It was brought to my attention that Mr Hollister Lowe was selling an image created by me as his own artwork on artnet. It was also donated to an art auction held by New York Academy of Art.
This image was shot by me in 1998.
Title: Fighting Roosters
Year: 1998
Upon further investigation, the image quality looks like a low resolution scan and not an original.
Attached is a letter written by Mr Hollister Lowe for his explanation.
Dear Mr. Clang:
I write to apologize for my mistake in distributing your Rooster photograph as if it were my own. I am embarrassed by this incident and sincerely regret the error. Following is an account of what led to the mistake.
I met Herve Arenne, an art director in Paris at a fashion show in July 2003 and exchanged contact information. In September 2003 he contacted me to commission a concept he had with roosters that he wanted to pitch to a client in France. On October 17, 2003 at 3:00p.m. Mr. Arenne arrived at my studio along with a gentleman who raised roosters in the Bronx. Mr. Arenne produced a couple of layouts and swipes to convey what he wanted the final image to look like. I proceeded to digitally photograph the roosters interacting to Mr. Arenne’s satisfaction which took approximately two hours. My tech / assistant burned a cd of the edited images and gave it to Mr. Arenne. I was compensated and he left for Paris that evening. In January 2004 Mr. Arenne contacted me to say he was sending me the final image which never worked out for his prospective client. Approximately a week later I received a cd (150 M file) of the image in question. When I saw the image, I thought “Wow, this looks great.” I also noticed that the colors were much brighter and the background color had changed. I did not go back to the originals to compare them. I have also been unable to locate any outtakes from my 2003 shoot.
Since January 2004 I have produced two print images titled “Chance Meeting” (20” x 25”) from the file that I received, one of which was donated to the New York Academy of Art (2009) and the other that was sold on Artnet.com (2010). Although the Artnet print is identified as 5 of 9, I only made two prints. The image also appeared on my web site www.holisterlowe.com.
From that day in October 2003 I wholeheartedly believed that I was the author of the image until I received a call from your representative stating that it was your photograph. I have tried contacting Mr. Arenne by cell phone and mail to no avail.
I acknowledge and agree that you may publish this letter.
Very truly yours,
Hollister Lowe