Art Voyeur

Author Charles Swindoll Art Swindled By True Faith?

2009-07-12T03:34:00.000-07:00

Book cover art original (left); CD cover art (right)

You may not know Charles Swindoll, but the Philippine band True Faith does. Proof of this is the similarity of their cover art. With Charles, the evidence is his book cover. True Faith, on the other hand, has its CD cover. The anomaly here is that Charles' book was released two years before True Faith did their album. My friend pointed out the uncanny similarities of the usage of the colors red and black, the white backdrop and, of course, the rose image.

Pinoy Band Sandwich's Nahuhulog Single Similar To Jane's Addiction's Jane Says?

2009-07-10T05:13:00.000-07:00

In a press release for Sandwich in one of its albums, lead vocalist Raimund Marasigan was quoted to have said that they intended to have listening parties for their close friends before including new songs in any of their albums to make sure that their outputs have no similarity to any exisiting singles out there. He may be referring to music listeners' contention about their single Nahuhulog. The reference is Jane's Addiction's Jane Says song.

Pinoy Ako Theme Plagiarised From The Care's Chandeliers Single?

2009-07-10T04:33:00.000-07:00

The plagiarism contentions regarding Orange N Lemons' Pinoy Ako theme for the ABS-CBN 2 reality TV franchise Pinoy Big Brother have been circulating online for quite some time. To further sample the similarities of the song to the single Chandeliers of '80s band The Care, here's a mash up that Pinoy Rickey came up with. Click below for the music:

http://pinoy.rickey.org/wp-content/video/pinoy-ako-chandeliers-remix.mp3

Sport Illustrated Pictorial Imitated?

2009-07-10T03:56:00.000-07:00

FHM Phils. Cover (left); SI.com pictorial (right)

FleshAsiaDaily.com pointed out in its website how its readers noticed the similarity between a SportsIllustrated.com pictorial of sexy Jessica Gomes and FHM Philippines' cover pictorial of actress Aubrey Miles. SI.com, of course, was way ahead in executing the idea which gives the dilemma of knowing that the FHM Philippines cover pictorial is a rip off. Is it? You be the judge...

Band Rips Off Counting Crows Merchandise

2009-07-04T02:48:00.000-07:00

(top) The original art; (bottom) The alleged theft

The band Cute Is What We Aim For allegedly has its Rotation CD cover ripped off from Alphabet Arm Design's Counting Crows t-shirt merchandise. The CD was released in 2008 while the Counting Crows shirt designers produced their merchandise in 2004. The design agency alleges that the band or its reps contacted them for a possible design project for the band's next album. After much deliberation, the project didn't pull through. Then, later, lo and behold, Rotation.

TV Commercial Inspired by Illustrator Duo Kozyndan?

2009-07-04T00:58:00.000-07:00

(top) Original concept; (bottom) Commercial rip-off

It was reported online that Sony's Bravia TV ad Colour Like No Other was illegally inspired by illustrator tandem Kozyndan. The Play Doh stop-motion bunnies were apparently lifted from the Kozyndan team's panoramic illustration which predates the commercial. Click here to see the full illustration.

Coke Commercial Is Like Justice's Music Video

2009-07-03T14:43:00.000-07:00

LEFT: D.A.N.C.E by Justice (2007) original; RIGHT: Coke commercial (2009) similar in concept

Some of you might have seen this cooky music video last year wherein two headless guys (headless because the camera is on constant close up of their t-shirt area) walking around while moving graphics are featured on their plain-looking wardrobe. Fast-forward to 2009 and I saw this Coke (not that cooky anymore) commercial released in the Philippines with the same concept. It shows swimmer and actor Enchong Dee. See the commercial here. The moving graphics are not the same, of course, but the concept is the similar. Nothing overwhelmingly foul here but in the art community, originality still counts, unless Justice,the artist of the music video I mentioned (D.A.N.C.E. is the single) is acknowledged as inspiration. If they did already, then great. Let's drink Coke and get cooky.

Bourdin's Photographs Copied By Madonna

2009-07-02T05:52:00.000-07:00

Bourdin's photos (left); Madonna's Hollywood video (right)

Madonna was sued by the family of deceased artist Guy Bourdin for ripping off images from his work for her music video “Hollywood.”

She brazenly stole 11 pictures from his work and duplicated them for her video without permission or credit, only altering them slightly to hide the theft. Of course, she denied this, as she always does regarding these allegations, but a British newspaper reported that she was seen leaving the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, which housed Bourdin’s work, a week before she filmed the infringing video. The curator for the Bourdin exhibition, Charlotte Cotton, confirmed this information.

Earlier in the year she was quoted as saying his work is “so sick and interesting,” however, she denied any wrong doing in this case. Bourdin’s family won a settlement thought to be $638,000. The late artist’s son said of her, “It's one thing to draw inspiration; it's quite another to simply plagiarize the heart and soul of my father's work.” True, indeed, as that seems to be her trademark.

Compare for yourself. Here are 4 images from the 11 photos Madonna ripped off from Guy Bourdin's work for her music video "Hollywood." The similarities are terribly striking. They look like they came from the exact same shoot. Photos and info courtesy of the Smoking Gun and Aisha.

Riddick Ripped Off By Resiklo

2009-07-02T04:01:00.000-07:00

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO SEE CLEARLY.

When Resiklo, a movie by Filipino actor-producer Bong Revilla, Jr. came out in 2007, I was impressed that effort was made to make the film. However, when I finally saw it I smelled Riddick, the movie that starred Vin Diesel which was shown years earlier.

The plot is the same. Both movies have an alien race conquering planets. Both movies' villains are insecure that a chosen one among their conquered ones will emerge. Both have lead characters with reluctance to save mankind. Both villains have an ambitious next-man who has a seductive love interest who shares her lover's ambition to overthrow the lead villain. Both has a reformed villain. Both has the same plot of the alien race converting mankind into their own or suffer the consequence of termination. I can go on and on with the similarities, but who copied who is obviously not the issue. Riddick came out first. As a matter of fact, it's just a sequel to the movie Pitch Black which stars the same lead, Vin Diesel.

Kelly Clarkson Breakaway Rip Off

2009-07-02T02:10:00.000-07:00

This was years ago when I noticed that Kelly Clarkson's Breakaway CD design had been ripped off by an album designer in the Philippines. The album is by a young local diva named Sarah Geronimo. Notice that Kelly's CD title is Breakaway and Sarah's is Becoming. A case of the B? Then notice how the album cover pictorial and design had been tweaked a bit to distinguish from Kelly's but still managed to retain the lack of originality because of the pose. This brings me to realize that the pictorial for the album was also ripped off. The album sleeve image tries to mimic Kelly's ensemble and hairdo also. Both are clad in night gowns, has almost similar poses, hairstyles and identical backdrop design. The back cover of Sarah used a white gown maybe to veer away from the similarity with that of Kelly's in the same image which is black.

In real life, though, both are singing competition winners which may have brought Sarah Geronimo's management to assume that it's logical to copy Kelly Clarkson's CD design and pictorial.