Landes, William --- "Copyright, borrowed images and appropriation art: am economic approach" [2002] ELECD 47; in Towse, Ruth (ed), "Copyright in the Cultural Industries" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2002)

Book Title: Copyright in the Cultural Industries

Editor(s): Towse, Ruth

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781840646610

Section: Chapter 2

Section Title: Copyright, borrowed images and appropriation art: am economic approach

Author(s): Landes, William

Number of pages: 23

Extract:

2. Copyright, borrowed images and
appropriation art: an economic
approach
William Landes1

In this chapter, I examine from the standpoint of economics the relationship
between copyright law, borrowed images and the post-modern art form known
as appropriation art.
Appropriation art borrows images from popular culture, advertising, the
mass media, other artists and elsewhere, and incorporates them into new
works of art.2 Often, the artist's technical skills are less important than
his conceptual ability to place images in different settings and, thereby,
change their meaning. Appropriation art has been commonly described `as
getting the hand out of art and putting the brain in'. Some appropriation art
does not implicate copyright law at all. For example, Marcel Duchamp
exhibited ready-made objects such as a urinal, bicycle wheel and snow
shovel as works of art. However, when the borrowed image is copy-
righted, appropriation art risks infringing the rights of the copyright
owner.
Artists and judges have very different views regarding how the law should
treat appropriation art. The artist perceives legal restraints on borrowing as a
threat to artistic freedom. The following quote is typical:
Whenever people's response is `how dare you!' I consider that a high compliment.
First of all, taking from other artists is not illegal in the art world, as it is in the
music industry, and second, it is a direct acknowledgment of how we work in
painting. Everything you do is based on what came before and what is happening
concurrently. I ...