Have you been following Jeff Koons's latest legal battle? He is suing San Francisco's Park Life gallery for copyright infringement for selling balloon dog bookends in their store. William McGeveran has an excellent article at Capital about Koons's history as a defendant in copyright cases that illustrates the hypocrisy of his claim. The response on Park Life's blog to Koons's lawyer's cease and desist letter sums up the absurdity:
“Wait, I’m confused, isn’t his ENTIRE FUCKING CAREER based on co-opting other peoples' work/objects?”
You decide…
How to Make a Balloon Dog via Parents.com
Are Koons's lawyers (Park Life calles them goons) prepared to shut down the clown at your child's birthday party?
In other what-is-art news, I just watched Bansky's new film "Exit Through the Gift Shop." It is a riotous Mobius strip of a movie, and it has a clever piece of dog street art in the trailer. Highly recommend.
BTW, I didn't realize The Onion uncovered Banksy's identity last summer. Wow.