Artists Using Doll Likenesses without Crediting [Mijn Schatje discussion]

Ohh, "Thugs" them's fighting words boy, are you sure your up to taking up the whole "Art-doll" Community? I assure you, we will win. You are one, while we are many.


It sounds as thought MS's "Fighting the Crisis" Is to rally her own fans into makeing debased comments about our community. IF not, then She should have a word with that guy, He's not helping her at all. It would only lead the "curious" to looking up what's he talking about. (Mainly Radio trashes site.)

I could understand how passionate we could get about our art, and our favorite artists, but really, that is so in bad taste.

*Hack,hack, chokes, dies*

If I had as much publicity as she, I would also be running my art in Galleries and selling my art for millions. However if the BJD companies do take her to court (assuming they win.)
Her publicity will be negative, She will get a lot of "free publicity".
Dont' get me wrong, news like that will only increase her infamy just because, it's juicy news. "Artist get's slammed by Corporate companies." will mostly be the title of most Blogs rather then "Asian Companies win Copyright Lawsuit"

The most we should do to try to negate this, is to keep posting in our own Blogs and news groups, about her plagiarism.
And Please, please link to each others blog entries, not only to the Radio trash website but eatch and every news site entry informing of her blatant plagiarism.

Networking has gotten her famous, Networking can inform the general public before they be tricked into Support this talentless Person.

Edit: How many Blog and journal Entries are there of against MS? There should be more, DoA should not be the only BJD Fourm with a thread this long on her.

I am willing to perhaps Aid Radio Trash into networking the community at an informational level. (links webrings and what not.) to put them together and provide other links to other boards and forums (ect,ect) where they are discussing it at a mature level.


Re-edit: I just googled "Mijn Schatje " and the radiortrash website seems to be sticking to the first page. Good work I see that the other links in the first page are mostly one questioning her rather then ones that are praising her.
To keep such pages in the first page in most search engines is to post in the blogs comments sections, it updates the page and keeps it from being buried.

 

Yes! Blog away! The information about MS's credibility IS spreading! Great title for this page:
http://youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com/blog3/?p=3253

and others spreading the word:
http://theindra.com/2009/06/06/marie-blanco-hendrickx-aka-mijn-schatje-is-an-art-thief/
http://priestessofnada.livejournal.com/tag/mijn+schatje+art+thief+bjd+photos
http://news.deviantart.com/article/82633/
http://seveyn-rhine.livejournal.com/17994.html
http://sparklingsilvia.wordpress.com/2009/06/05/is-mijn-schatje-a-plagiarist/
and that's only a sampling of English speaking ones.

here are established sites (not personal sites):
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artforum/topic_view/topic/114163
http://netdiver.net/it-is-or-it-is-not-plagiarism

Mr. Peters is a business person who wrote positively about Netdiver and included images by MS--then someone sent an anonymous email with a link to Radiotrash's web page. As a result he made this addition to his web page:
http://www.robertlpeters.com/news/?s=mijn&x=0&y=0

As Elysion gear pointed out, we need help keep them on top by adding comments to the blogs.

Despite the skeptics that say even bad publicity is good, eventually people will tire and the only things left will be MS's bad reputation and the bad Karma she created for herself.

BLOG AWAY!

 

This is long I know but I mean every word. I sent this to the editors of Juxtapoz today.
-------
Juxtapoz,

I want to begin by saying that I have enjoyed your magazine for many years. I am a graphic designer working in video games and I am in constant need of inspiration. I spend a good deal of time searching for this inspiration through browsing online, watching movies, and playing games. However, I still always enjoy taking the time to quietly sit with your magazine, reading through the articles and viewing work from the newest talent in the art world. So thank you from me and many of my coworkers who also enjoy reading your magazine.

Unfortunately, this email concerns an artist that you have covered in the past who I believe does not belong in the pages of your publication. I assume you are familiar with the controversy surrounding artist Mijn Schatje? If not please follow this link http://radiotrash.org/mijn/. My chief concern is the obvious plagiarism of other artist’s works without crediting them. This is a very serious denunciation but one that myself and many others feel is absolutely warranted.

