Shepard Fairey to face criminal investigation in Associated Press case

 

A judge in New York revealed today that artist Shepard Fairey is facing a criminal investigation in connection with his admitted misconduct in the ongoing legal case with the Associated Press, according to reports.

Alvin K. Hellerstein, a federal district judge, reportedly made the revelation today as part of a hearing where lawyers for Fairey and the AP were present.

A spokesman for the AP said in a statement issued this evening that the news organization has received a grand jury subpoena related to Fairey's misconduct during the case.

A lawyer representing Fairey did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In October, the L.A. artist admitted that he knowingly submitted false images and deleted others during the case in an attempt to conceal the fact that the AP had correctly identified the photo that Fairey had used as a reference for his "Hope" poster of then-Sen. Barack Obama.

In February, the AP claimed that Fairey violated copyright laws when he used one of its images as the basis for the poster.  In response, the artist filed a lawsuit against the AP, claiming that he was protected under fair use. 

At the time, Fairey claimed that he used a different photo as the inspiration for his poster. He has since admitted that the AP is correct about which photo he used.

Following today's hearing, the AP published a report stating that the judge revealed the grand jury probe in a handwritten note denying a request by a Fairey attorney that a hearing relating to a copyright lawsuit be closed.

-- David Ng

RELATED:

Shepard Fairey says honesty is essential to his art despite his 'slip' over a disputed Obama poster

Photo: Shepard Fairey. Credit: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Charles J]

I get a more than a little tickled/rankled at people who put down artists as being somewhat inferior because they use 'graphic' techniques. What matters is the final product -- on canvas, paper, concrete, whatever, and NOT how it's applied, be it by painting that takes days, weeks, months, or longer, or a common industrial method such as silkscreening, or something that has been produced by instructing an assistant. Take, for example, the wonderful overlapping photo montages of David Hockney, shot with an ordinary camera, with photos printed by the photo lab down the street. True, he probably collaged the works together himself - but if he had directed an assistant as to where to paste the images, would the final work be any less amazing? Another example: there are sculptors in steel out there who never touch their material. They just send a sketch, small model, etc., to a foundry, which produces their (original!) work.
Even the great Henry Moore [Moore haters, insert your sneering comments here: _____________] had assistants who were given sketches and who produced many of his works down to within one inch, as he instructed, and not till then did Moore lay a hand on them.

[IO]

Warhol did similar art; the Campbell's Soup cans, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Muhammad Ali and Elizabeth Taylor paintings. Pretty sure he did not take the photos for reference of these famous icons at the time.

This is just a case of AP being a bully. If Obama did not win the election would they care?

[chuck morris]

it was Shepard Fairey's work that made that iconic image. where the source material came from, is irrelevant. AP wants money that they don't deserve.
Source material should not be confused with the final product. And AP's final product is not the same as Fairey's .

[cowboy]

Shepard is a genius and a hero who has done more for Art and Business than anybody making reckless uneducated comments on here.

Unfortunately, most people prefer to see successful artists suffer. Shepard will end up paying a licensing fee for the image, which was dead in the water when he found it and pay some fines for instinctively lying to the machine. Who can blame him? They only want something from you when you have something to take.

In the end, he will have generated tons more publicity out of this event that he will emerge more of a rock star from it than before. He will generate more money for his efforts, donate millions to the college of his choice and have his own wing named after him. He will then laugh at you after youve spent thousands of dollars for your child to graduate from it with a degree in "Graphic Design".

[Chuck Hodi]

Come one.......but the kids love it! Dawg!

[El Guapo de la ciudad de Los Angeles]

Schlockmeister

[Tara]

"There is nothing new under the sun" -- King Solomon

[my dark materials]

This is not a one time occurrence. Shepard has been plagiarizing work for years, if not decades. I was once a fan, but about 2 or 3 years ago, long before the Obama Hope poster, some guy named Mark Valen (?), wrote an article dissecting Shepard Fairey's work, with side by side comparisons of his source material. That's when I ceased being a fan. If his work was properly credited, say it included a Certificate of Authenticity with miniaturized images on it with due credit to the source artists, then maybe I'd have respect for Mr. Fairey. But you can euphemize it all you want ("appropriation"), but it's still theft. And he's a millionaire several times over thanks to this thievery. He's admitted that all he did was do a quick search using Google's image search when he found the AP photo. (As if "AP" stands for Public Domain). Hey, it's just ones and zeros. Like air or water, it should be FREE, right? Give me a break. Shepard Fairey's recent art has suffered now that he needs to watch where he steals from. The more obscure and unknown the source, the better chance he'll have at getting away with his future art theft. Oh yeah, it IS just Photoshop and a few fancy filters.

