Expecting Rain

I'd agree - I mean he's using these pulpy images of Asia - an opium den, a Buddhist monk, a cockfight, some yakuza-lookin dudes - that seem to play up to Western stereotypes of the Exotic Orient - and yet somehow this tony New York gallery describes them thus -
It would seem that he's keen to emphasize that he's using real-life, first-hand everyday phenomena - yet there's nothing everyday about the images we've seen so far (except Kitchenette, although what would he be doing in those dudes' apartment?). Is he having a laugh at the gallery's expense/sending up our expectations of what Asia is all about? Or is he looking to boost his Beatnik 'On The Road' creds/trying to live up to his Beat ideal of art as a spontaneous slice of life? Or is he trying to compensate for his shortcomings as an artist by implying the works are rough, ephemeral sketches captured in a stolen moment? It's all rather intriguing as usual. He must know the photos he's working from will become public knowledge. But he also seems to care about a Beat-inspired ideal of capturing a moment (this guy despises overdubbing) that in his own mind he falls short of.

Like many others who've posted here, I'm not a Dylan apologist, but remember that Dylan/Baez tour poster that caused such an uproar in March 65? You know, the one where neither management liked it because his name was higher, but hers came first etc.... the story's in the Baby Let Me Follow You Down book. Well also in that book, is Eric von Schmidt saying that he based his poster on a photo of Bob and Joan taken at the Club 47. He also said that he did the painting in a Toulouse Lautrec style. So this isn't anything new.

Drawn Blank was a series of images drawn by Dylan on the road, then later they were scanned and adapted for acrylics etc. With his new stuff, like Brazil or Asia, what we seem to have is Dylan painting in a similar way to EVS by using photos, rather than making sketches there and then and developing them back in the studio. If he's blatantly saying he didn't use photos or other "influences" that's another matter, but I haven't read anything to that effect.

When I first saw the Brazil and Asia series my first thought was that he'd captured the scenes while on tour, perhaps taken photos and worked on them afterwards. After all, if you're as famous as Bob Dylan you're hardly able to pull up a chair in an opium den and start sketching some woman, or do the same in the slums of Brazil. I was taken aback when I realised he'd used a photo for Opium though, but I guess since he's visited these places he can argue that he's reproducing them (photos) and weaving in his own interpretations based on his visits to these countries?

But going back to the Dylan/Baez poster, all I can say is that what Eric von Schmidt produced (based on a photo and influenced by Lautrec) is pretty fabulous and in its own way, quite unique. I'm lucky enough to own an original and it always makes me happy to look at it! I don't care if it's from a photo, it's beautiful.

Finally, Eric von Schmidt wasn't just a great guitarist and songwriter, but he was also an EXCELLENT painter and if he copied a photo to do that poster, is it really such a crime that Dylan did it too?

"quotation" and "borrowing" are as old as the hills in poetry, traditional songs, and visual art. There's no need to be an apologist for that. It's often a part of making art, that's all. Good grief, y'all.

Yes, Ursie, big black cars, but Military Police? Hmmm that's going a little far.

and rest assured if you did that to his work, he'd sue you

My opinion is that it's not a game, rather he feels he is entitled to do it. Similarly when he talks on NDH about "helping himself" to those records of those folks who were away .... he friggin stole them... but he says it like he was entitled to them.... as if he needed them more than the rightful owners.... and he said it all shamelessly

the paintings are marketed as things he saw on his trips to asia... well, I guess surfing the net while in asia must account for the sights he saw in asia...bwhahahaha

Just because things happen all the time, doesn't make it right.... I can think of many things that happen and have been going on for years but it certainly doesn't make it right.
and when someone puts quotations around something you know it's borrowed... you know it's not that person's original thought.... I promise you if I had to write a paper for school and I copied something verbatim but just changed the font, I would be plagiarizing.
That's cool to draw someone else's photos, but don't have your exhibit marketed as sights and interpretations of things you saw while in Asia.... that's bullshit...

people borrow all the time...borrow ideas, techniques, etc... great!!! These are pretty much exact drawn copies of other works... I guess bob's interpretation of the cock fight was exactly the same as the photographer's

Look at picasso... if he drew that cock fight photo, it would look completely different than the photo even though he got his ideas from it.... that's art....

this is just my opinion and I mean no disrespect to people who think otherwise. I just don't like that Bob gets away with stuff that others wouldn't... why are the rules different for him.... besides the fact he is the sexiest hottest fox on the planet....

