How would you feel if you walked into a home-decorating store at a mall and saw prints of your paintings being sold? Cheap and badly done prints to add to the insult? It's not that I hadn't ever heard of it happening, it's that having it happen to the artist who created the painting I have hanging in pride of place in my lounge, and at a chain of stores I shop at myself, makes it really hit home.
The artist is someone you may remember me mentioning before, Peter Pharoah (I even use him in an example of how to create a unique style), and the store concerned is one my South African readers will be familiar with, Mr Price Home. The full story can be read in the article "Top Artist‘s Work Sold Illegally by Chain" from The Herald newspaper but basically involves the unauthorized copying of authorized prints by some company in China.
I first came across Peter's painting a few years ago when I was researching an article for a travel magazine which gave me an excuse to pop into every single gallery, craft shop, and farm stall along a stretch of South Africa's Garden Route, including the Pharoah Gallery (which definitely didn't contain anything Egyptian which had been my initial reaction on seeing the name!). It really was love at first sight, with a painting style mixing abstraction and realism, with glorious golden oranges and earth colors.
I've chatted a few times to Tracey Pharoah, who deals with the business side of the gallery, about the hard work it had taken to create Peter's reputation as a painter, how they striven to build up a market and client list, and what it takes to maintain this. I've found it really inspiring because who hasn't dreamed of giving up life in the big city, moving to a beautiful location, and living from their painting? Having succeeded, I can only begin to imagine how devastating it must be to have your worked ripped off and sold down the road.
Peter says: "What concerns me the most, is the fact that my reputation has been tarnished. My artworks are about passion, about a love for the people and wildlife of Africa as well as a form of expression that is extremely personal. My textures and strong, rich colours are an exploration of my chosen medium – oils. It is an insult to me as well as other artists, art lovers and buyers that such poor quality imitations are produced and sold worldwide."
He said many myths existed about copyright, but that fundamentally it exists to protect an artist's right to benefit from what they create and to control how their work is used. He recommends everyone read 10 Big Myths About Copyright Explained. (The excuse about "helping the copyright holder" is the one I encountered just a fortnight ago after someone used an article of mine in a newsletter without permission). But really, it's not hard to understand. If you didn't create it and don't have the artist's permission to use it, you can't unless the artist has been dead for a very long time (and even then it's not open-and-shut because of the issues of who owns the copyright to a specific photo or print).
See Also:
• Copyright Basics (from Friends of Active Copyright Education)
• Copyright for Artists FAQ
The artist is someone you may remember me mentioning before, Peter Pharoah (I even use him in an example of how to create a unique style), and the store concerned is one my South African readers will be familiar with, Mr Price Home. The full story can be read in the article "Top Artist‘s Work Sold Illegally by Chain" from The Herald newspaper but basically involves the unauthorized copying of authorized prints by some company in China.
I first came across Peter's painting a few years ago when I was researching an article for a travel magazine which gave me an excuse to pop into every single gallery, craft shop, and farm stall along a stretch of South Africa's Garden Route, including the Pharoah Gallery (which definitely didn't contain anything Egyptian which had been my initial reaction on seeing the name!). It really was love at first sight, with a painting style mixing abstraction and realism, with glorious golden oranges and earth colors.
I've chatted a few times to Tracey Pharoah, who deals with the business side of the gallery, about the hard work it had taken to create Peter's reputation as a painter, how they striven to build up a market and client list, and what it takes to maintain this. I've found it really inspiring because who hasn't dreamed of giving up life in the big city, moving to a beautiful location, and living from their painting? Having succeeded, I can only begin to imagine how devastating it must be to have your worked ripped off and sold down the road.
Peter says: "What concerns me the most, is the fact that my reputation has been tarnished. My artworks are about passion, about a love for the people and wildlife of Africa as well as a form of expression that is extremely personal. My textures and strong, rich colours are an exploration of my chosen medium – oils. It is an insult to me as well as other artists, art lovers and buyers that such poor quality imitations are produced and sold worldwide."
