
Penelope Umbrico

(Not) Easy Canvases (Kinkos), 2013–2015
15 Archival giclée prints on polyester canvas with UV protective coating
20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm), each
Edition 1/3, 2 APs
Part of Umbrico's Four photographs of Rays of Sunlight in Grand Central Station, Grand Central Terminal, 1903–1913, 1920, 1926, 1928, 1929, 1934, 1937, 1940, 1930–1940, 1935–1941, 1947, or 2010 by...
Part of Umbrico's Four photographs of Rays of Sunlight in Grand Central Station, Grand Central Terminal, 1903–1913, 1920, 1926, 1928, 1929, 1934, 1937, 1940, 1930–1940, 1935–1941, 1947, or 2010 by John Collier, Philip Gendreau Herbert, Edward Hulton, Kurt Hulton, Edward Lunch, Maxi, Hal Morey, Henry Silberman, Warren and Wetmore Trowbridge, Underwood & Underwood, Unknown, or Anonymous (Courtesy: Associated Press, the author, Bettmann/ Corbis, Hal Morey/ Getty Images, Getty Images, Hulton Collection, Hulton-Getty, Hutton Collection, New York City Municipal Archives, New York Transit Museum, New York City Parks and Landmarks, Royal Geographical Society, SuperStock/ Corbis, Underwood & Underwood, Warren and Wetmore, or Image in Public Domain) series, (Not) Easy Canvases (Kinkos) is comprised of images Umbrico found online of the iconic black and white public domain photograph of sun rays through windows at Grand Central Terminal. She identified four versions of this original image of Grand Central, repeated over multiple websites selling the images as posters, vintage prints, or canvases—all treated with different color filters, croppings, and copyright watermarks. For each of these images, Umbrico attempted to find the attribution, which, on these sites, is as varied as the aesthetic treatments of the images. These attributions are included in the title. For the canvases, Umbrico attempted to have the companies that make them give her the actual image that is on their website with the copyright mark, but not a single company would do this. She finally just copied the copyrighted image from the websites and had Kinkos make the canvases.
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