Artists Infringing Copyright To Protest Damien Hirst Bullying A Teen Over Copyright

from the solidarity dept

Damien Hirst, a rather well-known British artist, recently threatened to sue a 16-year-old designer (who goes by the name Cartrain) for creating a collage he was selling, which used (in part) an image of a diamond encrusted skull that Hirst made (which apparently sold for £50 million). Rather than fight Hirst, the kid gave up, and even forked over £200 to Hirst. This seemed pretty ridiculous to a number of well-known artists including Jamie Reed, who designed the Sex Pistols' sleeve for the single God Save the Queen, and former KLF band member Jimmy Cauty, among others. So they're striking back purposely creating a bunch of artwork using images of the skull which you can see on a site they specifically set up for this, called Red Rag To A Bull. The artists are selling the artwork, and they claim that if they can make (ha ha) £20 million, they'll make an identical diamond encrusted skull, and sell it for another £50 million... out of which they'll pay back Cartrain the £200 he had to pay to Hirst. They're also asking for others to create collages using the skull and to send them in to the collection. As for copyright? Cauty, for one, points out that copyright should be "abolished," and it doesn't sound like the folks behind the site plan on backing down if Hirst decides to bully them.

Filed Under: artwork, copyright, damien hirst, jamie reed, jimmy cauty, skull