Phil Thompson is a London-based artist who has an ongoing project entitled "Copyrights" that is primarily derived from the Google Art Project's endeavor to show interiors of museums. Although the project offers viewers great images of institutions, many of the artworks are blurred because of legal issues. Some have been made unrecognizable because institutions don't actually own the works and some cannot be reproduced in any way because of copyright laws.
The blurred works inspired a series of oil paintings reproduced by the noted Dafen Oil Painting Village in Shenzen, China. "Paint-workers" have been selling reproductions of paintings here for years, costing much less than original masterpieces. the artist also chose this village as a statement, considering China's issues with copyright and internet censorship. Phil Thompson is represented by Xpo Gallery in Paris.
[via AnimalNewYork]
