Re: Using pre-made graphics

by Moe Rubenzahl <mrubenzahl(at)videonics.com>

 Date:  Fri, 5 Dec 1997 15:49:08 -0800
 To:  "shawn" <shawn(at)phillynet.com>,
"Hwg-Theory (E-mail)" <hwg-theory(at)hwg.org>
 In-Reply-To:  phillynet
  todo: View Thread, Original
> Anyone ever hear of Andy Warhol? I think he may have used a couple of
> premade images now and again... True, he never tried to sell soup - but he
> did use the can!

What Warhol did is called "Fair Use." He was not stealing someone else's
work and passing it off as his own; he was making a social comment. The
difference is subtle but distinct. He was commenting on commercialism and
the way that soup can design is ingrained in our heads. (Anyway, that is my
interpretation; I'm not an art historian.)

Incidentally, seeing the original work is very interesting. The color is
actually different -- the reds are hotter and the proportions manipulated
to make the piece "bigger" than the real soup can in more than one sense.
The intent to amplify and shine a spotlight on a commercial icon is clearer
when you see the original.

But I digress. Point being that Warhol's use of the soup can in no way
makes it right or legal for someone to steal my designs and use it as their
own.

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