link? I am always curious about rips (the one after this, blooming, was ripped from "Care," an Element shirt sold at that time). My particular coffee book of Banksy goodness doesn't have any of this sort of picture but I don't doubt it, sadly--too many "casual" users scoring who don't ponder the originality (not that "set it free" is original) of the subs.

Robsoul on May 04 '09 at 11:26am
oh god, shut the fuck up and delete your god damned conspiracy blog, I'm tired of ppl who have to go on some type of witch hunt.



I actually though it was Van Gogh though.

Robsoul on May 04 '09 at 11:33am
how is bansky's concept of a girl losing a balloon at all new????? my grandmother use to have the 70s painting of a little boy peeing and a girl losing a balloon hanging up in her house.



this on the other hand has a whole different meaning, the girl is cutting the kite free. dear god.
Robsoul
Robsoul on May 04 '09 at 11:34am
hahahaha, best image evarrrr, xiv
skeev
skeev on May 04 '09 at 11:36am
As much as I like some of the other work of ilovedoodle, I didn't think the concept was all that original anyway. I know I've seen similar art/photos/designs like this.



The execution was nicer than most though.



TheInfamousBaka
TheInfamousBaka on May 04 '09 at 11:37am
Shaq-tor ftw.
Mike4507
Mike4507 on May 04 '09 at 11:39am
I thought this was a rip of of James Butterfield McKenzie.



In the Old Country before the war, he was a lowly clock maker. During the war he hid his family and himself in a dog's anus. The only thing to keep him sane was bangin' his wife and paintin' his pictures. Sometimes at the same time. One of his most famous portraits was of their escape from the Houndanus as it was later called. McKenzie's daughter, McKenzie McKenzie filled up the dog's spleen like a balloon which lifted the entire family out of their disastrous chamber.



After the war they moved to Kansas and always longed to be back in the dog's anus.
Phiffer
Phiffer on May 04 '09 at 11:39am
who is bansky?
skeev
skeev on May 04 '09 at 11:44am
I'm thinking it was in a movie, a really over dramatic movie, where someone cuts a kite free. I think the kite belonged to someone who died and they cut the kite free as some symbol of thier soul being free.



Not a great movie as I recall.



This shirt is better than that movie.
torturedtiki
torturedtiki on May 04 '09 at 11:45am
if you're looking for a plagarism bust, this is not it.



something like this seems to fall under collective consciousness. i'm sure we've all seen something similar in our own spheres.



nothing comes from nothing.
FRICKINAWESOME
FRICKINAWESOME on May 04 '09 at 12:19pm
Yes, I've seen this concept before.



No, it doesn't look or feel anything like how i've seen the concept presented before.



Also, who else thinks averagegoof's account is a lot like Evan's "pile o' poop"?
amalgamated
amalgamated on May 04 '09 at 1:34pm
http://media.photobucket.com/image/%20propaganda/aishamagisha_13/banksy_always_hope.jpg



Amazingly, I ran into that image purely by coincidence this morning. I did a google image search for "propaganda" for something completely unrelated and when it popped up I thought, "Didn't I JUST see this in the Threadless e-mail?"
Split-Reason
Split-Reason on May 04 '09 at 2:45pm
You could argue that it's part of some larger sphere of consciousness, sure.. but I'd say this takes more than just a little inspiration from the Banksy design. Far more than just the concept in any case. It's a nice execution, but it's been done before.
B 7
B 7 on May 04 '09 at 2:46pm
bansky just stole most of his ideas anyway
Mike4507
Mike4507 on May 04 '09 at 2:48pm
Can you really steal something from someone who doesn't show his face or give his real name?
shirtflirt
shirtflirt on May 04 '09 at 2:54pm
yes.
B 7
B 7 on May 04 '09 at 2:59pm
i say most but i meant 'some'.

I do like banksy on the whole.

Guill_Design
Guill_Design on May 06 '09 at 6:18pm
The first thing i thought when i saw this was Bansky. That doesn't mean that this is not a good design. I'm sure if you tried hard enough you could find similarities in art, music, movies, books, etc
TreeFiddy
TreeFiddy on May 07 '09 at 2:36am
same thing...first thing to my mind was BANKSY.
Robsoul
Robsoul on May 07 '09 at 10:46am
you people have obviously never seen any other artists or even taken notice of the world around you
Gar0
Gar0 on May 07 '09 at 10:49am
Just typing the word Banksy makes you cool.
66 days later
jhpope
jhpope on Jul 13 '09 at 10:11am
banksy fo sho
randyotter3000
randyotter3000 on Jul 13 '09 at 10:16am
robsoul is angry
squatterjohn
squatterjohn on Jul 13 '09 at 10:37am
Not that I think this looks a thing like Banksy, but anyway, could Banksy prove that he painted that in the first place? And would he assert his copyright if he could? And do you honestly believe he has a case to claim to be the inventor of the "something on a string flies away" genre? And would Banksy be some dumb as to believe he thought the idea up? And isn't a girl intentionally letting a kite go a completely different concept to a girl reaching for a lost balloon? I imagine Banksy is laughing at you for comparing these.
ginetteginette
ginetteginette on Jul 13 '09 at 10:57am
fuck banksy. anyone who thinks he's a god to the art world should just fucking die already. HE FUCKING SUCKS DICK.



not that there's anything wrong with that in a non metaphorical sense.
Tonteau
Tonteau on Jul 13 '09 at 11:01am
wanksy
Sigma982
Sigma982 on Jul 13 '09 at 11:20am
I don't think it's a matter of people liking or hating Banksy. Everyone has their opinion.....i mean, shit, people go crazy over and spend ridiculous amounts of cash for Todd Goldman's stuff, and he's a hack of inordinate proportions.



