UPDATE [10:27pm, Nov 18]: Success! A day after publishing the story on how a young Canadian girl has been, ehem, taking inspiration from artist Gel Jamlang, we are happy to report an update that yes that something good has happened.

“Kayli Coates has taken down the website that contained all my artwork that she claims are hers. She has also deleted her Twitter and Instagram accounts. Misterdressedup.com took down the t-shirt that had “Lid” as the design,” writes Jamlang on Facebook. She also writes about the experience on her website.



It was writer Karen Kunawicz who first alerted social media about this plagiarism concern, when she saw a design by Jamlang being passed off as Coates’ own, and selling it on a shirt. But it turned out to be something bigger than a shirt.

We reached out to Jamlang as well as to Coates and to the online shop that carried the shirt in question, but it was only Jamlang who replied back to Coconuts Manila. Suppose she was the only one who really needed to.

In any case, all’s well that ends well. Hurrah!

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Writer Karen Kunawicz is fast becoming a “t-shirt police.”

After her exposé of the terribly unfunny rape shirt sold at SM Department Store a few months ago, she now reports another kind of foul, this time against Baltimore-based artist Gel Jamlang.

“Some girl in Canada is passing Gel’s work off as her own and selling it on a shirt,” writes Kunawicz on Facebook. “The image on the cover is called “Lid” — I know because I bought this print about two years ago from Gel on Society 6.”

The girl from Canada, Kayli Coates, is selling the shirt for USD17.72 on an online shop called Misterdressup.com. “My first reaction was alarm, then I got upset,” Gel tells Coconuts Manila over Facebook. “’Lid’ is kind of a self portrait.”

Apparently, this isn’t the first or only thing that the young Canadian has ripped off from the UP-schooled Jamlang. Most of the illustrations found in the Canadian’s website is by Jamlang. “The first pic on her homepage was a doodle I did for Instagram,” Jamlang says.

Playing with watercolor #watercolor #art A photo posted by Gel Jamlang (@geljam) on Nov 11, 2013 at 5:53pm PST

Another one, which Gel calls “Brainstorm,” is a winning notebook design cover for RAW. “Details of that journal could be found in my website, under SHOP.”

There are a few more images that lead Jamlang to believe Coates may have gotten them from her Instagram — like “Betrothal” and “Headspin,” which is an original artwork — because Coates actually blocked Jamlang on IG.

“Before she blocked me on Instagram, I found that she also posted more of my works pretending they’re hers. It looked to me like she reprinted them or copied and then recreated them.”

Plagiarism is a sad state of affairs in the modern world of art. Bernie Sim, one half of art duo Electrolychee, shares they’ve also been a victim of plagiarism or art theft.

“We’ve been had twice! The second time was just this year. It was an animation design for a TVC, with limited use to TV a few years ago, but this year, we saw it on print collaterals. Buti okay kausap yung legal nila.”

She continues: “They don’t know any better kasi. Maski Team Manila, may fake na sa tiangge,” Bernie tries to reason it out. “You don’t think about the consequences of stealing kasi online lang yan. But of course, technology also makes it easier for the aggrieved party to reach out back to you.”

Which is exactly what Gel has already done. “I already messaged her, no reply. I alerted the website where she posted the t-shirt design. I also wrote to websites telling my story. She’s deleted her Twitter account and made her Instagram private. My next goal is to get her to shut down her website containing my work.”

Coconuts Manila has also tried to reach Coates via her website but she hasn’t responded yet.

It’s easy to lose it on social media, make noise, and hope some semblance of conscience will kick in, but Bernie says “baka maipit ka if you fight them online. Baka ikaw pa ang ma-sue for defamation. Kailangan, through proper channels talaga.”

“This is very frustrating,” Gel says, “but we need to talk about it because that is one way to stop this. This needs to be told, and she needs to be exposed.”

Here’s hoping articles such as this will help our artists in their plight.

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