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Minnesota troubador Bob Dylan is causing a stir in the New York gallery scene.

Evidently his paintings, now on display at the Gogosian Gallery, were billed as "painted from life" from his travels in Asia, when really they should have been billed as "painted from Life magazine." His paintings are almost exact copies of old photographs, some of which are in the public domain, some not.

On the left, Bob Dylan's painting "Opium"; on the right a photograph by Léon Busy, taken in Vietnam in 1915.

Images from Gogosian Gallery and Musee Albert Kahn, respectively, via 

click here to see a slideshow of the paintings next to the photographs at ArtInfo

 - and it's also not the first time Dylan's been accused of plagiarism, according to 

What do you think? Is Dylan using the show as an opportunity to put on a performance, and challenge our ideas of what's original? Or is he simply making money off of other people's images?

Arts and Culture

State of the Arts Blog

Marianne Combs

Author

Dylan's artwork, now on display at the Gogosian Gallery in New York, were billed as '"paintings from life' when really they should have been billed as 'paintings from Life magazine.'

Bob Dylan: musician,author, painter… plagiarist?

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