Burrough’s Invite Controversy (+ poss. artwork thievery?)

March 30th, 2009

So those wacky over-privileged kids at Burrough’s created this over-the-top invite to an after-prom party.

With a theme of either “Lust” or “Sin” (I really can’t tell – maybe the theme is just “debauchery” or “we have no sense”) it features “satanic” imagery (a pentagram) and invites all “sinners” to come enjoy the fun. There was a minor brouhaha over the invite, and I think any reasonable observer would say that it really was not appropriate for a high-school audience, no matter the school in question.(I do love the defenders who say it’s more OK for Burroughs’ kids to do this, since they’re so smart and special and elite and need to blow off steam, darnit.)

But what really caught my eye was this cover image, which I recognized immediately as belonging to Marta Dahlig. Marta is a prolific Polish digital artist who contributes digital painting training materials & tutorials to many of the art magazines I read. This image belongs to a series of “Seven Deadly Sins” that she completed a few years ago, and I actually own a print of her image Vanity.

Marta’s popularity has skyrocketed in the last few years, and so I doubt that these kids could have afforded to license her work for use on this invitation (of course, they’re Burroughs’ kids, so who knows?)

If they didn’t license the work then they’ve stolen it. Is art thievery all part of the “sinners” theme of their prom? Perhaps there could be a few lessons learned here – one on using discretion in party-planning and in thinking things through before we go to print with them, and one on respect for copyright and other people’s artwork.

I’ve emailed a link to the PD story to Marta, and am interested to hear back from her whether the work is, in fact, licensed.

Mood : meh, it's Monday Music : Combichrist - Lying Sack of Sh*t

Filed under: art stuff, St. Louis Stuff | Comment (1)

One Response to “Burrough’s Invite Controversy (+ poss. artwork thievery?)”

Heidi on April 3, 2009 11:22 pm
I seriously love that you e-mailed the artist. Rich kids should have plenty of money to compensate her for their art theft.