Post #8095 by TikiGuy on Wed, Sep 11, 2002 12:47 PM

"Ethics in Tiki and Lounge" sounds like a great first year course at University of Swank.

Voltaire said, "If thing has been said and said well, then plagiarize it." I'm not sure if he had Shag in mind or visual arts in general. However I have used Voltaire's quote in my defence on writing issues a few times, always succesfully too.

I digress...

The point to me is really caveat emptor, buyer beware. If it is a knock-off pretending to be the original, then its your problem to see it for what it is and choose your course of action.

Is it right for others to do knock-offs? No. Worki influenced by others? Fine, all work is influenced from somehwere, as previously stated.

Some of the pieces mentioned I would buy. Not because they are an ode to Shag or anything, but because I see artisitic merit in them for myself. I don't know what's art, but I know what I like. I like to think of them as being from a school of art/design of which Shag is a major proponent.

Would I not buy a piece of abstract work from anyone but Picasso? Of course not. Like I could afford to!

So, that's my stance on this issue. Reproductions and re-issues are a whole other story, but nonetheless come under buyer-beware.