Teacher! Teacher! He's Cheating!

If you copy an answer off of a test or from a paper you found online, you will get in trouble.  You cheated and you undoubtedly know that.  Yet somehow, art makes a simple, cut-and-dry situation complicated...again.  What is "copying" in art?  What is the artistic equivalence to citing your sources?  And when can you say that you have made something your own?

I am sure that everyone has heard about Shepard Fairey and the legal issues that have resulted from his "HOPE" painting of President Obama.  If not, the Associated Press is suing Fairey for using a photograph taken by Mannie Garcia, an AP freelance photographer.  Now, the problem we must address is, at what point are we copying art?  One could argue that clothing is art.  And by these standards, a fashion photographer is plagiarising the clothing designer by "copying" the design.

I do appreciate the argument that the painting is a direct representation of the photograph, but it is not a photograph of a photo.  The painting in and of itself is original because it was created by the artists hand.  Not to mention, the graphic technique and other changes make the new work a unique piece of art on its own.  At the very least, Fairey is not the first.  Apparently many have forgotten about Andy Warhol.  We do not assert plagiarism on Warhol's work.  Apparently, we believe that Andy Warhol changed enough of the image to "make it his own," but Shepard Fairey did not.

Fairey used an objective, practical photo and created his own image.  This image became the icon for the Obama campaign.  I do believe the artist should give credit where credit is due, but... HE DID!  The AP did not even know that he used one of their images until 7 months later when he said so!  At most, the AP lost the licensing fees they would have charged for the actual photo, which Fairey offered to pay.  As an artist who sometimes works from photos for reference, I sympathize with Fairey.  I think that his intent was for his HOPE painting to help Obama's campaign.  He just so happened to be one of those really lucky artists who got his big break.