This week’s movie RIP! A Remix Manifesto by Brett Gaylor focused on music, specifically the eclectic musical  mash-up’s of  Gregg Gillis aka Girl Talk and the legalities of ‘Fair Use’ as it applies to this, in discussion with lawyer Lawrence Lessig.

But,  it got me thinking about another form of art, in relation to my inquiry topic, that also combines the pieces of  other’s work to make new art….Collage, which dates back as far as 200 B.C China and coincides with the invention  of paper. [Wikipedia, 2021]

The Tate defines Collage as  “the technique and the resulting work of art in which pieces of paper, photographs, fabric and other ephemera are arranged and stuck down onto a supporting surface”

[Tate, 2021]

J. Riddell Matte. (2020) Not for Sale [collage]

I love looking through old magazines for images, and taking my time cutting them out, usually with giant scissors that are completely inept for the fine work that this often requires.  But after this week, I am wondering where the line is between ‘Fair Use’ and copyright violation? Is it similar to making musical remixes? And what side of the line I am on?

In looking into this, I found an article on The Legal Artist that specifically discusses Collage, and from what I understand there is a sweet spot where if you are not using the images for profit, and you are changing the image in a transformative way (this, however, is a complicated thing to prove) you should be ok?

It is when you starting using the images for profit, that things get risky. Ultimately, the collage that you have made becomes a ‘collective work’, which means that the pieces of art that have been combined are now considered to be a new work of art and this is eligible for copyright on its own  merit, as a unique piece. Yet, the law also says that this creation of new work does not give you right or ownership over the work of the other artists that you included in this new design….I guess as Greg Kanaan, the author of The Legal Artist article says, in the end it really is  just “better to ask for permission than to beg for forgiveness”.

 

 

Additional Resources

The Jealous Curator – The  web-home of the brilliant collage artist and author Danielle Krysa, includes podcast & book links

Kolaj Magazine – An art magazine featuring contemporary, international collage artists, as well as book lists and the inspiring art prompts for  Februllage, a month long collage challenge!!