Las Vegas artist settles with Ariana Grande after copyright claim
A Las Vegas artist has reached a confidential settlement with pop star Ariana Grande after he accused her of using his imagery in a music video without his permission.
The artist, Vladimir Kush, argued in January that an image of Grande in her 2018 “God is a Woman” music video was “nearly identical” to imagery in two of his paintings, according to a federal copyright infringement claim filed in Nevada.
Veteran Las Vegas entertainment attorney Mark Tratos, who is representing Kush, said on Wednesday that the settlement was successful but otherwise declined to comment, citing the confidentiality agreement.
Lincoln Bandlow, Grande’s Los Angeles attorney, said both parties reached a settlement that “satisfied everybody.”
“It was interesting copyright case,” Bandlow said.
The scene in question depicted Grande’s silhouette as the wick of a large candle, surrounded by a single burning flame. Beams of light radiated outward into a cloudy blue-sky background.
It first appears 1 minute and 9 seconds into the video, which has garnered more than 244 million views since it was posted in July 2018.
Both of Kush’s paintings depict the silhouette of a woman as the wick of a large candle. In each painting, a flame surrounds and rises above the female figure, her arms outstretched above her, and beams of light radiate outward. Both paintings are backed by a cloudy blue sky.
“While there are many ways to depict a woman dancing in the wick of a candle — even with a heavenly background — Defendants clearly copied Mr. Kush’s expression of this idea,” the lawsuit alleged.
Kush obtained copyright registrations for each of the fine art paintings about 20 years ago — “The Candle” in 1999 and “The Candle 2” in 2000. Copies of the images are available on his website.
According to the lawsuit, he only discovered the “God is a Woman” scene after reading about the video’s imagery in a news story. When he saw how similar it was to his work, he was “shocked.”
Kush has galleries in California, Hawaii and Las Vegas. The corporation that operates his business, Kush Fine Arts Las Vegas, was also named as a plaintiff.
Contact Rachel Crosby at rcrosby@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3801. Follow @rachelacrosby.