The Prince of darkness
Written by John Macpherson*Update 16 July 2015.
Prince responds to self-proclaimed “I’m a thief” comments:
And points out in his customary erudite fashion that the comments he offered previously, and which appeared to be a ‘confession’, weren’t actually his own words but the lyrics of a song (presumably the copyrighted material of the songwriter).
Seems that he’d simply ‘reappropriated’ the lyric and had used it without “quotation marks” (see his original tweet below).
Of course in the absence of the customary ” ” to denote this was in fact a quotation everyone assumed these were actually his own words. But in fact they are not.
They belonged to someone else.
That clears that up then.
Original Post:
Richard Prince?
Controversial ‘artist’ that’s for sure.
Lots of debate around his work. Is it founded on copyright infringement, or is it not?
His recent ‘reappropriated’ Instagram images have caused a bit of a stir. Lots to read about them if you’d care to. Here’s one long piece by Nate Harrison that explores some of these issues: ‘How To Sue Richard Prince and Win’
And it all might lead you to ponder the question, is he an artist and an earnest one at that, pushing creative boundaries and reaping the just rewards for his labours?
Or is he just a talentless copyright infringer?
I wondered that too. And now I know the answer. Surprise surprise, it’s the latter.
How do I know this? Prince himself admits it.
Here’s a Twitter exchange between Prince and Lewis Bush:
“I’m a cowboy”
and
“I’m a thief”
Yes. That’s Prince describing himself.
Well that clears that up then.
There’s two common uses of the word ‘cowboy’ and Prince (as far as I know, although I may be wrong) is certainly not riding the range wearing chaps and rounding up steers. I’ve looked in his bio and there’s nothing to indicate he’s an experienced ranch hand. So that leaves the other definition:
And there’s slightly less ambiguity over the definition of the word ‘thief’ :
So there you have it, straight from the horse’s mouth so to speak.
So I’d assume from this that anyone who has had their copyrighted work ‘misappropriated’ by Prince need not work too hard to prove his liability, as he’s openly admitted to taking it unlawfully.
But, let’s ponder this a wee bit more. What about the fences? Well we’ve established Prince is not a ranch hand so we’re not talking about cattle control here, but the other type of ‘fence’.
If, as Prince himself openly declares, he’s a thief, then what does that make those gallery owners who ‘shifted’ his ‘work’ for him, and their customers who thought they were ‘art investors’ and bought it? Might they now find themselves owners of what may in fact be considered to be ‘stolen goods’?
I’ve no idea. I’ll leave that one for the sharp legal minds to wrestle with.
Author — John Macpherson
John MacPherson was born and lives in the Scottish Highlands. He trained as a welder in the Glasgow shipyards, before completing an apprenticeship as a carpenter, and then qualified as a Social Worker in Disability Services. Along the way he has cooked on canal barges, trained as an Alpine Ski Leader & worked as an Instructor for Skiers with disabilities, been a canoe instructor, and tutor of night classes in carpentry, stained glass design and manufacture, and archery. He has travelled extensively on various continents, undertaking solo trips by bicycle, or motorcycle. He has had narrow escapes from an ambush by terrorists, been hit by lightning, caught in an erupting volcano, trapped in a mobile home by a tornado, kidnapped by a dog's hairdresser, rammed by a basking shark and was once bitten by a wild otter. He has combined all this with professional photography, which he has practised for over 35 years. He teaches photography and acts as a photography guide & tutor in the UK and abroad. His biggest challenge is keeping his 30 year old Land Rover 110 on the road. He loves telling and hearing stories.
Discussion (3 Comments)
Assuming that was Richard Prince- sounds like a genuine Grade A asshole.
And if it ain’t, it’s a pretty good imitation of anyone who’d repeatedly go around “appropriating” other people’s work- someone who is without a doubt, a grade A asshole.
Hello Stan – it was the man himself. Plug in that twitter handle and it’ll take you right to his site. Every time I hear the name Richard Prince, I just think Dick.
Smart thieves lay low. One can only hope that this masturbatory act of
hype and self promotion provides the necessary legal fodder for the next
person who sues him for theft. And as you well point out- what of the aiders and abettors?
Mr. Prince, meet Mr. Cosby.