Theft Within the Art Community Essay Example

The world of online art is an expansive landscape full of talent and creativeness. Social media platforms, like Instagram, give artists the capability to post their artwork and achieve an instant audience. However, this easy accessibility has left many artists exploited. Plagiarism is a serious issue that can lead to creative damage within the art community. 

Throughout any educational experience, it is engraved into students that it is wrong to take someone else’s words without proper recognition. Yet, art plagiarism is rarely discussed. The article, “Tips to Avoid Art Plagiarism Toward Becoming a Better Artist”, published by CIIT, provides some examples of how art is plagiarized. “Art theft isn’t limited to simple posting of others’ artwork. Tweaking it to make it look different is also an act of plagiarism...Even mere use of filters, changing of color, and adding of clip art or text are part of this poor practice.”

The Instagram Terms of Use, created by Facebook, claims that the site “does allow posting content that violates someone else’s intellectual property rights…” Nevertheless, this does not prevent the crime from happening. If someone were to draw a cartoon mouse in red shorts and yellow shoes and claim it as an original idea, it would be easy to dispute why it is not. The character Mickey Mouse might come to mind because he is an iconic character. Now let’s say someone finds an original character design from an unknown artist on Instagram. They like the idea so much they decide to take it. They retrieved his image from an art account with a small following, so it is easy to pass off as their own. Consequently, this person begins to receive praise and recognition which should have gone to the original creator. 

In addition to personal gain, one might also benefit financially from copying art. This can be especially frustrating for the “starving artist” who is trying to earn a living from their work themselves. The online marketplace for art has grown significantly in the past decade (Waelder). According to artist Nela Dunato, the issue is that anyone can create marketable products online, with any image, even unsolicited ones. “They might re-sell your work on web sites that offer various goods like posters, mugs, T-shirts, iPhone cases…”, Dunato writes. So, what if the art thief, referred to previously, began manufacturing t-shirts with the design they stole? They could contact the creator and ask to license the image for product use. Though, that could mean having to pay the artist. If they pilfer it, then they obtain all profit.

Conversely, there are nonmembers of the art community who might think that an artist would appreciate any kind of exposure and be grateful that their art is spread around. However, the stealing of art can result in low artist morale and damage the trust within the community. Carrie Brummer, who runs an artist support website says, “I conduct a lot of interviews… And I’m astounded by the number of artists who hold back from promoting themselves via social media… because ‘someone might steal my art.’” Another artist, Katie McKissick, who makes motivational comics, stated, “Not tagging me means that I don't get any new readers from this sharing of my work.” Both of these women provide examples of the fear of hesitation many artists have about social media like Instagram. The worry of being taken advantage of in a space where they should feel free creates a hostile environment. With little room for artistic expression.