Appropriation Art, a Sticky Situation

Appropriation art is a relatively new from of art that helps artists feed of others creativity to make their own works. This art essentially means to adopt, borrow, recycle or sample aspects (or the entire form) of man-made visual culture. Artists involved although have to be very careful not to cross the line and commit forgery. If caught artist may see some jail time and loose respect from their peer artist. Copyright issues have been associated with this art until its creation in the early 1900's.
One recent artist, Sheppard Fairey, was recently sued for using a photo took by an associated press reporter and transforming it into a campaign poster for the Obama administration. This poster swept the nation becoming an iconic piece of artwork that resulted in the first African American to become president of the United States. The AP went after Fairey suing him looking for payment for the use of their work. The poster would not be considered copyrighted although if Fairey had used the photo to make a painting or drawing of it to use in the paper. This is why this form of art is sticky in some instances and artist have to be careful when creating their works. The movement of this form art has led to a distinct and interesting way of creating art.