Like what they always say, anything that a person posts over the Internet becomes, in one way or another, a public property. Richard Prince, an artist from New York, produces artwork not entirely made by his own hands but rather a reproduction of other people's Instagram photos.
However, Prince did not only gather the photos but even featured them in a gallery where they were sold out at almost $90K a piece.
The gallery, dubbed "New Portraits," features several pictures of women wherein most were in sexually charged poses. They are actually screenshots which have been enlarged up to 6 feet. The "art" photos were being displayed at the Frieze Gallery in NYC.
Prince is notorious for producing art work that he gathers from the work of other people. He had been sued by another artist, Patrick Cariou, who accused Prince with stealing his photographs and used them in a show called "Art In America." Prince filed an appeal in court and ended up victorious in 2013.
In his latest exhibition, Prince displayed 37 inkjet images that measured 6 by 4 feet in Gagosian Gallery located along Madison Avenue in New York. One of the images belonged to a woman identified as Doe Deere who heard that her Instagram photo sold for $90,000 in the exhibit.
Deere responded by posting the alleged photo exhibit with some added texts in her Instagram, of course.
"Figured I might as well post this since everyone is texting me. Yes, my portrait is currently displayed at the Frieze Gallery in NYC. Yes, it's just a screenshot (not a painting) of my original post. No, I did not give my permission and yes, the controversial artist Richard Prince put it up anyway. It's already sold ($90K I've been told) during the VIP preview. No, I'm not gonna go after him. And nope, I have no idea who ended up with it!"
It is said that Prince has started "re-photographing" in the 1970s. What he does involves taking pictures of photos which he finds in advertisements, magazines, books or headshots of actors. After taking the pictures, he would then alter them to certain degrees. More often than not, the reproduced photos look almost identical to the original version.
Prince's victory in the court ruling which he filed on an appeal reached a conclusion that he did not commit copyright infringement. This is because the court considered his works as "transformative." In short, he is allowed to make a few adjustments to the images and then claim them as an original work that he owns.
In the exhibit of Instagram photos, Prince removed the captions although he maintained the usernames or kept the photos unaltered.
While all his photos sold out in the exhibit, there are others who are still unconvinced and criticized his work.
"Disgusting display of theft of intellectual property!!!!! Why back an 'artist' like this when there are so many more creative and original ones who need to be showcased. @gagosiangallery disgraceful!!!," said rory_photo in Instagram.
However, Prince seemed to be enjoying the attention he's getting. He loves to re-tweet and re-post his several critics.
