Artists Using Doll Likenesses without Crediting [Mijn Schatje discussion]

Yeah, I agree Leloi... she uses the word "dollfie" as a generic term to name her font of inspiration... and at least she does this, never claiming she creates these faces by herself!
I once saw her drawing a CP Soony inspired by a photo she saw earlier, the doll was a model as cat could be... her hand was making a portrait of her face, but unlike MS she wasn't stealing anything, tracking or so... just creating something inspired by a beautiful face.... and she always admited that her models where "dollfies"

Now, I can try to let her know, that it would be nice, if possible, to put the actual name of the molds, but I don't think it's that necessary as it was with MS...
I agree with candygears when she said that artist are not forced to credit every single object they use in their art (when it's their own art... the problem with MS is that she stole everything, nothing was original... but Anja draws her pieces with her hands... so i't a bit different...)

 

The difference with Anja is that if you look at some of her other items for same, you can see that she is actually a talented artist who isn't dependant upon using dolls to create her art. I have no doubt that if she didn't create her doll-inspired works, she would still be creating beautiful original works.

With Mijn it appears that she is dependant upon existing images to create her work. As others have said, her drawn bodies do not look all that wonderful, so I doubt that she could draw a perfect looking face freehand. At least, not a face that would sell prints.

Two completely different cases in my opinion. I don't think that Anja is doing anything wrong.

 

akaStarla I totally agree

Anja is talented... and she also uses BJD as models but not only... she doesn't depend on anything as MS does who without BJDs is lost...

 

While I didn't mean to start a "witch hunt" type watch on AT, I just feel that I should clearly point out why I thought company credit would be nice on this particular image:

1)It has the company's website at the bottom.



2)Radiotrash uses the same image to showcase MS's "art theft" (and the leekeworld url is still there)



3) It's essentially the same picture (but free hand)






The fact that it's the same image is the only "real" reason I felt that this piece -could- have had a more [specific] credit. It's the company's image.
It wasn't just a freehand of a picture of a friend's doll, it wasn't a drawing/painting of a doll modeling, it was freehand from a company's image.
While I personally think it's unlikely, it is still very possible that AT stumbled upon this image and it DIDN'T have the Leekeworld site at the bottom and thus wouldn't know it's source. *shrug*

MS and AT are very different (again I will acknowledge that she never once claimed the art to be from her own imagination, and she only used the most generic label "dollfie" --which isn't bad, many people refer to all ABJDs as "dollfies", I used to do that in the beginning) And I don't think a mass hunt for all doll artists is necessary. She isn't selling her work for commercial means, she's not hiding her sources, and she is personally known by someone connected to this forum (AT is connected to a friend who is connected to a user on this forum)

I never contacted this artist because I didn't feel that her work was as offensive as MS, but because of it's similarities I felt it was still appropriate to post in this thread.

And I agree with what both strangeangels and akaStarla have said.


((if the images slow down your browser's load time, tell me and I'll make them links instead))

 

Yeah that should be credit.. I agree (even if, still it's not a copy as Mijin's pieces were - but we already specify this)
I'll tell my friend to let her know where the image comes from and if possible to credit it with the company name.

 

Wow, just to say, Anja's work blows me away.

 

I would put those images as links because they are hotlinked, it could really eat Leekeworld and Radiotrash's bandwidth since this is a pretty active thread.

 

babytarragon - I moved the images to my photobucket, I forgot that hotlinks drain bandwidth.

 

Hrm I dunno. I'd say the only thing to do here, if anything at all, would be to show that pic to Leekeworld maybe and end it at that. This sort of thing differs between artists, some don't care at all if their photos are referenced for art and some do (like me). It's Leeke's place, not ours, to say anything to the aritst, though.

 

My friend talked to AT about the issue with leekworld image and she wanted to sign up here to talk about it, but wasn't able to...
Anyway hopefully she will upgrade all the credits soon....

 

There's a possibility that she may be one of those people who thrive on attention regardless whether it's good or bad. People like that have the attitude that negative attention is better than no attention at all. There are plenty of celebrities who have gone that route because they feel that it's all good as long as attention is focused on them and it doesn't matter if it is controversial or negative. (For examples, see Madonna, Britney Spears, Lindsey Lohan, Paris Hilton, and Miley Cyrus.)

I think that it's good to get the word out about her but we should also be careful about giving her too much attention because she may not only thrive on it but she may also spin it as a publicity advantage. (Like saying to the general public, "I'm a cyberbully victim of a bunch of mentally unhinged people because they are jealous of my success in the art world. But I'm still going to forge ahead with my vision despite these people.")

 

Many apologies if this has already been posted (I can't find if it has...), but her work is also being sold here, most interestingly the LeeKeWorld jellyfish girl is available still as a print and a bag: http://www.mondopop.it/artist_view.php?id=44

 

The mention of Parsons School of Design in Paris is an interesting one. Someone -teaching- should absolutely know better than to play the games she's playing; it's definitely a concern. I don't recall reading that earlier. I do know that the illustration professor I had in college who also taught at the NYC Parsons was -very- clear with us that 'inspired by' did NOT mean 'traced' -- and that all manner of problems could stem from doing so.

