A video, released online yesterday and since removed, purportedly depicts artist Richard Prince burning one of the five still disputed Canal Zone pictures that were challenged in court by photographer Patrick Cariou.  While Prince had won the case for the majority of the works in the series, Graduation, the work depicted in the film, was still under consideration for not being fully “transformative.”  Cariou had originally sued to have the works destroyed.  In the video, Prince is quoted as saying “to them this stands for money,” before having an assistant douse the work in gasoline and light it on fire. (more…)

Comparison between the two artist’s works, via Art Newspaper

A U.S. Court of Appeals judge has ruled that the majority of works in Richard Prince’s Canal Zone series, which appropriated photographs of Rastafarians by Patrick Cariou, are “transformative,” and therefore not an infringement on the copyrights for the original photographs.  The decision overturns a 2011 Disctrict Court ruling, which had ordered that 21 of the 30 works which had not yet been sold be turned over to Cariou to destroy. (more…)