D*Face, the London based graffiti artist, is accusing artist brothers Jake and Dinos Chapman of stealing his idea. The Chapman brothers have been busy at this year’s Frieze Art Fair doodling skulls over Queen Elizabeth’s face on patrons’ £10 and £20 banknotes. D*Face insists that he came up with this same idea years ago.
Have a look for yourself of the original and offending images posted on D*face’s website:
D*face told the Independant in the article “Graf Artist Says Chapmans Stole Idea” Oct. 15, 2007:
“I did a project in 2003 where I got £20 notes and defaced them before putting them back in the system. There were 20 variations of hand drawings and printing techniques in which the monarchy is satirised, with images of the Queen being hung, having her head chopped off. Last April, I marked her 80th birthday by showing her dead, with a skull and crossbones,” he said.
D*Face added he had also pasted 5ft posters of the Queen’s defaced image on a £20 around Whitechapel, including Fournier Street, where the Chapman Brothers have a studio space. He also left flyers of the same image in nearby shops and at the Truman Brewery, where he rents a studio.
After witnessing the Chapmans in action at the Frieze, he is now considering taking legal action. “I’m annoyed. It is a blatant rip-off,” D*Face said yesterday.
“It seems that inspiration for the Chapman Brothers’ latest work pays more than a striking resemblance to mine. But it’s just not as good and two years later. These are mainstream artists stealing from sub-cultural artists.”
“I wouldn’t have minded if they had contacted me, like Banksy did in 2005 when we collaborated to create an image of Lady Diana instead of the Queen on a £10 note,” he added.
“Obviously artists are influenced by each other but there has to be a line drawn between influencing and stealing.” Jake Chapman, however, yesterday put up a robust defence of the Frieze project, saying that he and his brother had been “defacing” work since 1991.
“Drawing on money is as original as graffiti and that is as old as the Caves of Lascaux. It’s not a great revelation to draw on money. It’s not original. What’s interesting is that because it’s unoriginal, it’s authorless.
“No one can claim ownership of it. It’s strange for someone to claim authorship of graffiti which is by its very nature an avoidance of the notion of authorship,” he said.”
Here’s what D*face had to say about it himself on his own website: Continue reading →