I will begin by stating that Mijn Schatje is a skilled artist who I and many others recognize as being a successful contributor to the art movement known as Pop-Surrealism. Traditionally in an art movement such as Futurism or Cubism, the artists are constantly borrowing from each other and improving on the central ideas or philosophies of their movement. When you look at the works of Georges Braque one could easily mistake him for Cezanne or Picasso because all three men were experimenting with the same ideas and concepts. Today in the Pop-Surrealist movement we see artists who are obviously inspired by the whimsical lowbrow art from the 60s and 70s and as a result create works that are comparable to that style. However, the artists I am referring to in this letter have absorbed the inspirations, ideas, and concepts of others and morphed them into works of their own. They do no copy the work of another artist and claim that it came only from their unique imagination. They are working under the umbrella of a recognized style or movement and the obvious cross pollination of ideas and inspirations are not obfuscated from the admirer.

What troubles me about Mijn Schatje is not that she is deeply inspired by the work of Ball Joint Doll makers and owners. I love these dolls and I am fascinated by the idea of an artist reinterpreting doll molds into two dimensional works. However, I firmly believe that she has gone beyond the pale by taking the molds and photographs of other creative individuals and claiming that these images just sprang into her mind and ultimately giving no credit to the deserving parties. Doll artists such as Rainy of Elf doll are supporting themselves financially by creating these dolls. It takes years for them to mold the perfect doll for production. Is it fair to take an artist’s work (call it sculpture or mold) and simply trace in exact detail its line, expression, form, and style and say it came from your head? Is it also fair to take the photography of a photographer and trace with unequivocal accuracy over their image including chosen subject, angle, lighting, and general composition without crediting the photographer?

I recently read one Blog where the angry blogger used a quote that I am very familiar with. Pablo Picasso once said “Bad artists copy. Great artists steal”. Taken out of context this quote could easily be interpreted as the final say on the subject of Miss Schatje. However, I like many others believe that Picasso meant that artists who only copy the work of others without reinterpretation are “bad”. Great artists will take the ideas of others and transform them into something uniquely their own.

I agree with Picasso. I also believe it is absolutely necessity that artists be given the freedom to exchange ideas and concepts with other artist for their work to expand and progress. However, in Mijn Schatje’s case much of her work but perhaps not all of her work seriously crosses into the “Bad Artist” category. Her subject is often an exact trace, little if nothing is changed in the dolls face-up or expression. Her images are sometimes purely vectorized dolls with almost pixel per pixel accuracy with the mold and the photo. She does not credit the original artist who conceptualized the face and later painstaking sculpted it from scratch. Nor does she recognize the owner who imagined and carefully executed outfits, face-ups, wigs, and detailed back stories for their doll. Nor does she recognize the photographer who skilfully composed and lit the scene. She has instead endeavoured to extract herself from these obvious inspirations and claim total ownership. Would it really be so difficult for her to credit these hard working artisans so that they too could share some degree of acknowledgment for the years they dedicated to molding and customizing Ball Joint Dolls?

My strong belief is that if the source of this infringement was in fact an established painter, sculpture, or photographer this letter would be unnecessary because public opinion would be strongly opposed to Miss Schatje. Unfortunately the realm of BJD artistry is not a recognized art form throughout the world thus, it is easier for people to accept plagiarism of such a small insignificant community. However, as a magazine that has a strong tradition in calling attention to up and coming talent I would strongly urge you to please recognize and respect this small doll community and the artisans that dwell there. Although many of these individuals don’t always use the most traditional methods of validating their works such as museum exhibitions, I assure you that the makers of doll molds such as Shin-San of Shiny Doll, Rainy of Elf Doll, and Domado of Domadoll Doll put as much heart and soul into their creations as any painter or photographer. Ball Joint Doll creators and customizers see themselves as artist in their own right and I implore you to recognize their claim to receive full credit for their artistry, creativity, and imagination.

The links provided here clearly illustrate (in the most traditional manner) the fact that BJD makers see their works as an art form.

*DOMADOLL Exhibition
http://www.domadoll.com/new/index.htm

*SHINYDOLL AI Exhibition
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jme/1771565309/in/set-72157608237524003/


My final request is that Juxtapoz please remove the page devoted to Mijn Schatje’s art work and any reference to her art work from their site. I am not requesting a public condemnation of this artist from Juxtapoz. Only that your publication please take the decision to support the original artists and respectfully wait for Miss Mijn Schatje to admit to her plagiarism, credit the true artists, and ultimately create her own original works before you support her again.

Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.

 

Speaking as an artist who graduated with a BFA, I feel that this artist has crossed the barrier between what is acceptable homage to something inspiring, to down right stealing of another's original ideas. It would be different if she were open about her source material. But no one really expects to legally be able make money of fan art, and that is what I feel her work amounts to. In fact, I find it quite disrespectful not only to those she copied from, but also an insult to artists who take the time to make sure they are operating in the realms of legality.

 

Beautifully expressed, Isenn.

