Just when you thought the whole Fairey v. The Associated Press mess couldn't get any more convoluted, Bloomberg reports that photographer Mannie Garcia is seeking to wade into the fray for a three-way. Why? Garcia shot the image that Shepard Fairey turned into the HOPE graphic, and Garcia says that the AP has no legal basis for claiming copyright infringement. Again, why? Garcia asserts that he was not employed by AP when he shot the original image.

So, if (read: IF) I have this straight:

• Shepard Fairey appropriated the original image.
• He turned it into a campaign poster.
• He allegedly didn't profit from the copies, nor has he enforced copyright on his creation.
• The AP, uninterested until being tipped off by a blogger, decided that, hey, it had rights to the original image and probably would enforce copyright infringement.
• The AP made noises about Fairey needing to pony up some licensing cash.
• Fairey preemptively filed a Fair Use-based, "Oh, no, you don't" lawsuit against the AP.
• The AP filed a counterclaim.
• The Fairey team filed an answer to the AP's counterclaim.
• So on, so forth, yadda, vs. yadda, vs. yadda.
• Cyberspace is full of heated opinions about the saga although, apparently, most people (self included) aren't clear on how the four statutory Fair Use factors in US copyright law will apply in this case.
• Meanwhile, the lawsuits are grinding along at glacial speed as lawsuits are wont to do, but now:
• Mannie Garcia is convinced that neither Fairey nor the AP have a copyrights leg to stand on because they're haggling over his photograph, and he wants a voice in these proceedings.

Now, I may have missed some crucial nuance in my simplistic timeline, but will say that Mannie Garcia's story smacks of doubly-injured party truthfulness. And, in a total no-brainer move, I predict the ultimate "winner" here will be a law firm. Or law firms. Probably the latter. Still, though. Wow! Is anyone else getting a mental visual of Larry, Moe and Curly each grabbing the next Stooge by his left ear/nose and twirling in a bawling circle?

Let me answer the question right away:

1. I don't know.
2. Neither does anyone else.

If you're wondering what possessed me to ask this question in the first place, it involved researching a background piece on Christina's World. I saw quite a few mentions online that Christina Olson, the inspiration for Andrew Wyeth's painting, "...had polio." Since so many people (especially students) take their information directly from the Internet and at face value, I'd like to put it out there that Christina Olson might have had polio but never got her degenerative muscular condition diagnosed. No diagnosis means that polio cannot be stated as fact.

Speaking of facts, students, I know that some of you copy and paste your art history papers. I know it, you know it and, most importantly, your instructors know it ... and here's hoping their constantly-upgrading plagiarism software databases catch every suspect passage. My point is this, though: if cheating is your goal, the very least you can do is attempt to rip off accurate material. Don't be irredeemably selfish. Think instead of all the other cheaters who'll be copying your copying. No sense perpetuating a half-truth, now, is there?

In sum, do not write that Christina Olson of Christina's World fame had polio. By the way, I couldn't help but notice that Miss Olson is also often cited as the model for this painting. Another half-truth! Some of you might want to read "A Closer Look at Christina's World."

Image Credit:

Andrew Wyeth (American, 1917-2009)
Christina's World, 1948
Tempera on gessoed panel
32 1/4 x 47 3/4 in. (81.9 x 121.3 cm)
Purchase
Courtesy of The Museum of Modern Art, New York
© Andrew Wyeth

I try, I really try, to keep my opinionated mouth shut about most current political news on this here Art History blog and concentrate instead on nice, safe historic political analysis such as, "Savonarola was quite the pious jackass from 1494-98 in Florence, what with burning all of those canvases, books and pretty decorative objects." Five-hundred years after the fact who is actively rooting for Savonarola? Nobody, that's who, hence the word "safe."

So when, over the holiday weekend during the aptly-named journalistic period known as a "news dump," Sarah Palin announced she was resigning as Governor of Alaska less than two-thirds of the way through her first term, I paid it no never-mind. Free country and all of that. If someone decides to take a long walk on a Flat Earth, who am I to stop them? It has nothing to do with art history.

Except.

Except ... now it does, apparently. One of those dirty, liberal, pajama-wearing, basement-dwelling, Cheeto-eating bloggers has crossed a HUGE line in the sand with me by equating Sarah Palin with Post-Modernism. This is utterly too much. First of all, Post-Modernism is dead, while Ms. Palin is very much alive. Secondly, if we had to, most probably at gunpoint, pick an art-historic movement, era or school with which to associate Sarah Palin, my money would be on Rococo. You?

P.S. To clarify: I truly, madly, deeply love Cheetos. Baked to a delicate crunch, not deep fried to a crackly crunch.

Image Credit: December 2, 2008: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin answers questions from the media at the meeting of the National Governor's Association. Photo © William Thomas Cain/Getty Images.

Tell all of your artist friends: the Bravo Network has, at long last, determined a casting call schedule for its upcoming reality television series The Untitled Art Project. According to the press release, they are looking for "emerging or mid-career" artists of the "contemporary" stripe. (Note to readers: Erm, not to split hairs, but any visual artist who is currently [1] breathing and [2] working is, by definition, "contemporary." But I digress.) The schedule is as follows:

• LOS ANGELES
  Saturday, July 11 & Sunday, July 12, 10 AM – 2 PM
  LAXART
  www.laxart.org


• MIAMI
  Tuesday, July 14, 10 AM – 2 PM
  Fredric Snitzer Gallery
  www.Snitzer.com


• CHICAGO
  Thursday, July 16, 10 AM – 2 PM
  School of the Art Institute of Chicago
  Sullivan Galleries, 33 S. State Street
  www.saic.edu


• NEW YORK
  Saturday, July 18 & Sunday, July 19, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
  White Columns
  www.whitecolumns.org

You should also know that there is a full boatload of application papers, portfolio requirements and passport prerequisites Bravo expects hopefuls to bring with them. Take the time to read the fine print, please.

All that's left to say is "Good luck" and that I, a dedicated shunner of Reality TV, will watch this series. Oh, I'd rather be in Hell with a broken back than to sit through, say, The Real Housewives of _______(insert place I don't care about here), but I would make popcorn and glue myself to the screen to watch a Conceptual artist try to etch a zinc plate. Now that's must-see TV, Fellow Art Geeks.