I am Missy Suicide, founder of SuicideGirls, Artist Richard prince sold photos from my instagram for $90,000 so I made posters of his “art” and am selling them for $90…AMA!

Here is the story…..

• http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/may/27/suicide-girls-richard-prince-copying-instagram
• http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2015/05/25/a-reminder-that-your-instagram-photos-arent-really-yours-someone-else-can-sell-them-for-90000/
• http://www.vulture.com/2014/09/richard-prince-instagram-pervert-troll-genius.html
• http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/stolen-instagram-photo-sells-for-90000-10274267.html

Everyone has been asking me what I thought about famous controversial artist Richard Prince taking a series of SuicideGirls instagram posts and printing them out and selling them at a recent gallery show at the gagosian gallery of beverly hills for $90,000 a piece.

My first thought was I don’t know anyone who can spend $90,000 on anything other than a house. Maybe I know a few people who can spend it on a car. As to the copyright issue? If I had a nickel for every time someone used our images without our permission in a commercial endeavour I’d be able to spend $90,000 on art. I was once really annoyed by Forever 21 selling shirts with our slightly altered images on them, but an Artist?

Richard Prince is an artist and he found the images we and our girls publish on instagram as representative of something worth commenting on, part of the zeitgeist, I guess? Thanks Richard!

Do we have Mr. Prince’s permission to sell these prints? We have the same permission from him that he had from us. ;)

I’m just bummed that his art is out of reach for people like me and the people portrayed in the art he is selling.

So we at SuicideGirls are going to sell the exact same prints people payed $90,000 for $90 each.

I hope you love them. Beautiful Art, 99.9% off the original price. ;)

https://suicidegirls.com/shop/instagram-art-1/ https://suicidegirls.com/shop/instagram-art-2/ https://suicidegirls.com/shop/instagram-art-3/ https://suicidegirls.com/shop/instagram-art-4/ https://suicidegirls.com/shop/instagram-art-5/

We will be donating the profits from sales to EFF.org Urban art publisher Eyes On Walls (EyesOnWalls.com) is supporting the project by fulfilling the large canvas reproductions at cost. AMA!

PROOF: https://twitter.com/SuicideGirls/status/603651365722808320

EDIT: Thanks for all the questions and nice words about SG I'm done after 7 hours. :)

HERE IS MY REPLY TO THE QUESTIONS I DIDN'T GET TO :)

I am really sorry I was not trying to dodge any questions, I DID actually reply to the top question initially my reply is just buried. :) I answered questions for 7 hours and the ones that were at the top during that time were about the Richard Prince issue I set up my IAMA about. These comments and upvotes came up after I had signed off so I missed them but can answer them now in more detail.

About 10 years ago a handful of the thousands of models on my site felt slighted and went to a competitor site. We were sad to see them go, they were friends, it sucked, it felt personal and it hurt and it was lame. We handled things the way that we felt at the time was best, but would we do the same things now, probably not. We learned from the experience and in the ensuing decade people have come and gone largely without incident, we get it, life changes, interests change, dreams and goals shift and girls and photographers leave. Most of the time amiably, occasionally not, but I genuinely wish everyone well.

The non-compete clause, honestly when I started the company I went off of Playboy’s release form, I was 24 had never done this before and thought that seemed like the industry standard. We thought it was too confusing when it was challenged and we changed our release form in 2006 and it has been the same super simple, clear easy to read contract since then you can see it here - https://gmail123456.box.com/s/qbmj1f9pr3w8w8wzaj5e My intent is not to fuck anyone over, if someone decides to model for a competitor I wish them well and we part ways, end of story.

We are up front about our policies, pay scale and use of images, if you are interested you can see the answers to most questions here: https://suicidegirls.com/model/faq/ or here https://suicidegirls.com/model/faq/photographer/ And if you need further clarification we have a 3 person staff to answer your questions, they can be directed to either [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected] If you don’t think it is a good deal for you, I get it, no hard feelings but that is what we pay and what we ask.

We have had thousands of models and photographers who have had great experiences working with us here are some links that detail their experiences - https://suicidegirls.com/members/sunshine/blog/2815185/10-years-on-suicidegirls/ https://suicidegirls.com/members/albertine/blog/2754147/a-decade/ https://suicidegirls.com/members/liryc/blog/2815073/life-after-becoming-a-suicidegirl/ https://suicidegirls.com/members/vayda/blog/2816598/sghw-how-has-sg-changed-your-life/

And a few who’ve had complicated experiences that spark discourse (read the comments) - https://suicidegirls.com/members/dwam/blog/2819390/so-how-has-sg-changed-my-life/

Then there are some who have not had great experiences and felt slighted by us, and it sucks that we can’t reach an accord. Lithium Picnic was someone who we had a disagreement with and it took time to reach an agreement. We eventually did settle things and he has moved on and so have we and I genuinely hope that he is doing well.

We get that what we do is not for everyone. We try to provide a platform where people can express themselves in a supportive community and connect with like minded people. We try to be upfront with our expectations but sometimes people don’t agree with what we do or decisions and there is an impasse. Sometimes I am wrong and sometimes I fuck up and I make the wrong call and the only thing to do is to try to learn from my mistakes. I have also learned that there are sometimes though you just can’t make people happy no matter what you do. I am trying to be a better person every day though but some days are better than others. Generally though my reputation amongst those who have actually dealt with me in the past is positive despite what it says about me on wikipedia and I have gone through enough therapy that I am okay with that. :)

Finally you would once again like to use this opportunity to question my involvement with the company, alright I can answer that too (even if it is so fucking sexist it makes me want to scream, no man would ever have to defend his position in his own fucking company 14+ years in) Yeah Sean is my partner and has been since we started the company and he is a pretty cool dude most of the time ;) He does council me and we do make decisions together and he is very particular about design and he and Courtney Riot who has worked with us for 12 years pretty much do all of that. I run the day to day operations of the company, ask my staff, ask the models who come by the office, or look at my nearly 15 years of ever present history. My staff is overwhelmingly female and I am female so that is where the female run thing comes from, because it IS female run. I do press because I am in the office everyday and started and run the company.

I really hope that answers all of the questions, I honestly did not mean to dodge them and I hope that you enjoy turning the tables on Richard Prince with us. That is getting WAY more attention than I anticipated and I am going to be a bit swamped for the next few days, so I probably won’t be able to engage in follow up questions here but if you need something answered you can e-mail me, I will reply, eventually :)