Esperanza Spalding Sued Over Album Cover - Comments and Message Board

Kevin Ryan did NOT create this artwork! At first it was a shame that Ryan Humphrey's work was hijacked. I didn't blame Esperanza Spalding because she probably had no idea, but this guy Kevin Ryan claiming that this is his work is plain ludicrous!!! I worked as Ryan Humphrey's assistant when he created these silk screened "ghetto blasters" for his "Look for the dream that keeps coming back" exhibit at Kunsthalle Galapagos -- http://www.brooklynrail.org/2010/11/artseen/ryan-humphrey-look-for-the-dream-that-keeps-coming-back -- This statement stood out to me in the NY Post article: "Ryan, of Brooklyn, says he had given prints of his photos to sculptor Ryan Humphrey, who stuck them on the box for an exhibition at Galapagos." This is inaccurate, probably because the silk screening process is not well understood. These are not prints that Kevin Ryan provided that are for example glued onto the boom boxes (e.g. the box that Esperanza is sitting on top of on her album). The photo was part of the process to create a silk screen template, and the image in the photo that Kevin Ryan took is of a signed ready-made piece by Humphrey. Humphrey was the art director on every single piece from beginning to end. I personally worked with Humphrey to silk screen 100 of these boxes for the show. Looks like Kevin Ryan is just an opportunist trying to capitalize on Humphrey’s hard work and Ms. Spalding’s unfortunate oversight. Kevin Ryan was right about one thing in his NY Post interview however… the album cover does look great!