TikTok and Instagram users have risen to a frantic debate on plagiarism and accused artist Gala Knörr of copying the work of the Brooklyn dayday -based photographer.
The online controversy began when Knörr announced in an Instagram post on Thursday that his paintings would be on display at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao this summer. His painting, The Young Cowboy stareddepicts a Black figure in a cowboy hat and white collared shirt peering over his shoulder in the abstract background of the field – which Knörr said was inspired by the image of horsewoman Brianna Noble protesting the police murder of George Floyd in May 2020.
However, social media users with eagle eyes quickly noticed that the full composition in Knörr’s painting was almost identical to a photo taken in the sun in a still from their 2022 short film. Blue.
dayday – a photographer and director who has worked on projects including the Oscars, the New York Timesand Alicia Keys – directed and filmed Blue. The short film tells the story of Ezekiel “Blue” Mitchell, a professional bull rider from Texas – one of the only Black riders in the sport.
Knörr’s painting closely reflects one of the opening photographs of Blue showing a young Mitchell, portrayed by Isaac Redfearn, looking out over green pastures and staring intently behind the camera.
Many social media users began posting TikTok and Instagram videos noting the dazzling similarities between Knörr’s painting and Blue – with a video by animation director Bona Bones that garnered nearly half a million views on TikTok.
Dayday also posted a screenshot of the museum’s original artist statement for “Young Cowboy Gazing” with the caption, “I want to believe she meant well. But how do you write a statement like this and not acknowledge the original artist? ”
@hydeordie What do you think happened here #artistsoftiktok #daydaystudio #galaknorr #guggenheimbilbao ♬ original sound – Hyde or Die
As criticism increased, Knörr acknowledged that he was influenced by Blue and apologize for not recognizing the sun as his inspiration. said Knörr Rolling stone that he had made a “big mistake” of failing to give credit on the day and was “very sad.”
On July 13, day, Knörr and the Guggenheim museum reached a solution where both works would be displayed side by side, Rolling stone reports. Instead of removing Knörr’s paintings, Blue will now be shown in conjunction with the artist’s statement, which now also states that Knörr “directly incorporates images inspired from the 5 -minute film Blue (2022).” The dayday photographer shared the news in an Instagram post.
“By tangibly linking the works together, we can start to reflect on the dual erasure of the cowboys of the Basque country together,” dayday wrote. “We can begin to reflect on the dual erasure of Basque cowboys and African-American cowboys in the United States from history.”
