Fairey Admits Using Other Photo For "HOPE" Poster
NEW YORK, NY (October 16. 2009) – Shepard Fairey, the graffiti street artist who designed the famous Barack Obama "HOPE" poster, has admitted he didn't use the Associated Press photograph that he originally said his work was based on but instead used a picture the news organization has claimed all along was his source.
Fairey said in a statement Friday that he was wrong about which picture he used and that he tried to hide his error. It was not immediately clear whether he would drop his lawsuit against the AP over the use of the image.
"In an attempt to conceal my mistake, I submitted false images and deleted other images," said Fairey, who has been involved in countersuits with the AP, which has alleged copyright infringement. "I sincerely apologize for my lapse in judgment, and I take full responsibility for my actions, which were mine alone."
Lawyers for Fairey, 39, have quit his case and, in papers filed Friday in federal court in Manhattan, the attorneys said that Fairey misled them. They also amended the original court documents, reflecting that the artist had used a different picture.
''Mr. Fairey was apparently mistaken about the photograph he used when his original complaint for declaratory relief was filed on February 9, 2009,'' the papers say. ''After the original complaint was filed, Mr. Fairey realized his mistake. Instead of acknowledging that mistake, Mr. Fairey attempted to delete the electronic files he had used in creating the illustration at issue. He also created, and delivered to his counsel for production, new documents to make it appear as though he had used the Clooney photograph as his reference.''
The lawyers who are quitting the case, including the executive director of the Fair Use Project at Stanford University, Anthony Falzone, said it was unclear whether Fairey would continue the case or withdraw his lawsuit against AP.
The artist had until today claimed that his famous "HOPE" drawing was based on an AP photograph taken by Mannie Garcia at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, in April 2006 that showed then-Senator Obama seated next to actor George Clooney.
Fairey now admits that he used (as AP has claimed all along) a different photograph from the same event, by the same photographer, that was just a solo image of Obama.
In a statement issued Friday, AP vice president and general counsel Srinandan R. Kasi said Fairey's admission struck ''at the heart'' of Fairey's defense were he claims that he is protected by ''fair use.''
''Shepard Fairey has now been forced to admit that he sued the AP under false pretenses by lying about which AP photograph he used to make the 'HOPE' and 'PROGRESS' posters,'' Kasi said. ''Mr. Fairey has also now admitted to the AP that he fabricated and attempted to destroy other evidence in an effort to bolster his fair use case and cover up his previous lies and omissions.''
Kasi said the AP would continue to ''vigorously pursue its countersuit alleging that Fairey willfully infringed the AP's copyright in the close-up photograph of then-Senator Obama.''
Fairey also used the AP photograph for an image designed specifically for the Obama inaugural committee, and that poster sold for prices ranging from $100 to $500 for a poster signed by the artist.
As an artist, Fairey is known for using photographic images and "repurposing" them in his work, along the lines of Andy Warhol's famous use of Campbell's soup cans and Gene Korman's publicity shot of Marilyn Monroe as the basis of his pop culture screenprints.
Fairey's "HOPE" poster image was also used on the January cover of Esquire magazine, re-titled "What Now?," and the artist also did Time magazine's "Person Of The Year" cover of Obama, from a different photograph but in the same style as his "HOPE" poster.
AP's statements, timelines, and court filings in the Shepard Fairey case
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