I hope juxtapoz takes your words to heart and does what you so respectfully requested.

 

Hey guys, I wanted to apologize for not updating the website. I can't include private company responses because I was asked by one to not post any correspondences from them because then Mjin could see it as well and they wish to keep their words and actions private for now so she can't run off and try to save face with a gallery/individual/etc before they contact them. I'm extending that to all private messages received from the people we have contacted although I won't take done the screenshots I already have up (because that'd be pointless as they've already been exposed).

As such I don't really know what else to put up there at the moment. I'll probably put an update at the top linking to her most recent advertised shows and such to show that she's not taking anything down and just continuing on with her work but other then that I'm not sure if anything else at the moment needs to be added. If you think it does feel free to tell me of course.

 

This is so disheartening! I have vectorized photos, but they are my own photos or drawings referencing my own photos. I would never just take another person's pictures or art and copy like that. What is really sad is that her resulting art is quite beautiful. It is time consuming to vectorize, even with tracing. You trace different shapes in the photo or drawing and apply different transparencies, colors, textures in separate layers. It is actually hard work and it takes a good eye for design too, considering all of the elements she adds to the finished work. She should have sketched whatever she wanted on a piece of paper and scanned it or took her own photos rather than using swiped photos from the Internet. If she had used stock photos she purchased or, I dunno,asked permission this wouldn't be such an issue.

 

I think I sent my letter to Juxtapoz too late. I started it last week when I saw her page on their site. Yea the one with the "strawberry fields and tea" bla bla thing. I was busy and didn't get around to sending it this weekend. Well I noticed this morning that her page is no longer on Juxtapoz. I doubt my words worked that fast Looks like they already decided to take it down.

I also sent a polite letter to the Saatchi Gallery Online. I will let you know if I get a response.

 

Can you post that you have recieved a response from those companies and just state that they asked you not to post their response due to ongoing legal issues? So at least we know that they are aware...

 

I saw this and I think it's disgusting! She's making a profit and a living off of this when we spend thousands to get these dolls! She copies them down to the eye color and face up, if only she knew that's what made our dolls special and unique! One of my huge hobbies is spending hours upon hours with these dolls and photographing them, to think that mine could have been stolen while she was probably using google to find the most unique doll for her rip offs! I think she should give all the sales profits to the people that she stole those from and production should be stopped on them immeadietly. I feel sorry for all of the lovely dolls that she traced, they are unique and lovely and I'm sure that in no way does this woman understand the true pleasure and happiness that actually owning these dolls brings me and all of the rest of you here at DOA!

 

Honestly, I'm still glad you sent it. Even if they had already taken it down, it is additional reassurance to them that people are aware of the issue and continue to care about it. It may help them become more comfortable with what may have been a troubling or difficult decision.

 

Grab your pitchforks, girls, we've got an art thief masquerading as a 'professional' to restring.

 

I'm not sure what you mean, but please note that pitchforking or harrassment will just make her look like the victim.

 

@Mlittarin: Of course we shouldn't 'pitchfork' or harass her - you're totally right, that will just make her out to be a victim, which she is not. It was a phrase meant to suggest that we should all keep working together to spread the word about it; facts will enlighten the truth and that will take her down surely. A poor choice of words on my part.

 

I love that news! I tried the link myself and it is no longer working. I'm loving Juxtapoz for taking action against Mijn and her plagiarized works.

 

I find this absolutely astounding. I'm now glad I put watermarks on all of my artworks.
I will keep an eye on this woman.
This is absolutely horrifying and is a wake-up call to not only bjd photographers but ALL artists EVERYWHERE that your art is not safe.
If I can help in any way besides blogging, please notify me. I despise art theft immensely and wish to put a stop to it.

 

The argument of this blogger man amuses me a little given (to the best of my knowledge) both Carravaggio and Vermeer died about 200 years prior to to the first known photograph being taken.

 

I wouldn't take too much of that guy's writing to heart:
(A) He frequently breaks into ALL-CAPS to MAKE HIS POINT, and
(B) the title of his novel is "Bukkakeworld".

 

Actually, it was mentioned way earlier in the thread that he is probably referencing the Hockney-Falco Thesis.

It's still a ridiculous argument though, considering the vast differences between the technique in the theory and what Mijn is doing.

 

What irks me most is that I have read comments posted by some of her supporters, who sneer and say that it serves doll collectors right for being so silly as to spend hundreds of dollars on dolls. I find it highly ironic because these same supporters are spending hundreds of dollars on her drawings, which we know have been copied from the very dolls they sneer at.