Recently we reported that an artist on TikTok believed their Enchanted Tiki Room Drummer piece was copied by Disney, and when you examine the evidence provided, he makes a very strong case.
In his original video @monstercaesarstudios gave Disney the benefit of the doubt and said it was likely a freelancer who wanted an easy pay day, but as it turns out, it wasn’t a freelancer credited to this piece, there is a named artist on the piece.
@monstercaesarstudios Update on @disneyparks stealing my work #arttheft #disney #3dartist ♬ original sound – Andrew Martin – Sculptor
When you look at the bottom of the sculpture it lists Costa Alevezos as the artist. Costa has been the “Product Design Manager” for the Walt Disney Company for almost six years. Prior to that he has worked at the company as an artist since 1997.
The artist on TikTok stated that they “should have known better.”
“Yeah not some freelancer. This is someone that should know better than to steal another artist’s work and then try to take credit for it.”
He then goes on to question how many other pieces did this happen to.
If true, he does raise an excellent question. Beyond this person, are there others? Is this an individual choice or an accepted practice in the culture of the company?
The evidence presented by the artist on TikTok has been very compelling. The odds that another artist put the exact same circles together, a dent in the exact place, and lines all in those exact places are pretty slim.
It will be interesting to see if Disney responds now that media is picking this up. Honestly, I think they will just hope it goes away or they will pay the artist to keep him quiet.
I did love what the video ended with “I’m not disappointed. I’m just mad.” As he should be!
What do you think? Comment and let us know!
Source: A friend
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