Reference no: EM13876532

Jeff Koons, a visual artist, is known for incorporating into his artwork objects and images taken from popular media and consumer advertising, a practice that has been referred to as "neo-Pop art" or "appropriation art." His sculptures and paintings often contain such easily recognizable objects as toys, celebrities, and popular cartoon figures. In 2000, Koons was commissioned by Deutsche Bank and the Guggenheim Museum to create an exhibition for the Deutsch Guggenheim Berlin gallery. To create his "Easyfun- Ethereal" paintings, Koons culled images from advertisements and his own photographs, scanned them into a computer, and digitally superimposed them against backgrounds of pastoral landscapes. He then printed color images of the resulting collages for his assistants to use as templates for applying paint on seven billboard-sized, 10' × 14' canvasses.

One of the "Easyfun-Ethereal" paintings, "Niagara," depicts four pairs of women's feet and lower legs dangling prominently over images of confections-a large chocolate fudge brownie topped with ice cream, a tray of donuts, and a tray of apple Danish pas- tries-with a grassy field and Niagara Falls in the background. By juxtaposing women's legs against a backdrop of food and landscape, he says, he intended to "comment on the ways in which some of our most basic appetites-for food, play, and sex-are mediated by popular images."

One of the pairs of legs in the painting was adapted from "Silk Stockings," a photograph taken by Andrea Blanch that first appeared in Allure. An author and a professional pho- tographer for over 20 years, Blanch has published her photos in commercial magazines, photography periodicals and collections, and as ads.

Koons had scanned the image of "Silk Sandals," cropped it, deleted the background, in- verted the orientation of the legs and modified the color. He never sought permission to use the photo from anyone. What claims might Blanch and/or Allure make? How might Koons defend himself?