The AP has just released a statement declaring that Shepard Fairey, the artist being accused of copyright infringement for his iconic ‘Hope’ poster that became ubiquitous during the Obama campaign, has “admitted to the AP that he fabricated and attempted to destroy other evidence in an effort to bolster his fair use case and cover up his previous lies and omissions.”.
According to the statement, Fairey has also admitted to using a close-up of Presdient Obama that was taken by the AP as the model for his image, not a different photo that he claimed to use that also included George Clooney, which he later cropped. The statement also says that Fairey’s legal counsel “now admitted that Fairey tried to destroy documents that would have revealed which image he actually used” and that “he created fake documents as part of his effort to conceal which photo was the source image, including hard copy printouts of an altered version of the Clooney Photo and fake stencil patterns of the Hope and Progress posters.” Finally, the AP notes that Shepard Fairey’s lawyers are withdrawing from the case.
It’s worth pointing out that tonight’s release was issued by the AP, Fairey’s rival in this case — we’ll reach out to Fairey and be keeping an eye out for his response. Even if the claims are true, that wouldn’t necessarily mean that Fairey’s case is dead in the water, as he still has the fair use defense. He may not have taken George Clooney out of the photo, but he may well have transformed it when he painted the photograph and turned it into an icon. We’ll see what the court decides.
Also worth noting: who actually owns the photo to begin with is still being disputed. The photographer, Mannie Garcia, has asserted that he owns the image because he was serving as a temporary fill-in when it was taken, without signing a contract with the AP. For more details, see our post here. The AP has confirmed that ownership of the image is still disputed, claiming that it owns the copyright and that Garcia was indeed a salaried employee.
Update: Fairey has given us his own statement that confirms what the AP has said, though the case will continue as Fairey cites Fair Use as his defense.
Update: Fairey’s legal counsel has issued a release stating that they have not actually quit, but that they will do so “at the appropriate time”, and that their decision has nothing to do with “the underlying merits” of the case. Sounds like they still want to be championing Fair Use, but don’t want to be involved with Fairey any longer given his decision to destroy/fabricate evidence.
I’m curious to know whether Obama will get a question about the portrait at his next press conference. He bears no responsibility for what happened, of course. Yet on a symbolic level, Fairey’s behavior represents an ironic indictment of the borderline personality cult embraced by so many of the President’s admirers.
We were told that Obama’s election would mark the beginning of a new era of (post)-politics, in which we would leave behind the selfishness, the pettiness and the deceptions of the past. As it turns out, the iconic image at the heart of this personality cult embodies everything we were supposed to transcend.
Which brings us to the Nobel Prize. Once again, Obama bears no responsibility for the strange decision to award him the Prize. To his credit, he stated that very clearly. Yet the premature Prize, like the HOPE portrait, is both a manifestation of the Obama personality cult and a demonstration of its emptiness.
But perhaps all of my carping is irrelevant. The burdens of office have already brought the President’s reputation down from the clouds. Yet as someone who spent seven months working full-time on the 2008 campaign (on the other side, of course), I have a hard time letting go of the contrast between the unbridled expectations of Obama’s fans and the reality that us critics warned them of.
Maybe we should cut the guy some slack. Seems he got caught up in a whirlwind of instant celebrity and didn’t want to come back down to earth — especially when the only thing standing between him and a soft landing was a gaggle of lawyers.
It should also be noted that the actual owner of the copyright remains in dispute. And Fairey remains adamant that, regardless of whose work he co-opted, the “fair use issue should be the same.”
The copyright issue itself should remain the same, and it’s an important one indeed. It’s a damned shame that the banner for expansive fair use is being carried by someone who was dishonest and who tried to play the legal system. Why is he admitting his deception now? Presumably, he knew the manipulations would come to light one way or the other, and it was a strategic decision to reveal it this way.
Obviously, this is also an occasion to craft jokes analogizing the Fairey mess to what the subject of the poster is doing, with all the usual sarcasm over the word “hope.” Not that any of that mess is poor Obama’s fault.
October 18, 2009...3:59 pm
Hope Is A Thing With Feathers
Jason Kincaid at TechCrunch:
Simon Scowl at Deceiver:
Joe Windish at Moderate Voice
David Adesnik at Moderate Voice:
Anthony Sacramone at Commentary:
Dan Riehl
Moe Lane at Redstate
Ann Althouse:
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Tags: Ann Althouse, Anthony Sacramone, Art, Commentary, Crime, Dan Riehl, David Adesnik, Deceiver, Jason Kincaid, Joe Windish, Moderate Voice, Moe Lane, Redstate, Simon Scowl, Tech Crunch