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Esperanza Spalding Lawsuit: Sued by Photographer Over Album Cover

Posted Feb 17th 2013 12:06PM by Paul Cantor
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Esperanza Spalding Radio Music Society Amazon

Esperanza Spalding is being sued over the cover art for her 2012 album Radio Music Society, reports the New York Post.

The cover finds Spalding sitting on what appears to be a classic 80s-style boombox radio. Except it's not a radio. It's a sculpture -- by Ryan Humphrey -- made out of pictures attached to a wooden box Spalding found at Galapagos Art Space, in Brooklyn.

57-year-old photographer Kevin Ryan manned the lens for the pictures used to create the sculpture and says that Spalding failed to credit him or license the photos, even after requesting that she go ahead and do so. As a result, he's filed a $500,00 suit in Manhattan federal court.

"I love Esperanza, and I love her music, and, actually, I like the image," he says. "But you wish people would have done their due diligence."

Ryan maintains that the image including his photos is being sold on e-cards and t-shirts. Now, he wants the money that he feels is owed to him.

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4 Comments

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kevinryanphoto

These statements are factually incorrect. This person was not present at the photo shoot of the boom box. The original photographs prove that the photographs are, in fact, of a real boom box not a copy, not a model, not a prop nor an artwork, none of which was in fact "signed".

February 20 2013 at 1:51 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

amirmoe

Kevin Ryan did NOT create this artwork! At first it was a shame that Ryan Humphrey's work was hijacked. We didn't blame Esperanza Spalding because she probably had no idea, but this guy Kevin Ryan claiming that this is his work is plain ludicrous!!! I worked as Ryan Humphrey's assistant when he created these silk screened "ghetto blasters" for his "Look for the dream that keeps coming back" exhibit at Kunsthalle Galapagos. Humphrey was the art director on every single piece in the exhibit. I personally worked with Humphrey to silk screen 150+ of these boxes for the show, which were the boxes used in the Esperanza Spalding photo shoot - without Ryan Humphrey's consent. The image came from a photograph of a ready-made boombox found and signed by Humphrey. The photo was taken by Kevin Ryan as a favor, so if anything he was merely a technician on the project. Looks like Kevin Ryan is just an opportunistic person trying to capitalize on Humphrey’s hard work and Ms. Spalding’s unfortunate oversight. Kevin Ryan was right about one thing in his NY Post interview however… the album cover does look great!
http://www.brooklynrail.org/2010/11/artseen/ryan-humphrey-look-for-the-dream-that-keeps-coming-back

February 19 2013 at 1:11 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to amirmoe's comment

amirmoe

CLARIFICATION: It was actually 100 boom boxes, not 150+. Also, this is just one fan's humble opinion and no a reflection of Humphrey's views on this subject. This statement stood out to me in the NY Post article: "Ryan, of Brooklyn, says he had given prints of his photos to sculptor Ryan Humphrey, who stuck them on the box for an exhibition at Galapagos."

This is inaccurate, probably because the silk screening process is not well understood. These are not prints that Kevin Ryan provided that are for example glued onto the boom boxes (e.g. the box that Esperanza is sitting on top of on her album). The photo was part of the process to create a silk screen template, and the image in the photo that Kevin Ryan took is of a signed ready-made piece by Humphrey. Just like I was part of the process by assisting on the project. All of this was Humphrey's work from beginning to end.

February 20 2013 at 12:19 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to amirmoe's comment

Libbi Rich

I just want to get this right ... are you saying that if a photographer shoots a model, using props designed by another creator (and crediting the creator), then the resulting photograph is the intellectual property of the creator of the prop?

February 20 2013 at 1:01 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down