More on OBEY

As a bit of a follow up to my post the other day regarding Shepard Fairey and his legal actions against one Baxter Orr it should be noted that he has come forward and explained the situation. Basically ole Baxter has been under the skin of the Obey team for some time and this was their chance to stick it to him.

But this whole thing does bring up a very interesting point - one that Art For A Change has written up quite a piece about. If Shepard Fairey's whole graphic design MO is plagiarism does he ever have any wiggle room to point the finger at others? Take these new book covers he just designed - I'd be willing to bet good money that a lot of the iconography used on it is 'borrowed' from old propaganda posters.

In the end it sort of begs the question - when are you crossing the line of stealing for your own designs and when are you just being inspired? I use my fair share of 'clipart' in designs but never strive to emulate an existing composition. Maybe the intent is the thing...