Someone is ripping my artwork off and they had the nerve to display it at the recent Chicago World of Wheels! Please see the attached images. You'll notice that my 1936 Ford image is being used and sold/auctioned by a rip-off artist. Making a living doing art is pretty tough. Having others steal from you makes it even tougher. The offending art is in the grouping. My original is the other picture. Thanks. GaryC.
That sucks! Do you know who it is. My guy Jerry will be there tomorrow doing a panel. I might be there too, not sure (weather). LAW SUIT! How can we help?
I have no idea who the person is. I never authorized anyone to use my art. All I want is the turds name. I wouldn't expect you to intervene on my behalf but if you want to let him gently know that we know who he is... and to knock it off or... you know!!! Thanks a bunch!
I dont know anything about it but it looks like it is part of the brushmasters setup that gets auctioned off for charity. Did someone maybe buy a print from you then decided to put it in the auction? There are a bunch of guys on here from the brushmasters maybe you could contact one of them.
Nope... I never sold a print of this piece. It was posted in a HAMB Friday Art Show in 2008. Thanks for the tip.
Im going in there tomorrow,, I will see if its still there and see what I can find out. Love your art by the way.
I think the card just says that it's up for auction. For crying out loud... if they wanted art for a charity auction, I would have sent them an original... for free. I've done that before. Especially if it's for a good cause. This is a bummer. BTW. Thanks TimmyP. Most appreciated.
How shady...I think I've heard of art from the "Friday Art Show" being ripped off before! It's a shame cause it's a fantastic running tradition that shouldn't ever have to be subject to such "sleezery"! Hope you find out the perp's name.
The internet is just too wide open of a place to be displaying copyrighted artwork if you're worried about it being pilfered like this. Consider watermarking your work and never upload full sized images. 640 by 480 or maybe 800 by 600 maximum. Somebody could still download it but they won't be able to make a very large or good quality print from it. It might not stop the thieves but they may decide to look elsewwhere.
Gary: First, let me say your artwork is excellent. After thinking about it for a while (not defending the Brushmasters), but in the past, I've donated pieces to the Brushmasters and they "work it over" and embellish as they see fit. So, it's entirely possible that the person who created the panel in question, had no knowledge of the origin of the image. Being a charity auction, all proceeds (even the time the artists spent working there) go to charity. Hopefully it wasn't/isn't a ploy to profit from your great artwork. But Larry will get your answer for sure. Not sure if he's at the show today or not, so you may not get a response until Monday?? Again, nice work. Stu p.s. Did you know Paul Duncan, who owned a body shop in Boardman?? He passed away a while back, but I knew him well.
enlarged a bit. and the sticker on it was 135. that was the number for bidding, or the 'item' number i think...
sure doesn't look like the signature says Gary,good luck.Have found my DVD and my photos for sale by others,copyright,watermark,don't make a difference and the legal aspect is very,very expensive when the infraction is in another state.Good luck,got a feeling someone may be had.larry
Thanks so much for all of the help guys. I did contact OldBobSigns. This whole thing makes my head hurt!
If you look at it closely, it looks as if it was maybe used as a reference not an exact copy, the detailing around the windows is different, the shadows coming off the head lights are different, the back ground different even the coloring and angles of the car are different. It looks as though someone used your piece as an inspiration for a basic shape and then did their own thing. I'm sure you are not happy to see even anything even remotely looking similar to your original art work and I support you all in but not being sure about how all this works, if they sat down and just used yours as a reference , how wrong is that? Not looking to cause a storm, just wondering how that works. BTW nice original piece that you did, the possible offender, not so much.
If this is a one-off item, and it's being offered at a charity auction, there probably isn't much that you can or should do. That said, it still wouldn't hurt to try to examine some of his other work that he might be offering strictly for his own profit. Then it's a whole different matter. You might also contact the artist and let him know that at the very least he might have asked your permission to use your artwork for this purpose. At least he'll know that he's being watched. This is one of the rare cases when the openess of the internet works both ways.