[pocket]

People who see no artistic merit in Shepard Fairey's designs should go back to admiring their latest Thomas Kinkade purchase...

[Bud Raymond]

I'd like to go on record now that if he's found guilty, Obama will pardon him.

[Bubba]

If I can do it, it is NOT art :)

[Tiki]

Does America we really need to be prosecuting artists? I thought that only happened in fascist dictatorships, Sci Fi novels and McCarthyism in the fifties.

Phil

[RichDavid]

Leave him alone!.....What artist does not have inspiration?
Someone is jealous of his success.....Goodluck Mr. Fairey.

[Chuck Glisson]

The "Associated Press" are a bunch of PETTY WHINERS, NEVER MIND the fact that MOST of their time is wasted writing stories that COULD have been authored by a TWO YEAR OLD, now they have to LITERALLY make a FEDERAL CASE of "THIS"? For someone who could use one of THEIR plain and less than average photos and "Enhance" into a unique example of cultural art I think Shepard Fairey should be offered some kind of Journalistic award! This isn't REALLY about "copy write" infringement, it's about "corporate greed". What's the matter AP? Feeling unappreciated again? Would you like a little "Cheese" with that "Whine"?

[William Wray]

I like to ask “ Pocket” (another chicken afraid to use their real name) how he equates people who don’t like SF appropriated images to being a fan of Thomas Kincaid. What a child.

[bob]

Thief.
Reap what you sow.
I've been HOPE -ing this would happen.

Copying is stealing.
Sampling is stealing.
Stealing is stealing.

This is a landmark case that should put an end to this creative thievery.

[Bankie]

Embarrassing mainly because he tried to deceive the courts. If he had just come out and been like, "It was just a photo" someone could've explained to him that copyright is an issue. But the fact that he tried to hide it and deny it means he saw something wrong with it.

[D. C.]

Fairey postures like a street artist, but he does ads for Nike and it doesn't get less street than that. He's a commercial artist who found a great hook - good for him.

But what I don't get is why he didn't just pay the photographer. He took the image and obviously LiveTraced it in Illustrator (he's done that a lot). To some, that's enough art to make it "new," to others, not so much. Either way, Fairey and the photographer are both commercial artists. If one gets paid, why shouldn't the other? We'd still have the popular Obama poster and we'd avoid all of this other junk.

I don't think it's jealousy that drives the outrage - there's something that doesn't pass the smell test. Why hide the source image if you're so sure that appropriation is creation? I think he was protecting his ego and it backfired.

[ryan "pocket" fluet]

William Wray- Thanks for the ad homina personal attack. Pocket is my professional trade name. That doesn't make me a "chicken," just someone who appreciates the value of branding in the commercial art world. Feel free to google my work.

My original point was that those who claim Shepard is a "talentless hoodlum" have no clue about or experience with graphic design. His work isn't a simple "run a photo through photoshop filters"-job (nor a live trace), but a much more complex process that takes a careful approach to color and design. Warhol used the same techniques, just a different medium.

That said, Shepard was wrong to lie about his photo source and then flip-flop on the issue. I don't support his actions. But that has nothing to do with artistic merit.

Therefore, my reference to Thomas Kinkade was used as an example of how possessing a certain skill-set does not make a person an artist on that basis alone. I strain to conceive of the symbolism, meaning, and voice behind any Thomas Kinkade picture, where all are readily apparent in the Shepard work at issue.

Frankly, it is hard for me to see how this isn't obvious to someone who worked on one of the coolest cartoons of all time.

[Martin Smith]

We live in mashup times. Everything collides into everything else. Fairey follows a line of art appropriation started by Picaso and perfected by Warhol and other pop artists. There was a time when Heinz threatened suit over their soup can. Cooler heads and someone in marketing finally realized not to be stupid. I hope something similar can happen at AP whose image has similarly benefited correctly attributed or not. I found it interesting when I visited H. J. Heinz headquarters twenty years ago orginal work by Paul Warhola, Andy's much less talented brother hung in the waiting room. Let's home cooler heads will prevail eventually in the Shepard Fairey / AP Case. By way of honest admission, I own several Shepard Fairey prints and wish I could afford a soup can since one copy of the print, a print Warhol sold for little, would fetch a king's ransom now. Martin