Instagram Art Sells at High Prices in NYC

The artist Richard Prince with support from the magazine Frieze presented the exhibition, “New Portraits,” in New York City. It showcased popular photos from various Instagram accounts. The artist printed out his favorite photos and offered them for a sale with the price of $90,000 each.

The exhibition was held at Larry Gagosian’s gallery. Attendees bought all the Instagram works, except one.

Figured I might as well post this since everyone is texting me. Yes, my portrait is currently displayed at the Frieze Gallery in NYC. Yes, it's just a screenshot (not a painting) of my original post. No, I did not give my permission and yes, the controversial artist Richard Prince put it up anyway. It's already sold ($90K I've been told) during the VIP preview. No, I'm not gonna go after him. And nope, I have no idea who ended up with it! #lifeisstrange #modernart #wannabuyaninstagrampicture

Фото опубликовано Doe Deere (@doedeere) Май 17 2015 в 9:05 PDT

The exhibition caused a lot of debate between the photographers and among the collectors of contemporary art. Those who took the photos were shocked, however nobody opened a case so far, because of Instagram policy that says that the images posted to the social network have free access and can be sold without photographer’s permission.

When the girls from SuicideGils community learned that their photo was sold for $90,000, they open an auction for the same photo, just for $90.

Everyone has been asking me what I thought about famous controversial artist Richard Prince taking a series of SuicideGirls Instagram posts and printing them out and selling them at a recent gallery show at the Gagosian Gallery of Beverly Hills for $90,000 a piece. My first thought was I don’t know anyone who can spend $90,000 on anything other than a house. Maybe I know a few people who can spend it on a car. As to the copyright issue? If I had a nickel for every time someone used our images without our permission in a commercial endeavor I’d be able to spend $90,000 on art. I was once really annoyed by Forever 21 selling shirts with our slightly altered images on them, but an Artist? Richard Prince is an artist and he found the images our girls and we publish on Instagram as representative of something worth commenting on, part of the zeitgeist, I guess? Thanks Richard! Do we have Mr. Prince’s permission to sell these prints? We have the same permission from him that he had from us. ;) I’m just bummed that his art is out of reach for people like me and the people portrayed in the art he is selling. So we at SuicideGirls are going to sell the exact same prints people payed $90,000 for $90 each. I hope you love them. Beautiful Art, 99.9% off the original price. ;) https://suicidegirls.com/shop/instagram-art-1/ https://suicidegirls.com/shop/instagram-art-2/ https://suicidegirls.com/shop/instagram-art-3/ https://suicidegirls.com/shop/instagram-art-4/ https://suicidegirls.com/shop/instagram-art-5/ Urban art publisher Eyes On Walls (EyesOnWalls.com) is supporting the project by fulfilling the large canvas reproductions at cost. We will be donating the profits from sales to EFF.org. xoxo Missy Check out Missy's AMA happening right now! http://redd.it/37hzrn

Фото опубликовано SuicideGirls (@suicidegirls) Май 27 2015 в 1:10 PDT