This is just so fantastic. Last month Eugene, OR photographer Blake Andrews wrote about this 2004 photo by Lyza Danger, which has gradually become confused and conflated with Andreas Gursky’s 99 Cent photos.
Danger’s photo, an unaltered image of a Fred Meyer in Portland, is CC-licensed on flickr, which has aided its circulation and re-use. Andrews discovered several instances where Danger was accused of both ripping Gursky off, and of claiming Gursky’s image as her own. But the best part is that Google Images include Danger’s photo in searches for Gursky’s 99 Cent. The authoritativeness of Google, coupled with the plausible Gurskyness of Danger’s image, create a virtuous cycle of re/mis-attribution that may or may not be slowed by Andrews’ investigation.
And basically, I love it. Clearly, it’s Gursky enough. Or rather, Danger’s verite’ image shifts what makes a Gursky a Gursky from the grand scale of globalist capitalism to the artist’s manipulation of the same.
Danger’s photo is not a Ghetto Gursky, or a Shanzhai Gursky either; those terms don’t fit this scenario. It’s an image made in the wild, a Found Gursky, which we now recognize and appreciate because of Gursky’s influence. It’s an example of a shift from Gursky as author to Gursky as worldview. It’s of a piece with the photo that Brent Burket flagged last year, Taylor Swift’s selfie with a Dallas stadiumful of people.
Andreas Gursky photo of a Madonna concert in Los Angeles on Sept 13, 2001, image via centre pompidou
And now I see a connection to the ruins of the World Trade Center I’d wanted to see Gursky photograph in September 2001, except he was touring with Madonna.
99 Cent | Blake Andrews [blogspot via petapixel, thanks giovanni garcia-fenech for the heads up]
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the making of, by greg allen