Usually artists who plagiarise are not so blatant nor so blasé. This Czech artist not only admits to copying the work of others to use as his own, but he defends his actions. There have been a number of plagiarism cases in the last few years, mostly dealing with the printed word. I do not know if there is more of this going on or,  with internet search engines, it is much easier to track such things down.

I am troubled by the hint - the whiff - that this sort of activity is becoming just a bit more acceptable. This fellow keeps doing the deed (and people across the world are buying his work). Authors caught with plagiarised segments in their books or essays or articles - after a hue-and-cry - go on to publish other materials. And get accorded reviews and interviews.

Plagiarism no longer seems the taboo it once was.

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pla·gia·rizeverb \ˈplā-jə-ˌrīz also -jē-ə-\pla·gia·rizedpla·gia·riz·ing

 
Definition of PLAGIARIZEtransitive verb: to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own : use (another's production) without crediting the sourceintransitive verb: to commit literary theft : present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarize

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Artist defends copied artwork

Prague painter defends the use of other people's ideas in his works

photo Walter Novak

Hospodářský, who has sold paintings online to American, British and Canadian buyers, has found himself the subject of an international art scandal. "Painting, it's a mystery, and I'm its follower," he says on his website.

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A Prague-based painter is at the center of an international art scandal after he was caught stealing ideas from other people's images and selling the work online.

Marek Hospodářský, whose oil paintings sell for as much as $1,200 (23,000 Kč), has admitted he regularly copies the work of other artists to create his own pieces.

"I look for inspiration in photographs, or maybe something from films, the Internet or wherever. And then I try to elaborate on the piece, do something more with it," Hospodářský explains from inside his art studio in the middle of Prague.

His plagiarism was first uncovered in July when an Australian art dealer recognized that a Hospodářský print titled Bird, which was advertised in a catalog, looked remarkably similar to a photograph by award-winning Australian photographer Petrina Hicks.

It took several weeks to track the artist down to his home studio in Prague 7-Letná.

After numerous interview requests via e-mail, he finally agreed to talk about his artwork, with the help of his teenage son who acted as an interpreter.

Hospodářský creates his canvases in a studio that occupies a sizeable room directly above the family's flat on the fifth floor of a residential apartment block. The 44-year-old boasts he can produce an artwork within three days, but says most of his pieces take one or two weeks to complete, or sometimes even up to a month.

(more)

http://www.praguepost.com/news/14220-artist-defends-copied-artwork.html