The Calgary artist behind the public art that used photos of British comedians without permission and prompted an international incident this week has apologized and offered an explanation. Derek Besant's $20,000 piece, installed along the Fourth Street underpass in downtown Calgary two years ago, involves a series of images of people's faces, blurred out with words overtop of them. The common thread was that all the comedians had been involved in the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland and the photos appeared to be taken directly from the festival's guidebook. On Wednesday, Besant admitted to using photos from the guidebook but said he didn't know they were copyrighted material. The City of Calgary said earlier this week it had been in contact with Besant and the artwork was taken down Wednesday evening.

Source: CBC News November 29, 2017 21:56 UTC