~JOSH HARRIS & MARK ENGER . . ‘GILLIGAN’ / BBB . . with a side of internet micro-theft (of my work)
without consent . . !!!
so, A-N-N-O-Y-I-N-G . . !!!
JOSH HARRIS . . of ‘WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’,
and, MARK ENGER (sadly departed for several years now) . . of EXPLODING SKY /
definite deserve a shout-out for calling out the ‘influence’ & media-power of 1960s sit-coms / & popular culture, but esp. of ‘GILLIGAN’S ISLAND’.
they most definite narrowed it down.
apparently, legendary PIMCO co-founder, billionaire BILL GROSS . . chose to repeatedly blast the theme song of ‘Gilligan’s Island’, loud enough, and long enough to disturb his warring over Gross’s large Chihuly glass installation neighbor – billionaire MARK TOWFIQ.
it’s also a potent hard fact occurrence of an even more annoying war . . the blatant theft of original content / i.e. intellectual property theft, specifically photo copyright – on the web.
and, it’s up-close & personal !!
very annoying. it’s most def micro=theft to the highest degree.
if I had a penny for every photo of mine that is circulated without permission, never mind basic photo credit . . I’d be a billionaire, too. or, well at least: sitting pretty.
if you google Josh Harris and Gilligan . . this ‘orphaned’ photo is what pops up:
and, yeah: of course . . it’s mine.
there’s really nothing worse; neighbor’s illuminated, over-size Chihuly glass installation aside, than doing some research and having your own photo pop up, without credit.
here’s the full / original photo.
the old iPhone camera ‘auto-focus’ & the angle . . are the dead give-away ‘signature’ of ownership.
that’s a DAVID PERRY painting on the left / and the JOSH HARRIS ‘Gilligan’ on the right.
JOSH HARRIS, ‘Gilligan’, 1998.
silkscreen on canvas / 20 x 16 in. / signed & dated / unique image on canvas.
made in collaboration with master silkscreen artist / MARK ENGER of EXPLODING SKY WORLDWIDE.
of course, the ‘appropriation’ of the Gilligan image itself / is also part of the problem, & we have to thank the art world, and the people who set up the early rules on internet posting / for creating a vast & commonly accepted culture of intellectual theft . . as part of the price of disseminating free . . information across the globe – with a flick of a finger.
and, a finger in the face – to the photog, who was smart enough to catch the image in the first place, & then maybe . . not so smart to post it.
JOSH HARRIS, photo by NANCY SMITH, NYC NOV 19, 2002
first published on artnet / in one of my very first reports for Walter Robinsn, then the artnet editor.
see: ART LOVERS NEW YORK / artnet . . FEB 2003
ps: includes the absolute first art world / public mention of the GEE’S BEND QUILTERS !!!!!
yep.
my earliest posted photo of JOSH HARRIS / founder of Jupiter.com / and Pseudo.com which was a streaming, real-time web platform, the first basically & even more astounding / at a time when most everybody was still on . . dial-up internet !!
his (rise & fall) story – is the basis for the 2009 Sundance-winning documentary . . ‘WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’.
note: when I first met Josh in the late 1990s, he wanted to learn about . . quilts !!
he was then at his (financial) peak, having sold Jupiter – the first online tracking company . . for $82 million.
and, he wanted advice on buying an American ‘heritage’ / antique quilt as a wedding present.
after a few tutorials, I brought him in an early $5,000 Mennonite wool / log cabin . . . which he was quite entranced by.
Gilligan ? not !!
including the background culture that gave birth to quilting / and specifically log cabins / how it was made and by whom /as well as its being an early settler American artifact, and a spiritual one at that / as well as, the whole over-all process of ‘sampling’ (textile piecework) & binary organizing systems / quilt patterns.
MARK ENGER, photo by NANCY SMITH, NYC. Nov 19, 2002.
this: photo of Mark Enger was in the same early artnet report /
see: ART LOVERS NEW YORK FEB 2003
MARK ENGER / R.I.P. 1963 – 2011
was an amazing amazing artist, and a real real cowboy. and a real real . . friend.
the absolute coolest guy, ever.
he was a diehard master silk screen printer . . who seriously, only ate peanut butter sandwiches, cigarettes, and coca-cola.
he bragged about never drinking water, and I never saw him use any filtration / inhalation masks, in the studio either.
not surprisingly, between the potent printer ink fumes & the diet, he left this earth . . way too early.
48.
see: MARK ENGER MEMORIAL / artlovers