One of the ubiquitous images of the last year is the “Hope”
poster designed by Shepard Fairey -- a red-white-and-blue Barack Obama looking
upward, as if to the future, the features of the future president etched in
heavy chiaroscuro and highlighted with a splash of red along one side and
dashes of blue and white. Fairey, a street artist in Los Angeles, acknowledges that his image is
based upon an Associated Press photo taken by Mannie Garcia; AP says it owns
the copyright on the photo and wants credit and compensation, given the
considerable financial success of the image, which was reproduced on hundreds
of thousands of posters and stickers. At last report, Fairey has appealed to a
judge to find that his use of the AP photo is not in violation of copyright
law. Fairey’s attorney, Anthony Falzone, executive director of the Fair Use
Project at Stanford U. and a lecturer at the Stanford Law School, believes Fair Use
permits Fairey to do what he did — which was to convert the graduated colors of a
photograph to a line-art image. The outcome of this contest could alter the
Fair Use concept forever. While the case pends courtward, Fairey was arrested
February 6 for “tagging” property with graffitti; the street artist was on his
way to the Institute of Contemporary Art for
the kick-off event inaugurating his first solo exhibition, called “Supply and
Demand.”
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