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Got tipped first by Shishio, the full story’s on Something Awful, and the short version is that t-shirt hack Todd Goldman (aka Todd Goliath) has ripped off Purple Pussy for a gallery show. Best summary of the events in question from Randy Milholland:

Todd is also a painter. The Jack Gallery in Los Angeles did a recent exhibition entitled Golddigger of his works. Amongst his paintings in their online selection was this piece.

I like that piece a lot. Of course, I enjoyed it even more when it was this.

Why am I posting about this? Someone told [Purple Pussy creator Dave] Kelly about it after she’d seen the piece at the Wentworth Gallery and then he made it public. And Dave Kelly is known for shying away from the spotlight. Also, this is something everyone who does some form of art has to be concerned about. And honestly, anyone who takes someone ELSE’S hard work and tries to pass it off as their own deserves to be called out.

And the consumer deserves to know where art is coming from. And the real artist deserves the praise and support, whether it’s criticial or financial, that the piece moves the consumer to offer. And I think everyone knows how enraging it is to work hard and have someone else take credit for it.

Well, maybe everyone except Todd Goldman.

Well said, Mr Milholland. What allows ripoff artistes like Goldman to get away with shit like this is not getting called on it. I doubt that being named and shamed will convince Goldman to not do this in future (his entire t-shirt line is liberally appropriated from others), but it may keep future work from coming his way. If you’re a gallery owner and you find out that your star attraction may be involving you in charges of plaigarism, you’re less likely to give him wall space.

Me? I’m going to be contacting Goldman’s PR rep and politely pointing out to them that they’re sitting on a disaster, and that barring a remarkable change in behavior very quickly, their client’s reputation will be inextricably linked with words like art thief.

Editor’s note: letter sent; any reply received will be shared here.

I think we can expect the Roy Lichtenstein defense, if anyone bothers with a defense at all. I’m not suggesting it’s a valid argument, merely that it’s the one most likely to be used.

the guy is a douche.

i think he stole this fish from liz greenfield.

http://www.jackgallery.com/Todd-Goldman/litho/TG781.jpg

All it takes is one. Just break the financial back of one thief, and the message will start to get out there that the internet and its comics are not just free intellectual property for entrepenuers who don’t want to do the work themselves.

When it’s this blatant, there has to be action taken.

Dear God,
Make Todd Goldman die.
Amen.

The difference between this and Roy Lichtenstein is that Lichtenstein wasn’t selling the punchline – his humorous paintings were only humorous because it was out of context – plus he changed enough dialog that it wasn’t quite the same.

The difference between this and, say, a Jeff Koons, is that Goldman’s not making fun of Dave Kelly – Jeff Koons would turn the mawkish meter up to 11 when he parodied another piece – and it was legitimate parody.

This is just ripping shit off. Dave Kelly’s got great legal standing, IMO.

ugh what a loathesome little prick

I don’t think the Lictenstein defense works even for Lichtenstein. That artist blew up comic panels and copied every detail in the newsprint dots. These were exact replicas; Lichtenstein never credited the artists or comics he took the images from, and he made a mint while the original artists were left to obscurity.

As far as I’m concerned, Lichtenstein was a fraud just the same as Todd Goldman. I hope Dave Kelly sues him – it’s time to put an end to people stealing ideas from comics and exploiting artists that work a hell of a lot harder than the these thieves.

Lichtenstein aside, Goldman’s situation appears (to the untrained eye) far less defensible. Goldman is actively claiming that the work is his and came out of his own mind — any defense of “fair use” gets thrown out the window when you try to pass off someone else’s work as your own, unique creation.

That said, we have a wacky legal system where more expensive lawyers excel at allowing rich assholes to get away with things the rest of us don’t have a chance in hell of getting away with.

So I sent my email of protest… ‘it must be embarrasing to represent someone who can’t even plagiarise creatively’ and etc.

Don’t know if I’m pointing out the obvious here, but has anyone else noticed that Goldman’s stuff isn’t very good? Its really not – half the internet is doing that blocky, sloganised work better (toothpaste for dinner and exploding dog spring to mind).

Also – am I the only person who has noticed that he’s not actually funny? Slogans like ‘I understand, I just don’t care’ sound like the caption on a garfield coffee mug from 1983.