 

UPCOMING Shows / projects:
I mentioned this one earlier, but now it's being advertised on the gallery's page: a solo show Apr16-May30 2010:
http://www.dorothycircusgallery.com/upcoming.php

She collaborated on a Computer Arts Projects magazine gatefold cover, issue #126, due out on July 16 2009.
http://karenh.tumblr.com/search/mijn+schatje
magazine's web page: http://www.computerarts.co.uk/about_us/computer_arts_projects
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Sellers:
Check out the prices of her "art" here: $1K - $1.3K! Pippos Baha called "The Cat in the Hat" for $1K! (Even the title isn't original!)
Just read Ginarolo's entry for justbecomplex here --> http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4839981&postcount=1111
http://justbecomplex.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=25_255

Wasteland is located in King St. Perth, Western Australia:
http://www.wastelandone.com.au/viewartist.php?artist_id=16
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Recent events:

Her "art" was featured by AdHoc Art Gallery participating in an event in Brookyn NY on Mar 5-8, 2009:
http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theBlog/?p=1425

Celebrating NetDiver 10 year Anniversary (Netdiver makes special efforts towards promoting the works of female creative artists)
http://netdiver.net/10years/girl-power-by-liz-wolfe

update: A discussion on Netdiver questioning MS's originality! And kudos to those who contributed--you know who you are!
http://netdiver.net/it-is-or-it-is-not-plagiarism
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Here's her MySpace gallery of her "art", photos of her working on an image, misc photos--14 pages X 20 images per page...
On page 14, she did caption one image as follows: "Narae is the custom work of the talented Tanya, from www.tanyastyle.com ©Tanya"
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=199299

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Among the various sites publicizing MS's misappropriations, this one is rather recent, June 2009:
http://youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com/blog3/?p=3253

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She sure gets around--here are some of her web sites:

an unfinished page featuring a collage of "her" art:
http://mijnschatje.net/

another unfinished page
http://marieisnotdead.free.fr/

an email address:
marieisnotdead AT.NO.SPAM hotmail.com

the portfolio is empty...
http://www.behance.net/Mijnschatje

another...
http://www.iqons.com/Mijn+Schatje

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This person is totally unapologetic for LIKING MS' images.
btw, he refers to people on DoA as "thugs" stalking his site...
http://mikephilbin.blogspot.com/2008/04/mijn-schatje.html

Another person heaping praises on MS's Amsterdam show in March 2009. The most disturbing is that he stated there is now a fan group on FaceBook for MS...interestingly, his page is closed to comments at the moment, though his last post was Jul 6 2009.
http://www.thelema.nu/archives/374

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Kind of old--posted in Dec 2008, but it contains leads of where her "work" has been used and of future shows:
http://ulamonge.blogspot.com/2008/12/mijn-schatje.html
"...artistic direction and illustrations for the likes of sportswear brand Reebok and the New York model agency Women Management. The whole of the ’08 collection of the hip Italian fashion house Fornarina is currently subject to the unique Mijn Schatje style, bringing her enchanted characters to the Milan and Paris fashion weeks and to highstreet fashion stores of Los Angeles, Korea, Hong Kong, London, Las Vegas and Milan... In the meantime, Mijn collaborated with Playstation / Sony entertainment and recently started giving lectures and workshops at the Parsons American school of Design in Paris."

"Future projects include a solo show at KochXBos in Amsterdam (early 2009) (already taken place), an artist monography to come up in 2010 along with a solo show at Corey Helford Gallery (L.A.)."

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This is ironic--MS is copyrighting her work, but note--she is using her real name: Pictures: Marie Blanco Hendrickx © Copyright
http://www.iconique.com/flash/arts-feat48.html

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This might be an old listing from 2007
http://paintalicious.org/2007/10/05/marie-blanco-hendrickx-aka-mijn-schatje/

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Here's another site hawking MS's stuff--the page is entitled: Mijn Schatje's World of Nymph Women
http://www.juxtapoz.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6151&Itemid=121
This site is already shown on Radiotrash's site as already contacted, per DraloreShimare (below) Thanks for the update.

 

snowleopard: Juxtapoz is already on RadioTrash's list of people that've been contacted.

 

oh wow they couldnt be anymore alike unless she'd just used the stock images themselves! what a nerve!

 

as far as I know, it's completely illegal to take another persons photograph (especially copyrighted ones) and use them as part of your own picture. that's why I hate it when people take other peoples photos, scribble on them, them post them on DeviantArt. it stealing. if I'm ever found guilty of that then slap me!

 

From the looks of Mr. Mike Philbin's blog, it only takes one famous artist's possible misquote to make him believe that plagiarism is A-OK. Now, I'm not an author, but I'm thinking that supporting blatant plagiarism on your site at the same time advertising for a book you wrote sounds like a bad idea. :

 

Somehow I would love to see how his teacher/parents/guardians look like and have a nice long chat with them about stealing artworks and creating it as my own and saying that 'good artists steal'.

I'm no major art student. But I did art in my junior high and high school. My art teachers all said the same thing. 'Do not copy other artists work. Only when permission is given do you use the models/photos. Credit when used. If plagiarism is found, you'll be suspended from school and no marks will be awarded for you assignment.'

So my art teachers have been misguided and taught us the wrong things?

That guy is in self-denial. He loves the artist or the artist's works. And is denying that she lacks inspiration and creativity.

Either that or he bought a few art pieces and is in denial about the art being 'fake'.

It's psychology. He can deny all he wants. As long as we know the truth and facts, who cares about that one guy. I won't be surprised if he stalks DOA too.

It takes one to know one. He's a thug to know we're thugs. By the way, does he know what does the term 'thug' means?



We have weird people in the world.