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Illustration : "Instinct"

Using Illustration Friday as inspiration for weekly illustrations.
This week's concept is "instinct".

Here's my explanation for the illustration I chose to use:
What I find compelling about instinct is the question of where instinct ends and choice begins and what the fall of that line means about who we are as humans. As genetic research continues, more questions arise...more controversies mount.

Where does sex end and romance begin. Is the appreciation of beauty in our genes? The urge to protect fragility? Kindness? How much is choice and if so, how are our choices limited by our instincts? Is the mind something or just what the brain does? Is there really a difference between instinct and culture? Is culture a highly flexible product of instinct?

We are still not sure who we are but the subject of instinct seems to me to speak more about how we are who we are.

Fairy Fair Use: The Final Word

Colber Repor February 12 Episode 2:35 to 9:12

New Sketches

All the work on the illustrations for the new site have gotten my pencil's graphite flowing.

Fairey Fair Use or "APpropriation APprobation"

A funny thing happened on the way to this Fair Use Exhibit A. For one, the ASSociated Press, who "know that most artists cannot afford to hire lawyers, and that even the ones who can will probably prefer to settle out of court than get dragged through three years of litigation...[b]ecause juries are unpredictable, copyright law is confusing and defending a copyright lawsuit is extremely expensive[,]"* have lately been attempting to strongarm Shepard Fairey for money he did not even make from the grassroots Obama campaign poster image he derived from a photograph he 'found on the web.' Rather than obey the giant newscorp, our good Shepard has countersued under protection from Stanford Law School's Fair Use Project. According to Jonathon Melber (*quoted above, from his Huffington Post) the salient issue here is transformation, as in primarily conceptual, not necessarily formal (see Street Artist Fairey Gives Obama a Line of Cred.) and also depends, to a lesser extent "on what, exactly, the original work is, how much of it you're using... and whether your new work hurts the commercial market for the original. (Note that the issue has nothing to do with whether anyone thinks your use is "fair.")" A second funny thing: turns out limited edition signed prints of Mannie Ramirez's original photograph are now selling for $1,200. Plus, he wants nothing to do with AP's complaint, and is in turn disputing AP's claim to full copyright ownership! So he has clearly NOT been hurt. (Though I've seen no indication Shepard Fairey offered up Mannie's name before others researched it out, which would be my one ethical criticism..."Keep Track! all ye who click and save, exercise due diligence! It's only fair." ;) For an exhaustive accounting of what Shepard DOES do appropriately and fairly see SuperTouch's irrefutable defense. The core point here is that Shepard repurposed, and thereby transformed, a news photograph meant to convey an event in a specific place into an emblematic illustration meant to convey more abstract notions of dynamic strength, leadership, and 'with it-ness.' There is little doubt he transformed it 'enough.

A third 'funny' thing that happened, this time on the way to DJ an Opening event for his first major solo exhibition at The Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston just three days before his lawsuit was announced, on February 7th. "The artist was arrested at about 9:15p.m. as he was about to enter a sold-out dance event at the ICA on Northern Avenue, known as "Experiment Night." The event is geared toward a younger crowd, with techno-style music, and more than 750 people were waiting for Fairey, some of whom had bought tickets on Craigslist for as much as $500. Fairey was supposed to appear as a guest disc jockey for the kickoff of his exhibit, "Supply and Demand," which will run through Aug. 16. He was scheduled to go on stage at about 10:30 p.m., and an hour later organizers told the crowd that he was arrested." (from The Boston Globe) The warrant was issued January 24th, and Shepard had been in and around the museum and Boston, in plain sight, for two weeks…How do you spell 'backlash'? The arrest was clearly timed to inflict maximum damage, but ironically, has only added to Fairey's fame and credibility, just when it was starting to look as if he'd been co-opted by Big Media. ("Or has he?")

It's easy to be cynical about all this, even perhaps on BOTH sides of this spectacle. And it's not as if the Associated Press doesn't do some good work out there, or isn't struggling to survive in a brutal down market. But I think the lesson here, because there HAS to be a lesson here, is to grasp the essence of Fair Use Doctrine as it applies to your own work.