Weird Leica art piece question...

[bob338]

i own a frame shop and had a customer come in recently with a weird painting that needed a wire on the back. it was a painting of a dinosaur model box from his childhood.
the painter used a thick(2") stretcher bar so the sides could be painted like the original box. he included any rips or imperfections on the box and even included the price tag. i know it sounds strange and geeky but it was the coolest piece of art i have seen in a long while.
it got me thinking that i would love to have the same thing done to my M3 box. the only problem is that the guy charges $5k for the service, he's getting to be a fairly well known painter.
i don't have $5k sitting around, so i scanned the M3 box and had my printer stitch it together and print it on canvas. i stretched it and hung it up on the wall to see if i still liked it. i still haven't decided...but i have had a bunch of customers comment on it and ask if it is for sale.

so my question to you guys is this; is this something that someone would actually buy? my printer asked me to stretch one for her gallery to use as an example and she thinks it will sell. i don't think it's worth the time, but i don't know much. the retail would have to be around $300 to clear a decent profit.

i'm not trolling for sales here, just opinions...

 

[antistatic]

This is my take. It looks pretty cool and if it were my M3 box from my M3 then this would be a wonderful thing to have on the wall.

In general I have a problem with celebrating corporate logos as art, even if I love their products. No Nike logos on my shirts. I guess it is the thought of giving the company free advertising space and not wanting to be defined just by the products I use.

 

[MickH]

Probably OK for a piece of DIY art, & if the box has any special meaning then it's good as a sentimental reminder of that 21st Birthday gift or whatever. As for reproducing such things for resale I wonder if it's breaking any copyright laws?

 

[Doug]

The concept is reminiscent of pop-artist Andy Warhol's 1968 Campbell's Soup can painting...

 

[bob338]

"This is my take. It looks pretty cool and if it were my M3 box from my M3 then this would be a wonderful thing to have on the wall."

this is kind of what i thought too.

"As for reproducing such things for resale I wonder if it's breaking any copyright laws?"

i hadn't thought about this, but i suppose it's a genuine concern. i would assume that leica doesn't care *that* much considering the hundreds of illicit products on ebay(soft release with logos, t-shirts, mugs, repro lens caps, etc.)

"This would be perfect for a photo of the box done on canvass with a gallery wrap."

that's funny. i would definitely not sue over infringing my infringement of a copyright.

"The concept is reminiscent of pop-artist Andy Warhol's 1968 Campbell's Soup can painting..."

and that's exactly what i wanted to make, a piece of silly pop art that is significant to me.

bob

 

[LChanyungco]

i think its really neat... but i admit i am an M3 devotee. if i were a collector (collector of cameras that is) with a mini museum i'd definitely want one of these hanging on the wall.

 

[Chris101]

The concept is reminiscent of pop-artist Andy Warhol's 1968 Campbell's Soup can painting...

That's exactly what I thought. If this was the mid 60's, this would be a right time/right place kind of thing. In 2008, it's a copy-cat piece. If you like it just for the way it looks, go for it.

But I don't see a market here.

 

[Harry S.]

I love it. Id buy one.