The Big Picture
“Can photographers be plagiarists?” That’s the question art journalist David Segal asks this week at Slate.com. “The line between ‘inspired by’ and ‘copied from’ is fuzzy,” he says, juxtaposing two dissimilar photographs of the backs of women’s heads by Memphis’ most acclaimed cameraman, William Eggleston, and rising art star Christian Patterson, who spent the last several years working and shooting with Eggleston.
Eggleston’s image is set in a Hopper-esque diner circa 1964, and the subject’s vertical hairdo calls to mind the noirish films of David Lynch. Patterson’s alleged copy is set in a colorless metal-and-tile Laundromat circa 2005, and the subject’s crazy curlers call to mind the films of John Waters. Is Segal trying to start a feud between teacher and student by suggesting Eggleston somehow owns the backs of women’s heads?
Headlines
Memphis felt like Hooterville this week thanks to headlines in The Commercial Appeal such as “Cold Out Yonder” and “Nature Center Showcases Critters.” Maybe when things warm up the newspaper will devote coverage to the region’s many fine “cement ponds.”
Hard Left
BallerStatus.com, an online source for hip-hop news, recently interviewed Three 6 Mafia, and the Oscar-winning rappers were candid when asked about the difficulties of adjusting to life on the West Coast.
“Juicy J: Bills don’t stop coming out there man. It’s all good if you work hard at what you do. … We can write all kinds of music and we shouldn’t have no problem keeping them bills paid, right?
DJ Paul: There’s a lot of drinking and partying going on in L.A., so that’s what we do. That’s what I do.”
Thank goodness DJP and JJ have parties and booze to keep their minds off all that crushing debt.