My first thought when I saw this was "Banksy" as well. Is it because I love Banksy? No. Is it because I'm a conspiracy theorist/rip-off policeman? No.



It's because the Banksy image is very well known. More well known than a Threadless T-shirt designer (for the most part, I would think.)



Am I accusing the person of ripping Banksy off? Nope. Am I saying they are VERY similar? Yup.



I don't see Banksy getting a lawsuit together.



I don't think that's the point, either. I think the point is that it's a VERY similar concept (to where you may argue against the "stream of consciousness" thing)



If you like it, buy it. Or don't. No big deal.



It's still important to call out similarities, especially when the designers are getting paid for their designs (and other designers lose the opportunity to get their designs printed).



jeffreyg
jeffreyg on Jul 13 '09 at 11:23am
other artists' art inspires other artists.



this may or not be inspired by banksy, but who cares. i'm buying it.
band-it
band-it on Jul 13 '09 at 11:25am
haha banksy
averagegoof
averagegoof on Jul 13 '09 at 12:52pm
No need to be rude.
shirtflirt
shirtflirt on Jul 13 '09 at 12:57pm
a lot of banksy's are bankrupt nowadays
Torakamikaze
Torakamikaze on Jul 13 '09 at 12:59pm
i geddit!
randyotter3000
randyotter3000 on Jul 13 '09 at 1:00pm
banksy is pretty cool and so is this design all he said was that they are similar i dont see the problem
shirtflirt
shirtflirt on Jul 13 '09 at 1:03pm
take that to the banksy
sMarsell
sMarsell on Jul 13 '09 at 1:09pm
Just because their is a girl and a floating object means that the two idea do look similar to some degree, I will agree with you on. But if you trying to make a point that there is some kind of stealing or plagiarism then I think your really need to delete this dumb ass blog
Robsoul
Robsoul on Jul 13 '09 at 7:02pm
hahhaa, randyotter3000, you're right, I am angry because I've been accused of ripping off banksy, which was absurd and that fact that banksy's name gets thrown around as the omnipotent god of "art" is also thoroughly amusing.



but more than that, to just accuse an artist and not having any justification is reprehensible. any twit with a 56k modem can log on here and throw out accusations. if there was any credence to this blog the shirt in question would have been removed shortly after becoming public.



averagegoof, no need to be rude, sure, well, no need to accuse someone who has put hours of work and talent into this piece then be labeled by you is truly a terrible thing.... and a rude thing at that. my temper is short for blogs like this, I do not apologize for that at all, only because I've seen them time after time for years and usually by some nameless member who attacks the artist at hand with no consequence.





Robsoul
Robsoul on Jul 13 '09 at 7:05pm
averagegoof on Jan 09 '08

actually i didn't know someone did this design before so don't say i stole or that i don't have originality. thanks. if you don't have anything nice to say then just don't say anything at all. it was my first time submitting something.



it's not cool when people make stupid accusations right? right.

mgill52
mgill52 on Jul 13 '09 at 7:11pm
take that to the banksy



HAHAHAHAHA
fit2btidy
fit2btidy on Jul 14 '09 at 11:18pm
Damn! Robsoul beat me to it, but I must express the same irony in finding your submission was critiqued in the very same way as you are comparing this WINNING piece to Bansky's Balloon Girl.Are you committing social suicide on purpose or are you just trying to make yourself feel better?

Not to be rude averagegoof,but it seems your passive-aggressively started a thread that seems innocent enough by just asking others"What they think",but it implies the way you went about it is ,,,sorry,,,overtly accusatory.

Maybe spend less time on your blogs and more time on YOUR designs..I kinda liked your heart shirt.
azarello
azarello on Jul 14 '09 at 11:34pm
Sick & Tired of banksy's big fan!



FYI, When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realised God doesn’t work that way, so I stole one and prayed for forgiveness - Emo Philips



this was found on banksy's website, so get a life or on the streets n join banksy alright!
152 days later
thebuckiekid
thebuckiekid on Dec 14 '09 at 1:09pm
great t shirt and i want it
Robsoul
Robsoul on Dec 14 '09 at 5:29pm
fit2btidy on Jul 14 '09 at 11:18pm

Damn! Robsoul beat me to it, but I must express the same irony in finding your submission was critiqued in the very same way as you are comparing this WINNING piece to Bansky's Balloon Girl.



I did not compare this to banksy.... in fact, I took the complete opposite stance because I am tired of Banksy being consider the only artist to ever exist besides Van Gogh, so not sure what you read that would give you that impression, maybe because I posted someone's previous comment within my comment? But yeah, I had to deal with the whole Banksy shit on several occasions.


and this:

nvm found the "there is always hope" with the girl letting go of the heart shaped balloon ...

poop