Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Fair use

Richard Prince and his dealer Larry Gagosian have responded to a copyright-infringement suit filed by French photographer Patrick Cariou, saying that Prince's use of Cariou's work falls under "fair use," the Art Newspaper reports.

At issue are 22 paintings in Prince's "Canal Zone" series, which borrow photographs from Cariou's 2000 book Yes Rasta, shot over a decade in the mountains in Jamaica, and combine them with brushwork or pornography. According to Gagosian's filing, eight were sold when they were exhibited at the gallery last November and December, at prices ranging from $1.5 million to $3 million.
Details here.

1 comment:

Nancy Donnelly said...

the question in my mind is not only whether the Prince images are stolen, but how his reprise of them can be "worth" the prices they seem to have brought. $1.8 million? for slashing some paint onto a photo? we live in an amazing world.