When Is Artist-On-Artist Theft Okay?

This post originally appeared on artnet News.
Brian Boucher

Jamian Juliano-Villani, Animal Proverb, 2015,
acrylic on canvas, 36 by 24 inches.

New York artist Jamian Juliano-Villani is being accused by another artist of having sticky fingers. Brooklyn’s Scott Teplin sees too much similarity between a small painting by Juliano-Villani, now on view at West Village gallery Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, and a painting of his own.

It all started with a peeling mural on the wall of Brooklyn public school PS130, which Teplin’s kids attend. Quoting John Lennon in block letters above some Miró-like abstract shapes, the mural read, “Imagine all the people living life in peace.” Teplin repainted the text in 2013 with 3D-modeled letters, some of which are painted to look as though they were made from glass and partly filled with water. (The original mural was painted by the school’s art teacher, Gerry Moorhead, who was once included in a Metro Pictures group show. Teplin left the Miróesque section untouched.)

Juliano-Villani Instagrammed a picture of the mural a few weeks ago, without identifying Teplin. Soon after, she posted an image of a detail of her own painting, Animal Proverb, which shows a busty, sphinx-like creature sitting atop a plinth decorated with the Miró-like iconography, above which are the John Lennon lyrics mentioned above in block lettering half-filled with water in the style of Teplin’s mural. This is where Teplin drew the line, claiming the lettering was lifted from his own work.

But the row highlights the varying takes on what’s proper by artists of different generations, and pits an artist on the rise against an artist who’s been in the trenches for well over a decade.

“I like some appropriation art,” Teplin told artnet News via phone. “I don’t do it myself. But where do you draw the line? I don’t want money from her. But this feels bad.”

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