Shepard Fairey Sued by Associated Press: Brilliant Idea
Photo by Manny Garcia, Poster by Jared Fairey
I don’t believe a word of this one. On the eve of Shepard Fairey’s first major exhibit at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art (in fact he speaks there tonight) the AP sues him for basing his ubiquitous Obama poster on a photograph taken by Manny Garcia in 2006. Not like this is news to anyone. The poster has been around for well over a year. Hundreds of thousands have been given away and couple thousand sold. Fairey has always admitted it was based on the photo in question, but that he’s within in his rights. Now, in a perfect orchestration of public relations, the AP and Fairey get together to concoct a lawsuit. Brilliant. Every network, news site and daily paper in America covers the story. Fairy gets more famous. The poster becomes more coveted. And the potential value of the original photograph goes through the roof. A brilliant idea. Congratulations to everyone involved in thinking this one up. Wish it had been me. Then again, maybe I’ll get sued by both of them for writing this and using their images.
