Oliver Gill Blogpost 4: Willie Cole and the Met Gala Chandeliers


Willie Cole Instagram Post

The Art Newspaper posted “Artist Willie Cole claims the Met Gala’s chandeliers were a ‘blatant rip off’ of his sculptures” on May 3, 2023. Cole has utilized recycled water bottles in his life-size sculptures “for over a decade” (Voon) and called out the Met Gala for showcasing all too familiar “chandeliers made of recycled plastic water bottles” (Voon) through an Instagram post. Cole notes in the post that he was not alone in these thoughts of the alleged “blatant rip off” and asks “is this flattery or thievery?” Interestingly, the Met “owns several works by Cole” (Voon) and notes that they are “a great admirer of Willie Cole, and has reached out to the artist directly on the matter” (Voon). In terms of the Met Gala decor, they cited their inspiration source as Tadao Ando, the architect “who designed the Met’s new Costume Institute exhibition, Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” (Voon). 

Willie Cole, Lumen-less Lantern, 2022

Personally speaking, I would find it difficult to say for sure whether or not the Met Gala plagiarized Cole given that we have limited access to the literal process that went into creating the work. This has devolved into a he said she said situation, with the Met Gala assuring that they referenced an entirely separate artist while Cole insists they knowingly copied his work. Cole is also disadvantaged in his position as a single artist against the reputable entity that is the Met Gala. I can only presume the Met Gala would only budge if legal action came into play, otherwise they can simply manage the fire and brush past the controversy in due time. Cole even received an outpouring of support on his social media posts from fellow colleagues, but the Met Gala never publicly followed up confirming or denying the plagiarism claims. More likely than not, this issue was handled privately to discourage further backlash against the event. 

This sort of quiet resolution seems all too common in cases of alleged plagiarism as the less clear-cut cases get boiled down to appropriation or a coincidence. This is especially prevalent when it comes to legal cases, as the subjectivity of appropriation does not mesh well with the blunt guidelines of copyright infringement. The concept of claiming a look or style, such as collage or recycled sculptures, falls short in this regard due to being impossible to own without severely limiting other artists.This isn’t to say that artists should not fight to protect their art from being copied, but rather reconsider pursuing cases in a gray area given the difficulty of reaching a proper settlement. 

Clearly, our current copyright infringement system isn’t fit to protect artist rights and seemingly requires modifications to handle such cases, although rights protecting style may end up stifling innovation. These new rights would give the most control to large companies and white artists, giving them the power to exclusively stronghold a particular style. Inspiration and experimentation would be harshly monitored and would more than likely undermine marginalized artists more than they already are. Art at its very core is referential and relies on inspiration to grow and develop into something new. In many ways “art may be lucky that although artists can try to copyright a style or aesthetic, most do not” (Domek).     



Bibliography


Domek, Madelyn. “Case Review: Roberts v. Richard Beavers Gallery et al (2022) – on Artistic Tradition and Copyright Infringement.” Center for Art Law, July 6, 2023. https://itsartlaw.org/2023/05/29/case-review-roberts-v-richard-beavers-gallery-et-al-2022-on-artistic-tradition-and-copyright-infringement/#post-58597-footnote-0. 


Voon, Claire. “Artist Willie Cole Claims the Met Gala’s Chandeliers Were a ‘blatant Rip off’ of His Sculptures.” The Art Newspaper - International art news and events, May 4, 2023. https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2023/05/03/willie-cole-met-gala-chandeliers-rip-off. 


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