Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Visual Arts / wtf H&M thieves from EAV artist, gets caught by the Internet
Posted by Wyatt Williams @wyatt_williams on Wed, Jan 25, 2012 at 10:40 AM
- REGRETSY
See any similarity between the images above? If you answered yes, that's probably because you have eyes and a functioning brain. In the latest chapter of corporate retailers stealing from Atlanta-based artists, Tori LaConsay says she painted the sign on the left in late 2008 as a sort of love letter to East Atlanta Village. She told Regretsy:
On one side of the sign, I painted, “You Look Nice Today” followed by a little heart. This was on the side of the sign that I thought people would see on their way to work. On the other side of the sign (the side I thought people would see the most on their return back to the neighborhood) I painted, “I’m So Happy You’re Here” with another little heart. It was a small gesture that I genuinely hoped would make my neighbors feel good.
Oh, god, isn't that just the sweetest thing you've ever heard? Just this week, years after LaConsay's selfless act of sign-painting, she started getting emails from friends who had seen her message again, except this time emblazoned on H&M products. The best part is what she got back from the Swedish retailer when she contacted the company about it:
“We employ an independent team of over 100 designers. We can assure you that this design has not been influenced by your work and that no copyright has been infringed.”
Since making the rounds on Regretsy and Reddit, Internet folks have banded together in LaConsay's defense across Twitter, Facebook, and other places where people get up in arms about stuff on the Internet. Which is probably why if you head to H&M's Facebook page, this is what you'll see:
Looks like that could make for a happy ending. We'll update if the story develops.
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