Teaching the Law and Ethics of Image Use in an Age of Appropriate and Piracy

Alex Watkins

Art & Architecture Librarian

University of Colorado Boulder

Apollo Belevedere Michelangelo, David

Titian, Venus of Urbino

Manet, Olympia

Picasso, Women with a Straw Hat Jasper Johns, After Picasso

Lichtenstein, Whaam and the comic source

Jeff Koons, Niagara Falls Andrea Blanch, Silk Sandals by Gucci

• Blogs

• Presentations

• Papers

• Digital Scholarship

• Websites

• Flyers

• Social Media

• Art

• Videos

Olivia Gude

• Copyright & Fair Use

• Teaching the law of image use

• Ethics in image use

• Teaching ethics

Ed Ruscha, Some Real Estate Opportunities Eric Doeringer

Two Potential Layers of Copyright:

The underlying object & the photograph

Photo has

copyright

Photo does not

have copyright

Work does not have copyright Work has copyright

It is legal, unauthorized use of

copyrighted material

Allowed because the culture

created is more valuable than the

monopoly

It creates a space for

creativity, and is a safety valve

for free speech

Picasso Guitar, Newspaper, Glass, Bottle

Shepard Fairey

Shepard Fairey Mannie Garcia

• No copyright scares, the point is

not to make students afraid.

• Case Studies + Discussion/Debate

• Have Students come up with their

own fair use narratives for their

work.

• Also an opportunity to discuss

Creative Commons and how to find

images effectively.

Jeff Koons, String of Puppies Art Rogers, Puppies

Tom Forsythe, Food Chain Barbie

Jeff Koons, String of Puppies Art Rogers, Puppies

Vaseline Ad, Sea of Skin

Spencer Turk photograph

Gillian Wearing, Signs that say what you want

them to say and not signs that say what

someone else wants you to say

Jeff Koons, String of Puppies Art Rogers, Puppies

Patricia Caulfield Andy Warhol

Shepard Fairey Mannie Garcia

Patrick Cariou Richard Prince

Robert Rauschenberg, Pull Morton Beebe, Cliff Diver at Acapulco

Arnold Newman (Morris, 1981)

Patricia Caulfield (Buskirk, 2003)

Lisa Congdon Stephen Oakes, National Geographic

Christian Marclay, The Clock Cory Archangel, Super Mario Clouds

BuzzFeed

Daily Mail

Patrick Cariou, Yes Rasta Richard Prince, Canal Zone

Elizabeth Edwards (Baselitz et al. 2012)

Patrick Cariou, Yes Rasta Richard Prince, Canal Zone

Patricia Caulfield Andy Warhol

Rainer Crone (Buskirk, 2003)

Ivan Karp (Buskirk, 2003)

• To separate the legal from the ethical

• Even if you can, should you?

• We want students to think critically about their own

image use, and how they would

feel if the tables were turned.

• All images have subjects, meaning, artistic choices

Further Reading

Photo Credits