Let's not confuse art with a term paper. I just think it's weird/intriguing the way the gallery's press release lauds the 'on the road' authenticity of the stuff--i'm still awaiting Meg's response--I can't imagine she'd justify it by saying 'It's All Good'.

ahahahahahahahaha that would be sooo ironic


Unfortunately though it is the same thing... the point is you have to cite your sources if you are selling your work at a major gallery and it is an exact copy of someone else's.... if it was interpreted from someone else's but looks different then you can pull that off, but usually in a museum or something, it tells the background of that piece and where it was interpreted from.... Bob's paintings are NOT interpretations of other photos...They are copies.... he just happened to add color in a few, and I happened to change the font used in the paper.... same idea.

It's cool to copy a painting as an art student in school... you see them all the time in museums sketching and painting and copying art hanging from the walls.... but it is for personal, private use, and they are not hanging it in a major gallery selling it for hundreds of thousands of dollars passing off each and every idea as his or her own as things they saw on multiple trips through a continent... Bob is NOT an art student regardless of how well of an artist you think he is or is not.
It's just very amateurish I think...

btw I love that you sent that letter!!! A-W-E-S-O-M-E

I'd feel a lot better if someone has gone and can tell us if the paintings had a plaque next to them explaining it and from where it's interpretations came... Like Opium.... Bob copied this right down to the color from blah blah blah... I wouldn't have an issue with it.... but I highly doubt credit was given where credit is due.... that only happens with Bob if the tables are turned and he is the one that got plagiarized.

I think you just wanted to say cock fight...two times.

So Meg at the Gallery might be shaking in her boots over the Opium one? How was the Hope Poster matter resolved? I guess the question was whether the AP photo used in the illustration fell under 'fair use' or whether its use required permission - but haven't been able to find out how it was resolved.

I wonder if Bob has bitten off more than he can chew in this case - I don't know enough about the conventions of how those in the visual arts cite sources - but it'll be interesting to see what happens.

I'm curious too, but I bet bob will come out just fine...as I said he gets away with it



cock fight cock fight

^^^see, I was right!

They updates the catalogue info on the Gagosian website - doesn't mean it's available though.
They just said to specify which color spine you want when ordering.
http://www.gagosian.com/publications/20 ... ia-series/

Oh, and ohhhh.... they added photos!
http://www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/201 ... /images/2/

Another one down:
http://www.life.com/image/tlp720230
http://www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/201 ... /images/3/

And another, thanks to Scott Warmuth.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/2358252690/
http://www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/201 ... /images/4/

Uh oh, i suspect all of the Bob Dylan "...series" that have been released will turn out to be "borrowed"

Yes, I suspect that for the Asia Series, they are.
For Brazil, who knows.
But the Drawn Blank Series were created after Bob's own drawings, for sure.

The snapfish link isn't working - http://www.snapfish.com/Life/fe/p/ext/l%20...%20ce~LIFECOM%5Eimage_id~50647158

Try this - will edit my previous post.
http://www.life.com/image/tlp720230

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appropriation_(art)- something I'm thinking about anyway

I'd encourage those interested in the pricey Gagosian catalog to order it soon. I suspect that it's going to be a collector's item.

Just to reset the link...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appropriation_%28art%29

The section on "appropriation and copyrights," especially concerning the Warhol suits, are of interest.

You think they're gonna pull it?