor 2007 60 x 70 inches oil on canvas

Dear Friends,
If you happen to be in Miami this week... Winkleman Gallery is pleased to announce their participation in the PULSE Miami art fair, December 5-9, 2007, featuring new work by Ivin Ballen, Cathy Begien, Jennifer Dalton, Rory Donaldson, Christopher K. Ho, David Kinast, Joy Garnett, Christopher Lowry Johnson, Carlos Motta, Thomas Lendvai, Jimbo Blachly and Lytle Shaw, and Sarah Peters.

PULSE Miami
SoHo Studios
2136 NW 1st Ave (Entrance @ NW 21st St. )
Miami, FL 33127
Wynwood District

Wednesday, December 5 - Sunday December 9, 2007

FAIR HOURS
Wednesday, December 5, 10pm - 4pm
Thursday, December 6, 10am - 6pm
Friday, December 7, 10am - 6pm
Saturday, December 8, 10am - 6pm
Sunday, December 9, 10am - 5pm

WINKLEMAN gallery
637 West 27th Street, Suite A
New York, NY 10001
Ground Floor
Between 11th and 12th Avenues

t: 212-643-3152
[email protected]

ARTISTS
Ivin Ballen
Cathy Begien
Jennifer Dalton
Rory Donaldson
Joy Garnett
Christopher K. Ho
Christopher Lowry Johnson
David Kinast
Alois Kronschläger
Thomas Lendvai
Carlos Motta
Gulnara Kasmalieva and Muratbek Djumaliev
Sarah Peters
Kim Rugg
Andy Yoder

'TRIP' Open Call - Territories Reimagined: International Perspectives

 

Image source

via email:

TRIP
Territories Reimagined: International Perspectives

Manchester, 19-22 June 2008.

Call for Papers and Projects

• Psychogeography
• Neogeography
• Deep topography
• Urban interventions
• Locative media
• Collaborative Mapping

Between June 19 and 22, 2008, TRIP brings together artists, academics, movers, shakers, do-ers and dissenters in a unique event combining an interdisciplinary conference with a city-wide series of actions, exhibitions, and screenings. TRIP enables the previously separate worlds of theory and practice to interact, initiating new approaches and energies, and furthering techniques to take on and alter the physical environment.

Beginning as a reaction to the industrial revolution, the re-imagining of the city by romantics, bohemians, and avant-gardists evolved into a diverse range of strategies, practices and arguments, from the psychogeographic drift or derive to the artistic intervention. By the 1990s these were being utilised by artists, writers, activists, and historians, attempting to negotiate urban and rural space in the post-modern world.

But practices developed in the twentieth century encounter a different world in the twenty first - a more observed and policed world on the one hand, a more corporate, globally-connected world on the other. Increasingly the body, social, individual and political, is the site of contradictory demands - the demands to consume versus the demands of control.

TRIP will be based at Manchester Metropolitan University, on the city's main southerly corridor, Oxford Road. But we want events to take place throughout Manchester, in as wide a variety of spaces and venues as possible. Like many northern cities, Manchester is changing fast.  Perhaps you want to critique the implications of "regeneration", or perhaps you want to stimulate new ways of engaging with an increasingly consumerised environment. Maybe you're passionate about the possibilities of inventive walking and drifting, or maybe you're a performance artist aiming to change the energy of a public space. Wherever you're coming from, TRIP wants to hear from you with your ideas.

To submit a paper, you should send an abstract outlining your subject and the key points of your presentation.

To submit an idea for an intervention, performance or a walk involving members of the public, please outline in one paragraph the aims and ideal locations for your project.

To submit an idea for a gallery-based project, please outline in one paragraph the thinking behind your installation or work..

Please try to keep your paragraphs to a maximum of 200 words. And don't forget your contact details. Deadline for submissions: October 1^st 2007.
Deadline extended until December 22, 2007.

Submissions should be emailed to:  [email protected]

for further information on festival announcements, walks, talks and events, then please access our blog-space, which will be updated regularly at:

http://trip2008.wordpress.com

The festival proceedings will be fully documented and recorded, and an edited volume of essays, art and photography will be published at a later date.