ISO50 and Soviet Posters
September 4th, 2008 by aerosolos
Recently i saw a post here about the album cover of a portuguese band, that has language and colour matching iso50 work, but in my opinion wasn’t a rip of his work, its more a inspiration than a rip, and i decided to make this post to show you a piece of soviet propaganda, that i had in my library, i’m a huge fan of this art and i know the work os iso50 also, so i just let you decide what this is….
The Soviet Propaganda
ISO50 “workers”
(47 votes, average: 4.23 out of 5)
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Very clearly a rip. How can he even claim that as his work?
get the fuck out of here with that bullshit.
Let me guess, you going to go after Shepard Fairely for all his shit to?
as a designer i call bullshit to this. public domain, especially old school soviet posters, are legitamate sources to use in your art.
word up jpod
No i wont go after anyone, i ain’t attacking anyone, this post is a response to other post, has i said. If the other work as a rip of iso50 work, so what do you call this, i dont care if is old material +50 years with no copyrights, whatever, my point is: you cant create things from nothing….the ideas always come from something, or someone, the way you work them makes the diference…
Public domain or not, he didn’t even do anything unique w/th the piece. He just cut the figures out of the background. How is it an ISO50 piece vs. anyone else w/ cut/paste capabilities? At least Shepard put his own spin on stuff.
Yah, it’s not theft, but it’s not something one would put in their portfolio either. Unless you applying to be a professional tracer.
Rip? Technically, no. Most propaganda posters are public domain.
Lazy and unimaginative? Hell yes. I would not even use the word “inspiration” here.
Public Domain. Conversation over. If anyone posts a comment after this they are fucking retarded.
This was supossed to be an discussion, not a war, chill, let people express their opinion, the main issue was not over public domain but inspiration.
ditto Jpod
If yer planning on going after that, then you better plan on investing in some serious industrial size horse blinders. Besides the aformentioned Shepard Fairey, I doubt you can find ANY shirt company that doesn’t sample on some level.
Plus, theoretically speaking, where does the public domain on that stop? I’m sure there’s all kinds of industrial age and medieval artisans that are rolling in their graves right now over all those heraldic and Victorian vomit shirts seen on every jock, hockey mom and child these days.
Also given his blog, I think Iso is pretty upfront about his sources and I’m sure gives his audience the same benefit of doubt.
It is public domain and also incredibly disrespectful, lazy, immature (insert own derogatory adjective here). So while they are Class A douchebags for using it in the fashion they did, there is no legal recourse that can be pursued. Unfortunate, but true.
Graffiti is public domain, copy that!
Wake up!
Graff is not public domain, well at least in Australia esp if it is a mural…
But the example in this post is cut and paste…had it been one element of the pic then ok…. ripping is not about just legality but about artistic merit… if he made them for him self…cool, when you make it as a salable piece of work then it better be worth it…
yes most clothing comp do this and thats why they cop shit on this site and why anyone with taste dosnt wear them..
aerosolos made a point PERFECTLY..
and stonewall…..?
oh and on a personal note jpod… that is bullshit..
As a designer, yes public domain blah blah blah but there is a difference between using something in your work, and making something an entire work. Not necessarily a legal difference, but I sort of use this sort of thing as a litmus test for what I am personally ok with in my own work.. How easy would it be for someone else to do the same thing, and have taken enough of a departure from the source material for it to be considered “mine”? I feel it makes my work better and helps avoid these sorts of embarassments.
I take issue with Shepard Fairey as well. I honestly respect his work less because of it, and how it capitalizes on the ignorant. There is great inspiration everywhere. The internet has made the entirety of design history into our generation’s Dover clipart. Yes it’s helpful, but don’t let it be a crutch!
@ ren
zzzzzzzzzz
This sort of thing only rears it’s head when people actually have seen the original. Many of you could own something which has had the same treatment and never know. Yea it’s lazy but it is certainly not un-common.
Look up others in the same field, SSUR has practically made a career of it. Check his Arkitip 7″ and then type propaganda posters into Google, he did nothing at all really to that, same colours and everything. Oh and even the cover he did was a famous Japanese painting. Yea Shepherd Fairey has done it too, I recall him having comparisons drawn to using work that FUCT had done (the ultimate insult I guess, copying a counterpart) but in the fact of the matter is the FUCT graphics were not original concepts either, they were redoing old book covers, posters, albums etc too.
Where does it stop and where are the rules on what you should and shouldn’t do.
Frankly I’m not down on directly lifting art straight of the page (or net I’m sure) but it does happen and if you don’t like just call them out or don’t support them. In todays information driven society it’s easy to steal idea but increasingly hard to cover them up.
“In todays information driven society it’s easy to steal idea but increasingly hard to cover them up.”
Really good point…
what if i trace it too from soviet poster. print it on longsleeve shirt in white. and sell it. will nobody be angry? who will?
What if the designer thought that this old soviet poster was AMAZING….
and by re-contextulising the artwork it would let people see it that wouldn’t have normally have come in contact with it…
Maybe he isn’t trying to “claim” for his own work…
Peter Saville is one of the most well respected graphic designers and almost all his early work used appropriated imagery…..
dam… im a big fan of scott hanson/iso50, i’ve even got a couple of his shirts, not this one though.
i agree with those that said that it is pretty lazy and unimaginative, which is a shame, coz he usually does really good work.
http://blog.iso50.com/?p=1863/#comment-23096
George, unless the artist attributes his source, he is allowing the people who “wouldn’t have normally have come in contact with it” to assume the work is his own. And then he makes money off it. How much of his other stuff have you not seen the original source of?
Wake up, people — ALL of ISO50’s work is other people’s stuff with day-glo colors and a couple of rainbows added.