15 September 2017

when you put something on the internet it’s mine





freedom of art? - or theft?!





jeanette hayes, “one of the 5 most important new artists in new york city” - a "social media maven" with a "future as bright as her aura" - or so says the internet in numerous gushing articles - but the flickering flame of her bright future snuffed out when someone noticed the slight similarities of a couple of her latest paintings to the art of suehiro maruo

well, let us hope “snuffed out” - generally, unless you're richard prince or jeff koons, recovery is unlikely over transgressions like this - it’s forever an albatross strung around the artist’s neck - the hating never ends - especially if they continue denying their crimes - mijn schatje, a previous artist accused of plagiarism, is now a chef in brighton apparently - but there’s something highly suspect about this hayes woman - a nobody who has done nothing of note being featured everywhere from vogue to the new york times - all excessively fawning all over her - and barely any of these articles even show her painting! - what’s going on here?

personally i’m of the cynical opinion all her publicity, her 28k followers and her verified badge etc have all been bought by mummy and daddy or whoever - come on now, why would instagram even consider awarding her an official blue tick?

most of this artistic-force-to-be-reckoned-with’s work seems to be cartoons montaged atop some kinda contrasting background - somewhat amateur and hardly groundbreaking - it’s been done by helnwein, murakami and koons, among numerous other - it’s a lame cheap shot as far as “contemporary art” is concerned - it’d be nice to know her reasons for making these traced maruo reproductions - simply done for the controversy or is she really so stupid and out of it she thought no one would notice? - the spoilt entitled snowflake hasn’t responded to the outrage beyond clamping her hands over her ears and making all her social media private

a brief clip on youtube sets forth her obnoxious position all too clearly: [inaudible question] “whatever - the internet - i don’t care - everything is everyones - when you put something on the internet it’s mine - and this goes for images, tweets, videos, anything… i’ll take it - and, um, make it mine - thank you” - this said without the remotest trace of irony! - she’s protected and considers herself unaccountable so why should she care?

her gallery similarly doesn’t give a shit - the same point blank refusal to enter into dialogue - statements squeezed out of them on instagram display a frankly alarming indifference and lack of respect for artistic integrity (from a gallery!!) - “appropriation has been a form of artwork for a lot longer than any of us have been in the art world. I don't even think a response is worth the time” - um, i believe appropriation in art goes a bit deeper than merely copying another artist’s work, without credit, and passing it off as your own - when grilled on this ignorance the gallery responded with “i don't see the need to expand on this any further” - needless to say they deleted all negative comments re the hayes images, blocked the posters, and disabled any further comments - censorship says hi

i made a price enquiry re one of the paintings but as yet no answer (predictably!) - so professional - what exactly do galleries do for their 50% cut?!

suehiro maruo has been notified but somehow i can’t see him taking this to court



postscript - 2 weeks later:

the gallery never responded to me (of course) but i heard elsewhere the asking price is $9500 for these poor maruo copies

a statement from maruo (?) was made via the official suehiro maruo tumblr (following a screenshot of a trevor brown tweet):

"...Mass plagiarism destroys the uniqueness of art, especially when considered as your own. Becomes vicious and repetitive to those who does not have enough room for self-expression / free-will.
It has happened months ago..."

a little unclear but, as expected, it appears no legal action being taken - the fake hack hayes has got away with it : (

there's still unrest on twitter - they seem there more offended by a small shintaro kago tracing - the "it girl"s twitter and instagram are back up and seeing quite a few "hate" comments - she's blocking all the posters but curiously not deleting the messages - i presume in an effort to gain supporter sympathy? - or more likely reporting everyone and needs to keep the evidence

3 comments:

  1. The response of the gallery is as frustrating and deplorable as the theft itself... I don't understand how they can call it appropriation at this point.

    ReplyDelete
  2. if Maruo himself doesn't do anything she will think she could continue stealing and nobody will do anything.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Some people should show up at the gallery with their own copy of Suehiro's artwork in her style to show how easy it is to do.

    ReplyDelete