As a collage artist/painter, I've had to become well-versed in copyrighted imagery. This dude is a fraud. I know his arguments are about "public use" images, but any artist worth their salt wouldn't blatantly rip off someone else's image.

This guy, Fairey, does it all the time, in the name of marketing a slogan. He's been called out several times. I should cite all those times. If you want, I could. For now, here's an example of him taking an image from the film of "1984." No way he paid for it.

Fairey keeps using legalese to get himself out of these situations. Here is an extensive article on him.

He's not only an opportunist, he's an ignoramus when it comes to history.

There's lots of great (and devastating) passages from the story written by Mat Gleason, "an art critic, writer, and publisher of the Coagula Art Journal of Los Angeles, California" that Jackie linked to above, but this one is interesting:

Perhaps the most important falsehood concerning Fairey’s behavior is that it is motivated by some grand theory of aesthetics or weighty political philosophy — but I’m afraid the only scheme at work is the one intended to make Fairey wealthy and famous. Some have, for whatever reason, imagined Fairey to be a progressive political figure, a perception certainly cultivated by the artist; but it’s also not impossible to view Fairey’s work as right-wing in essence, since it largely ransacks leftist history and imagery while the artist laughs all the way to the bank.

For me, the question is not what Fairey’s political allegiances may or may not be, but rather, how his work sets a standard that is ultimately damaging to art and leads to its further dissolution.

This article was written about an exhibition Fairey had in LA in 2007, before Fairey appropriated the AP photo to use for his profit — and for the glory of our Dear Leader. But, let's be clear. Fairey is no member of the "right-wing." (I'm conscious, of course, of the artistic left's idea that anyone who wants to make money in the art world must be some kind of evil member of the bourgeoisie.)

Still, when the left is going after its own ... I chuckle. Anyway, the author continues.

When a will to plagiarize and a love for self-promotion are the only requirements necessary for becoming an artist, then clearly the arts are in deep trouble.

Hard to argue with that.

I implore Monkey readers to take the time to read the whole post about Fairey's plagiarism. It's morally worse than you think.