Just found this video and it reminded me a bit of your situation. I imagine this fellow's head really hurts! Hope you've got a fast connection 'cuz this is a big HD video. http://vimeo.com/20718237 I just don't think people realize what they're opening themselves up to when they put their full sized images online. It would be nice to think that you could trust people to do the right thing, but it just isn't realistic under these circumstances. An online stock photography site where I sell a few pictures has recently had a number of images downloaded with fraudulent credit card information. None of my small portfolio was stolen, that I'm aware of. But there's a good number of larger contributors who were affected and I'm sure many of them are now just sitting back waiting for it to hit the fan.
Hey Gary C, heard about this post and came here special today to check in with YOU. I'm an auction volunteer working with the Chicago Brushmasters. I'm honored to have the smallest part in their big picture of raising money for the families at The Ronald McDonald House in Chicago. I'm going to try to stay cool here because I'm new and all. Before you go calling anyone a rip off man know the facts. These artist work the entire year producing these awesome DONATIONS. That is after the raw materials get donated, a body shop donates their time and paint on the raw materials to produce a finish pallet for the art to begin. We won't mention the time and chasing that goes on to make that happen. Once the panels are complete after hours of planning, set up, and just plan hard work finally come together the auction takes place. After having to work really hard to get people to donate because as we all know times are really tough a few dollars like every penny goes to the charity. We have fun and do a great service for families dealing with one of the most tragic things in this world a sick kid. Next time you want to get your feelings hurt over a piece of artwork you think you have copy right to why don't you check into the facts. Better yet next year why don't you come and donate a couple hundred hours of free labor like these guys do- every year. Have a nice day
Seriously!!!!?????? WTF If the materials or cash for the auction are stolen all the good intentions in the world can't make it right. A copyright you think you own!!! Have you ever read copyright law? The copyright to an original piece of Art attaches as soon as the artist paints it and no one is allowed to take that picture or modify it and then call it their own without having stole it. That is the plain simple truth. Why is it that the politically correct crowd always seems to think that if the intention was good or charitable that someone should look the other way. The "artist" (Thief) that took the original piece should be arrested and the artwork should be removed from the auction. Or better yet, let it sell and force the offender to cough up the money that the picture would have raised as his or her punishment and then destroy the rip-off picture. Speaking of thick skin - grow a pair and go after the actual wrongdoer.
oddball, all I can say is.... WOW! You're so busy patting yourself on the back over what you do, you dont even see what the problem is. Your noble and selfless "artist" ripped off another persons work, signed his name to it and "donated" it you ass. This fantastic human being probably has all of 10 minutes tied up in changing the roof color on the coupe. It is plainly obvious that the art work YOU are auctioning off is NOT original.
Um...wow. Seems as if Gary can pat himself on the back just as hard, seeing he gave the "philanthropist" in question a means of spreading his good cheer. Hey Gary, I think the above quoted is supposed to read as a "thank you" note...you just have to wring out the disdain!
yeah that's great... So as long as it goes to charity it's cool to rip off another artist? It sounds like that is what you are saying.
First, oddballrestored, you need to post an intro (forum etiquette) and secondly, while you are entitled to your opinion, I think if you were to have "checked into the facts" with any of the Chicago BrushMasters you would have been informed that this entire issue was resolved a day or two after the event to the satisfaction of ALL involved. The fact that the offending art was used for a charitable purpose does NOTHING to diminish the offense...period!!! SteppinOut: Agreed, any serious artist knows this and the over-enthusiastic younger artist soon learns it. FiddysixF: Over-enthusiastic, non-artist volunteers sometimes lose sight of the real issues and certainly don't speak for the Chicago BrushMasters. To repeat, this issue was amicably resolved (via PMs and e-mails) between each of the individuals directly involved shortly after discovery of the offense. End of story.
A few of my daughter's photos have shown up for sale as other people's work on the internet. She was just a kid posting her daily images on a couple different sites, so she hasen't been concerned. Someone is trying to make money off of her work, though. It's apparently quite easy to steal other people's posted images and not have any legal costs to deal with.
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