Chicago artist and “urban planner” Chris Devins is known for painting large outdoor murals of famous faces. His latest subject: Michelle Obama.
The painting, which is plastered on the side of a building in the neighborhood where the former first lady lived as a child, depicts Obama as an African queen, adorned with a colorful Egyptian-styled headdress.
Shortly after its unveiling, Devins was picked apart online…but not because of how Obama was presented.
Devins was accused of stealing the image from a Rhode Island art student, Gelila Mesfin. Mesfin had posted the portrait of the first lady on her Instagram account last year.
Mesfin’s account is filled with modified images of celebrities - such as the Obamas, Alecia Keys and Rihanna - dressed in traditional African garbs.
She called out Devins over the weekend, after she was notified by her followers that her design had been poached.
“How can you just steal someone's artwork…someone's hard work and claim it like it's yours,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “How can you go on record and say you designed this... this is so disheartening and so disrespectful on so many levels...like this man seriously created a gofundme page, raised money and did this... it's one thing to share or even profit from someone's work but to claim it as yours is just wrong!”
Devins responded to the accusations in an interview with CNN on Tuesday, saying he didn’t even know who Mesfin was until last week. He claims his inspiration was an image he found on Pinterest, whose origins were unknown.
"I credited Ms. Mesfin for her work immediately,” he told CNN. Devins has also offered to pay Mesfin a licensing fee and is currently negotiating with her attorney.
“I’ve taken the heat and will gladly do so as long as the kids have a mural they can look up to,” he added.
The mural sits opposite Obama’s old elementary school.
"I wanted a mural that would serve as an inspiration for the young ladies on Chicago's South Side and young ladies everywhere."
Perhaps it will inspire them not to appropriate others’ work.