DC's totally in denial
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DC Comics has threatened a Manhattan art gallery with legal action if the gallery does not take down a display of risqué watercolor paintings depicting gay fantasies involving Batman and Robin.
The New York Post reports that DC Comics has asked the Kathleen Cullen Fine Arts gallery to cease and desist from showcasing artist Mark Chamberlain’s work. DC Comics has also demanded that an art Web site, artnet, remove Chamberlain’s portraits as well. Some of the paintings have already found buyers, with a starting price of $200.
The paintings show Batman and Robin in several semi-naked, homoerotic poses. These paintings include an untitled piece that shows Batman and Robin sharing a passionate tongue kiss, one titled Robin’s Baby Pictures that depicts Robin lying on his stomach and baring his rear end, and one titled Pin Up, which shows Batman shirtless, lounging like a porn magazine model.
“DC Comics wants me to hand over all unsold work and the invoices for the sold work," Cullen told Artnet News.
According to Artnet, conflicts over the use of commercial or cartoon imagery in fine art is not uncommon. For example, both Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg were sued by photographers for copyright violations, and both settled. In a similar case, artist Jeff Koons took his case all the way to the Supreme Court, and lost. The Walt Disney Co. brought an infringement suit against Dennis Oppenheim for using small statuettes of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck in his sculpture Virus, with an end result that the artist was forbidden to sell the work but allowed to exhibit it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
well....besides the whole copyright issue.....total denial
DC Comics has threatened a Manhattan art gallery with legal action if the gallery does not take down a display of risqué watercolor paintings depicting gay fantasies involving Batman and Robin.
The New York Post reports that DC Comics has asked the Kathleen Cullen Fine Arts gallery to cease and desist from showcasing artist Mark Chamberlain’s work. DC Comics has also demanded that an art Web site, artnet, remove Chamberlain’s portraits as well. Some of the paintings have already found buyers, with a starting price of $200.
The paintings show Batman and Robin in several semi-naked, homoerotic poses. These paintings include an untitled piece that shows Batman and Robin sharing a passionate tongue kiss, one titled Robin’s Baby Pictures that depicts Robin lying on his stomach and baring his rear end, and one titled Pin Up, which shows Batman shirtless, lounging like a porn magazine model.
“DC Comics wants me to hand over all unsold work and the invoices for the sold work," Cullen told Artnet News.
According to Artnet, conflicts over the use of commercial or cartoon imagery in fine art is not uncommon. For example, both Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg were sued by photographers for copyright violations, and both settled. In a similar case, artist Jeff Koons took his case all the way to the Supreme Court, and lost. The Walt Disney Co. brought an infringement suit against Dennis Oppenheim for using small statuettes of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck in his sculpture Virus, with an end result that the artist was forbidden to sell the work but allowed to exhibit it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
well....besides the whole copyright issue.....total denial