He said many myths existed about copyright, but that fundamentally it exists to protect an artist's right to benefit from what they create and to control how their work is used. He recommends everyone read 10 Big Myths About Copyright Explained. (The excuse about "helping the copyright holder" is the one I encountered just a fortnight ago after someone used an article of mine in a newsletter without permission). But really, it's not hard to understand. If you didn't create it and don't have the artist's permission to use it, you can't unless the artist has been dead for a very long time (and even then it's not open-and-shut because of the issues of who owns the copyright to a specific photo or print).
See Also:
• Copyright Basics (from Friends of Active Copyright Education)
• Copyright for Artists FAQ
Comments
This fraud also happened to my mother, Helen E. Foley. The man who did it to her, used computer equipment to alter photos of her artworks, to make what looked like drawings. Then he predated those computer drawings to the dates on her artworks, then went around the world claiming he had told her what to paint. He claimed he had gotten images while in prayer, and was claiming he was a visionary, and people believed him. He then sued both my Mom and myself to try to force us to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement. We refused. He carried his civil suit through her 3 heart operations and her five cancers (she died Dec 10, 2007). And he bankrupted me with legal fees in just trying to defend myself. I cannot say who he is, but I can tell what he did. He too has had an Asian connection.
I too had this happen to me. I was a struggling single mom, and had come up with a wonderful A through Z alphabet designed coloring book and other gift ideas. I was doingthe art show circuit in Plantation Florida. A couple showed up in my booth and talked for an hour, took a photo without asking (and when told it wasn’t allowed it was too late), then never bought anything. I had a sick feeling about them while they were there. About 3 months later,in the childrens book area of our local WalMart, my daughter said, “look mommie, it’s your alphabet letters!”. A colring book with my designs was starting back at me. I was in absolute shock. I thought I’d taken every precaution to copywrite it. Went to a lawyer, and he said I’d lose everything if trying to sue…plus i didn’t have funds to even pursue it. I did however call the man,and told him how i’d found this book at walmart, and asked him how he ever got such a creative idea? He point blank said he’d seen it at an art show, and stole the idea. I then introduced myself, and told him how he had stolen my dream, my future finances, my provisions for my daughter, etc… He said that all art is free. I guess he was right..it was free for him, but cost me a lot. If you want to see MY WORK, it’s at http://www.aTOZart.com
He was from Paradise Press in Plantation Florida, so don’t ever trust that group. thanks for letting me vent.
jodi j
Both of these stories are heartbreaking. And the sad fact is, it does happen all the time.
He said that all art is free. What an $!#$#
I have read this and I have to agree it’s not right.
MY QUESTION here is this: I am a ‘beginner artist’ and so far I can’t seem to ‘do my own thing’….I have to copy….SO FAR none of my works look much like the origional paintings.
I DID do a painting copied from a calandar many years ago, had it in a gallery locally, and had 4 offers for it but I didn’t want to sell it; it’s in my own living room. What would happen if I DID sell this (was copied from a calandar as I said)
And what happens to any work that I DO manage to sell untill I’ m able to make up my OWN pictures? (I also have been signing with my own signature…)
“thou shalt not steal” seems not to matter to some. Maybe the thieves mentioned above are so postmodern that they feel they should grab all they can get
…And who can regulate China (if indeed they are the culprit)???
I am NOT a lawyer. But perhaps if persons take pictures of their work, and mail the pictures back to themselves, (thus getting a post office date on the letter) they might **somewhat** protect themselves. This is called a “poor man’s copyright”.
Afraid the poor man’s copyright is another myth read why…
For this very reason, I have refused to market my photo art on the web. It’s so easy to steal someone else’s work, yet so hard to recover damages because loss is virtually unprovable. Our Legislature in DC has done little to abate this problem, probably because we’re so indebted to other countries for our high-brow spending in the US. Think about it. If China and other upcoming powers ever call in our debt, we’re stewed! One really does have a lot to do with the other, especially since the stealers in your stories on this site were Asian.
I had a cheap nasty website steal one of my paintings off my site and say they were their original… I made such a fuss, also made a free website with their website addy in the http//… and was just about the same as theirs….so when it was googled, mine came up also…. it was telling everyone what they were doing, stealing peoples lives and that people were buying nasty cheap china crap… the site closed down about 2 weeks later…. The internet is a big place and I had my painting on my site long before they did… and could show that I was the original designer.. I didn’t need a lawyer that time, the internet just doesn’t have work for the nasty crappy people, it can work for you too.