< chuckle >
So my $0.02:
1. Engraved portraits on paper money interest me as works of graphic art and examples of craft skill. Current US coins not so much, both because I tend not to be so interested in sculpture and because these particular examples of it don't do much for me. YMMV.
2. As for the "I'm Lifting the Images of Statesmen from Currency and Recontextualizing Them by Printing Them Big and Dark as a Commentary on Today's Society" schtick: OK, thanks, got it. Meh.
I bet he sells more than a few of his $1000 inkjet prints.
He is photographing an object, not that different from a car, plane or automobile many here rave about. Now it's a sin.
His print is of a common coin, people are common too. Does he need a model release from Uncle Sam?
The question is, does he now have an exclusive copyright on his image, style and execution?
If I exactly emulate his work and sell it outside on the sidewalk close to him for $100, does he have a legal beef?
I will use my own coin, which will be different. What if I use a mint Proof coin without blemish?
Does counterfeiting come into the problem? Especially with paper money...
Stamps...
Tin Can
Long time ago when I took an intro photography course in college we were told that images of other art work (statues and the like) did not count and were off limits as subject matter for the purpose of grading.
I have come to look on that attitude as a bit short-sighted because the photographer can interpret the artwork/statue or can record it as a record, in a documentary sense and still produce a valid photograph. Case in point, there is a sculpture on that very same campus which consists of several figures. I became intrigued with the interplay between the figures and subsequently photographed it/them in my own interpretation. And to this day I feel that it's completely valid as a photograph. It captures what I felt when I looked at the sculpture just as another photograph might hopefully capture what I felt when I looked at a mountain or a landscape. I will agree that it is a very fine line. And I have seen other sculpture since then that I have felt very drawn to and would have liked to photograph. But I have always been careful to give credit to the original artist.
And what of architecture?
You might like to read about the artist J.S.G. Boggs, who drew very detailed, but modified, versions of US paper currency, and whose art included the performance of attempting to get people to accept them in place of legal tender at the cash value he'd drawn (he was explicit that they were works of art he'd drawn, not real money, but the Treasury got very agitated anyway). There is a book by Lawrence Weschler called "Boggs: A Comedy of Values," an expansion of a New Yorker article, which was excellent and hilarious. The article is not freely available online (a bit ironic), but a review of the book: https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...31/society.art and Boggs's obituary: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/a...oggs-dead.html
I have heard of Boggs and his adventures.
I believe that all copy machines recognize USD paper money and will not make an exact copy or refuse to do it.
A quick search brings this up. Here’s Why Your Scanner Freaks Out If You Try To Copy Money
And this. 100 Dollar Bill Real Money from Amazon...https://www.amazon.com/slp/100-dolla...rrvdhd9gwuo9c4
Getty Images sells them too. Coins, https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/c...rt=mostpopular
I had no idea this simple little TV show would lead to all this.
Tin Can
Getty will sell 16mb quarter image for $500.
https://www.gettyimages.com/purchase...ateAddedToCart
Not so artistic...
Tin Can
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