Copying artwork: can it be art?

Date January 10, 2008

Brian was kind to share in the comments to my previous post [thanks Brian] an interesting article published in the New York Times about Richard Prince and the appropriation of art. I have to say that I am quite puzzled about this topic. Despite being a distressful thought, one could argue that the artistic merit- subject wise- of a "picture of a picture" is no different from a "picture of a car", a "picture of a house", or even a "picture of a person". Is it the picture or is it the subject what creates the artwork? Or, perhaps it is both? Clearly, millionaire collectors have expressed their opinion with the prices paid for Richard Prince's work.

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Since the late 1970s, when Richard Prince became known as a pioneer of appropriation art — photographing other photographs, usually from magazine ads, then enlarging and exhibiting them in galleries — the question has always hovered just outside the frames: What do the photographers who took the original pictures think of these pictures of their pictures, apotheosized into art but without their names anywhere in sight? - from the New York Times

Miguel Garcia-Guzman

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Photographer’s rights: a reference for everyone taking pictures in public domain spaces

Date January 10, 2008

The Photographer’s Right: a downloadable flyer explaining your rights when stopped or confronted for photography (in the USA). If you are interested here it is the full book as a reference. For the law affecting photographers in the UK see here.

The right to take photographs in the United States is being challenged more than ever. People are being stopped, harassed, and even intimidated into handing over their personal property simply because they were taking photographs of subjects that made other people uncomfortable. Recent examples have included photographing industrial plants, bridges, buildings, trains, and bus stations. For the most part, attempts to restrict photography are based on misguided fears about the supposed dangers that unrestricted photography presents to society. - Bert P. Krages II, Attorney at Law

Miguel Garcia-Guzman

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