Your appropriation of Alex’s flames is tacky and doesn’t reflect well on you.

I often us parts of objects, signs, graffiti, from other places in my work as appropriation is not considered outright theft in art these days. I feel differently about this use though as it is a part of Alex’s branding and he should have been asked. The other thing is I think his “contribution if you will” totally overtakes the photography. The strength of the colors and the force and passion of his paint strokes overwhelm the serenity of the photo. I like the photo very much and i like Alex’s body of work as the message is Alex but they do not go together it creates discordance.

Hi Janna, Dan, thanks for your comments. If it wasn’t clear this is just a conceptual sketch and I have in fact asked Alex for his permission. I do a lot of collaborative work, and I had no intention of staking ownership over his imagery.

I appreciate the point you’ve made about discordance, as that in fact is what I was going for. For more context, the photo is from a beach scene in Portugal, a country which has been hit hard by the financial crisis (stemming from overseas banks of course), yet has also organised inspiring grassroots resistance to it. In my mind, it also speaks ironically to the blissful nature with which “we” confront this crisis, often as ignorant, passive, spectators…