Hotline Bling’s music video spurred memes and internet engagement, in much part due to the iconic visuals that were presented. However, many have pointed out that the use of light and space in Drake’s music video was very reminiscent of James Turrell’s work, an artist that specializes in using light to challenge human perceptions of space. While not necessarily art theft, Turrell has also mentioned that With this, I have a lot of mixed emotions — Turrell did not invent colored light, and he did not invent optical illusions. However, the lighting techniques that Turrell uses are unique to his style, and something recognizable enough that he was notified of it by numerous people familiar with his work.
It’s tricky trying to decide whether something is theft or not, due to the inspirational/collaborative nature of art making — there is truly no such thing as an “original” art style. There is also such a thing as parody and pastiche. However, with all this, it is clear who the original artist or art style is. For example, if someone was parodying the old Disney style, people would clearly understand that the original source of style was from an old Disney film and the work is not seen as the person’s sole creation; if they tried to push that they developed the style themself, than it is more likely than not that they will be mocked for it. In the case of Hotline Bling, however, Turrell even says that “more people have heard of [him] through Drake than anything else” — he even considered taking legal action, but decided not to because of the hell that is bureaucracy. With this, it feels like Drake is profiting off of someone else’s work. While I’m not saying that Turrell has been destroyed by a larger artist and is suffering (he is clearly not, and I don’t think he cares much anyway), this still feels like an uncomfortable situation in which a larger artist is taking advantage of the works of someone lesser known and therefore less able to defend themself legally. I’m curious what others think.
