i'm experimenting with using collage for my new book about Pigs and am looking into the copyright laws for found images. nothing from artists' or photography sites - more like from ebay (the puzzle box which i altered), food supply shops (the lollipop which i also altered), and random googled images - the flower heads come from different sources and admittedly some were probably blogs - i'll look into that. i've gotten some good advice and am going to be really careful - but wonder what you think about using images from such sources as online catalogs and ebay?
thanks, and have a Perfectly Pleasant & Playful weekend!
Nice blog!
ReplyDeleteI am trying to get my head around this issue, too. The gut feeling to me is that artwork, anywhere, was originally created by someone, who thus retains copyright. But I am really fuzzy on when something becomes public domain.
I don't think that it is the source of the found image (eBay, Google Images, etc.) that determines public domain, but rather the intent of the artist and the intended use of the original artwork. Fair use comes into it as well - are you using the "borrowed" artwork for commercial means? Then that violates fair use as I understand it.
There is a book (an e-book, I guess, that you can view for free if you join NetGalley) called Cutting Across Media: Appropriation Art, Interventionist Collage, and Copyright Law. Maybe it has some useful information in it. I have downloaded it but have not made my way through it yet.
http://netgalley.com/PopupHandler.php?module=catalog&func=galleyTitleDetails&projectid=7172
I'm a librarian and will continue to check with my more-knowledgeable librarian and artist friends.