Appropriation and/or Doctorin' the Moss

I was going to write about appropriation in art but instead I stole the following text from some on-line "newspapers":

Playboy magazine are suing Harper’s Bazaar for allegedly using photographs of Kate Moss dressed as a ‘bunny girl’ without permission.
In the court documents, issued by Playboy Enterprises International to the fashion magazine’s publishing house Hearst, it is claimed that the editors at Harper’s Bazaar not only posted a photograph of Moss dressed in its trademark Playboy bunny ears and leotard online without consent, but the publication also linked to a feature published on a separate website with nine copyrighted nude images of the star embedded within it. People who clicked on the link to see the rest of the “decidedly not safe for work images” were then led to a website called “entertainment.ie,” which read, “Save yourself a fiver. Here’s Kate Moss’ NSFW spread from Playboy.” 

Harper's owner “Hearst's link to the Entertainment.ie website page cannot be justified by any suggestion that Hearst was reporting the news of Ms. Moss's appearance in the 60th Anniversary Issue,” the suit says. While Playboy “welcomed the media's reporting and discussion of its images,” Hearst “well exceeded the bounds of mere news reporting” in a flagrant bid “to attract and drive Internet visitor traffic,” the suit says. Both links are now gone, but Playboy is still fuming about the purloined pix. It wants $150,000 for each “infringed work.”
The 18-page series was shot by acclaimed fashion photographers Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. Editorial director Jimmy Jellinek said of the anniversary issue “Having Kate Moss, a global icon and the most important supermodel of the past 25 years, appear on our cover makes this issue the perfect way to launch Playboy's next 60 years.” Editor-in-chief Hugh Hefner added: “From its beginning, Playboy has stood for freedom of speech, freedom of choice and freedom of the press. I am so proud to celebrate this anniversary as the magazine continues its mission to promote these core values many decades later.”

Representatives at Harper’s Bazaar are yet to issue a statement with regards to the suit.

So ... 60 years of Playboy, starting with Marilyn - the most famous bunny of them all - which led me on a visual ride past (amongst others) Andy, Banksy, Bowie, the Queen and finally the Postal Service, Jimmy and the KLF:

Got me thinking ... freedom of speech and really ...

... what is appropriate?









Appropriated ...


  
How do you see the world? 
I see us addicted and appropriated

Be ready to ride the big dipper of the mixed metaphor. Be ready to dip your hands in the lucky bag of life, gather the storm clouds of fantasy and anoint your own genius. Observe. Slow down. Shoot. Submit!