Art Thief Perplexed – IOTW Report

Art Thief Perplexed

“I didn’t know I was doing anything wrong. I saw it on Instagram and didn’t know who did it.”

So, then it’s yours, right? You friggin idiot.

Edition-

Shortly after Devins finished the mural last Friday, criticism began bubbling up online. People accused him of copying the image from Rhode Island art student Gelila Mesfin, who had posted a nearly identical portrait of Michelle Obama on Instagram last year.

Chris Devins' mural is based on a work by Galila Mesfin that was based on a photo by Collier Schoor.

Shortly after Devins finished the mural last Friday, criticism began bubbling up online. People accused him of copying the image from Rhode Island art student Gelila Mesfin, who had posted a nearly identical portrait of Michelle Obama on Instagram last year.
News of the mural’s existence came as a huge surprise to Mesfin, too.
“How can you just steal someone’s artwork… someone’s hard work and claim it like it’s yours…” she wrote Saturday in an Instagram post.
“How can you go on record and say you designed this… this is so disheartening and so disrespectful on so many levels…” Mesfin added. “It’s one thing to share or even profit from someone’s work but to claim it as yours is just wrong!”
In an interview Tuesday with CNN, Devins denied any wrongdoing. He said he didn’t know who Mesfin was prior to last week and only learned of her artwork after someone on Instagram notified him of her accusations.
“I credited Ms. Mesfin for her work immediately. I’ve taken the heat and will gladly do so as long as the kids have a mural they can look up to,” he said.
ht/ illustr8r

45 Comments on Art Thief Perplexed

  1. The “image depicts…as an Egyptian queen”. I see the left still refuses to believe OR is trying to change history; ATTENTION LEFTISTS: Egyptians used sub-Saharan Africans as slaves NOT royalty! Sorry to burst your bubble, but this alleged art depicts “cultural appropriation” (I’m sure you recognize your own term).

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