Gay Batman Gets Cease + Desist from Joker...

post + image :

http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2005/08/artnet_news_aug.html

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via Artnet News<http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/news/artnetnews/artnetnews=
8-18-05.asp>,
Aug. 18, 2005<http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/news/artnetnews/artnetnews8-=
18-05.asp>
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"GAY BATMAN" ARTIST GETS "CEASE & DESIST"*
*D.C. Comics* has hit a Chelsea art dealer with a "cease & desist" letter=

for exhibiting *Mark Chamberlain*'s watercolors on a "gay Batman" theme. Th=
e
works, which were exhibited at *Kathleen Cullen Fine Art* this spring (wher=
e
they found ready buyers at prices ranging starting at $200), include images=

of Batman and Robin exchanging a kiss, a watercolor titled *Robin's Baby
Pictures* depicting the Boy Wonder's cute rear end, and a rendering of the=

Caped Crusader, sans shirt but otherwise in costume, striking a languorous=

pose. "D.C. Comics wants me to hand over all unsold work and invoices for=

the sold work," exclaimed dealer Kathleen Cullen (the gallery was formerly=

named *Artek Contemporaries*). "I've spent the last two weeks of my life
consulting lawyers!" (Some works are also posted on Artnet, which has
received a similar letter.)

The use by fine artists of mass-market and commercial cartoon imagery goes=

back decades – both *Robert Rauschenberg* and *Andy Warhol* were pursued b=
y
photographers for copyright violations (the artists tended to settle),
and *Jeff
Koons* famously litigated the *String of Puppies* case all the way to the=

Supreme Court (he lost). The *Walt Disney Co.* brought an infringement suit=

against *Dennis Oppenheim* for using small statuettes of Mickey Mouse and=

Donald Duck in his sculpture *Virus*, with mixed results – the artist was=

forbidden to sell the work but allowed to exhibit it. *Karen Finley*'s 1999=

book, *Pooh Unplugged*, a rather scatological version of the children's
classic, forestalled a similar lawsuit by labeling the book "a parody" on=

its cover. The issue is a hot one – more recently, artists including *Tom=

Sachs* and *Damien Loeb* have been touched by copyright (and trademark)
disputes. Stay tuned.