Some abject fool of an artist named Jack Mackie made a deal with the city of Seattle to embed an artwork called Dancers’ Series: Steps into a sidewalk back in 1979. Then a photographer named Mike Hipple went and did a logical thing; he took a photograph of a public sidewalk with the artwork in it. Now the nitwit fraudulent artist is suing him for using his artwork in a photograph! It’s jackasses like this Mackie dude that need to be put out of business. By this jerk’s reasoning I would have to pay royalties to all of the architects responsible for the design of every single building in the Manhattan skyline if I took a photograph of New York. Ridiculous! This fool is an insult to artists and intellectual property courts all over the country.
The only good thing about this Jack Mackie art is that people get to step on it.
I have an idea for a great photograph. Someone goes up to Seattle with a jackhammer for a 4:00 am dig-and-run operation then takes a photograph of the hole that’s left and its caption reads, ‘Please Fill This Hole.’
And this would be something to do to every public artwork attached to a moronic lawsuit like Mr. Mackie’s. Every time one of these lawsuits is filed, destroy the artwork. Eventually, corporate midgets like Jack Mackie will go away.
And another thing, Mr. Mackie, I recognize the concrete incorporated in your artwork on the sidewalk. It’s extremely distinctive. My uncle owns the mill that made that concrete and he will expect to be compensated for the use of his concrete in your public artwork. You owe him $600,000. He’s coming to collect. His name is Lou. Smile when you open the door.
Why am I not surprised the art in question is in Seattle? I travel the world photographing historical art and architecture and share it with Creative Commons licensing to encourage the appreciation and the study of art and history. But, when I went to Seattle to view an exhibit of Roman Art from the Louvre, I was unable to photograph practically any art in that town. I realize it is normal to prohibit photography of a touring exhibit but I had hoped to be able to photograph the permanent collection of antiquities at the Seattle Art Museum and some of the memorabilia at Paul Allen’s Science Fiction Museum but photography was prohibited practically everywhere I went. I figured it must be the result of Seattle’s proximity to Microsoft’s campus in Redmond. I always thought it was ridiculous for Microsoft’s image subsidiary “Corbis” to try to restrict reproduction rights of works in the public domain and this attitude must have permeated the atmosphere up there!