One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Bitter Origami Lawsuit: Artists Claim Painter Took Their Designs Without Credit
From Lang's website: His crease patterns on left, Morris's paintings on the right
In the world of art, does copyright for origami patterns matter? A group of renowned origami artists are suing a painter, accusing her of copyright infringement by adapting their design for her works. But the painter, Sarah Morris, claims using found images is an accepted practice, "Whatever you think of, say, Warhol, Lichtenberg, Rauchenberg, imagine you lost all of that work. Imagine that wasn’t there in the 20th century. That’s what would happen, you know?"
The origami artists like Robert Lang (whose website offers examples of the alleged copyright infringement, such as above) have created crease patterns to fold origami into fanciful shapes. KPCC describes them: "Picture a square grid full of crisscrossing lines and overlapping shapes. A crease pattern looks like a graph in an algebra textbook or abstract painting." And that's what inspired Sarah Morris to take crease patterns from Lang—and Manuel Sirgo Alvarez, Noboru Miyajima, Nicola Bandoni, Toshikazu Kawasaki, and Jason Ku—and paint them—here's a PDF of the patterns and paintings.
Morris argues that it's fair use: "Now of course a painting is inherently, phenomenologically not a piece of paper. You cannot fold a painting. So it’s almost like setting up the viewer with an impossible task." However, Lang, who published a book of his patterns, says his friends recognized the designs as his, "The copyright law says artists get to decide how their work is used. And that is not happening here." Also, he points out that he and the other artists first asked Morris to acknowledge their copyright back in 2009.
The lawsuit against Morris (PDF) was re-filed late last year. One of the most famous "artists" who "reappropriate" others' works is Richard Prince, who basically photographs other people's photographs and sells them for premium. In 2011, a California judge ruled that Prince had infringed upon the copyright of one photographer.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