Lichtenstein was all about questioning barriers between high and low culture – he reappropriated images, and challenged people to think about their intrinsic value by juxtaposing the content (comics, low culture) with the medium (painting, high culture). Be fair on the man – in a weird, backwards way, he set the groundwork for appreciation of art in comics.

The best Goldman can offer is the juxtaposition of other people’s talent with his lack of it. The fact that he hasn’t thought up a good postmodern style way of plagiarising (a la Lichtenstein) is a fairly good indication that he’s just not smart enough.

Also – this from his first google hit:

Goldman says, â€œHow I speak is how I paint, the subject matter of my work is not serious, but I take the creation of it very seriously.â€?

Wonder who he got that line from…

I think Kris’ take hits the mark.

Fuck this guy. Use your platforms to raise a stink about this asshole. He’s the evolution of Ebaum.

[…] Gary Regarding yesterday’s story about Dave ‘Shmorky’ Kelly gettin’ ripped off, we can add the following: […]

Well, I just dropped a line to Juxtapoz magazine; they cover a lot of artists like Goldman – but those people are actually original – they have a big influence on the “lowbrow” art scene, and if they cover it, the galleries might avoid Goldman like the plague.

Everybody in webcomics ought to be mentioning this in his/her blog. NOW.

Hey! Will there be a Shmorky defense fund I could donate to? That would be a charity I would gladly donate to. I absolutely love Shmorky and I despise talentless hacks.

Hey, thanks for the emails, you guys.

“This Sucks.” Haha!

You know what? Let’s blog about it.

[…] This has already been covered elsewhere, but just in case there’s somebody who follows the TAC blog, who doesn’t read Fleen, Something Awful or Journalista, well, here you go. It appears that one of those “up and coming” street-cred-arrific t-shirt artists and gallery darlings has ripped off the Keenspot comic Purple Pussy — and maybe other webcartoonists, too. Don’t expect this one to die down quietly — it shouldn’t, at any rate. I’m all for recontextualizing, “appropriating,” and fair use, but those things only work when a). the original is well-known enough to serve as a cultural watermark, and b). the copy provides commentary on the original, or allows us to see something about it — or about its subject — in a new light. Like Kathy Acker’s “Great Expectations,” say. Or Gary Larson doing the Mona Lisa as a weinder dog. This, on the other hand, appears to be simple thievery for the sake of monetary gain. Let’s all hope that Dave Kelly gets his day in court, and takes the guy down. That is all. […]

Better yet, let’s make comics about it.

Strangely enough it appears that the listing for Golddigger has disappeared off of Jack Gallery’s homepage.

I want to add my voice to those protesting Todd Goldman’s obvious use of Liz Greenfield’s very cool “Binky the Fish” from her “Stuff Sucks” work. Goldman goes so far as to title his piece “This Sucks” – and that’s an understatement, where his ethics are concerned. Contact those galleries! This guy should not be encouraged to profit from the ideas of other artists, and hopefully with enough noise, no respectable gallery will touch “his” stuff!

i love my new bentley :)

and my girlfriend is hot as shit… suckers!

[…] Dear God This has already been covered elsewhere, but just in case there’s somebody who follows the TAC blog, who doesn’t read Fleen, Something Awful or Journalista, well, here you go. It appears that one of those “up and coming” street-cred-arrific t-shirt artists and gallery darlings has ripped off the Keenspot comic Purple Pussy — and maybe other webcartoonists, too. Don’t expect this one to die down quietly — it shouldn’t, at any rate. I’m all for recontextualizing, “appropriating,” and fair use, but those things only work when a). the original is well-known enough to serve as a cultural landmark, and/or b). the copy provides commentary on the original, or allows us to see something about it — or about its subject — in a new light. Like Kathy Acker’s “Great Expectations,” say. Or Gary Larson doing the Mona Lisa as a weiner dog. This, on the other hand, appears to be simple thievery for the sake of monetary gain. Let’s all hope that Dave Kelly gets his day in court, and takes the guy down. That is all. […]

[…] for historical context, read here and work your way […]

[…] The Great Todd Goldman/Dave Kelly Contretemps Of Aught-Seven took 30 days to shake out (from first report to press release that everything was […]

I have proof that Shmorky ripped off GARY LARSON of Far Side fame for this drawing. Not kidding.

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