[SampleMan]

The photo is copyrighted, the subject is not. He is not using the photo. He painted a depiction. If I paint a Ford F150, am I infringing on Ford’s patents?

This is crazy AP crap.

[Scrambler Bob]

You can’t paint Elvis on velvet.

[canuck_conservative]

He is not using the photo.

Actually, I think what he did was to put the photo in PhotoShop and "posterize" it with about 3-4 levels, then painted the result. Easy to do, but he did use the photo.

[Stanwood_Dave]

Ding Ding Ding WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!

Now if only George had urinated into a cup, and put the picture into the cup, THEN IT WOULD ART. /S

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piss_Christ

Piss Christ is a 1987 photograph by the American artist and photographer Andres Serrano. It depicts a small plastic crucifix submerged in a glass of the artist's urine. The piece was a winner of the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art's "Awards in the Visual Arts" competition,[1] which was sponsored in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, a United States Government agency that offers support and funding for artistic projects, without controlling content.