(Related to this post http://hedcuts.blogspot.com/2009/10/jose-maria-cano-is-con-artist-he-uses.html )
A wild ride to say the least.
I don't know what if anything will come out of this case, or if we'll ever hear from Mr. Cano himself, but I'm glad I raised the question and exposed yet another form of artistic manipulation. In fine art world, you might say it's nothing new, but it's a unique case taking in consideration all aspects and players.
Again, I have no legal claim to my artwork in this case, but I DO hold the moral ownership, which is why I'm talking about it. I'm absolutely humbled by how many of you are able to view this from my perspective and I thank you very much for your emails and comments. Looks like I made some valuable friendships out of this whole thing, and that makes me a winner already!
The naysayers don't phase me a bit. My art speaks for itself, end of story. I make a decent living because I take great satisfaction in what I do and never for a moment have I taken my job for granted. I've been perfecting my own style within the technique, for over 20 years. I regularly have more work than I can handle and my numerous clients can attest to that so no, I don't need more publicity. But, the point in this case is not whether you like me as a person or not, or whether you like my drawings or not. If that's all you're going to talk about, you're completely missing the point. And, the point is:
How closely does Mr. Cano's Obama resemble an illustration of mine?
He has cleverly made "series" of these paintings which he displays as a group in his solo exhibitions, like the one named "The Wall Street 100" (Funny, how all of you who claim that he credited the Journal in the title, failed to notice that the title has no "Journal" in it!!) there are series named "Welcome to Capitalism", "China Ten" etc. Now take one of the pieces out of this context, and place it in a group PORTRAIT show, for example:
http://www.21cmuseum.org/museum/exhibits/identity-street.aspx
I find this particularly upsetting.
Once more, I'm getting nothing out of this affair, especially not money, but would you like to know how much these pieces are going for? Check this tidbit out. It involves another of my drawings, that of Queen Elizabeth II
http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=33971
http://oneartworld.com/artists/J/Jos_E9-mar_EDa+Cano.html
As one commentator pointed out, the fact that many of you are so divided on this issue, just proves there could be some wrongdoing involved. Too bad we might never find out.