Pravda Speaks!

When last we left our intrepid adventurers, art4love.com was down, markyourspot.com was down, (although zombie versions were still be located) nobody was answering phones or e-mail, and much of the internet was hopping mad.

Today, I actually finally got an acknowledgment from Craig Pravda. This guy is A) the name on the paypal account of art4love, and B) shows up on a couple of other shady websites with Chad Love Lieberman, the dude who stole my art, other people’s art, rather foolishly Marvel and DC’s art…etc.

So Craig Pravda has a Google+ account. There is one public post on it. It is about seafood. For lack of any other contact option, I commented there, asking (quite politely, might I add!) about how I could reach Chad Love Lieberman.

Today, I actually got a reply. So far as I’ve heard, this is the first comment any of ’em have made that I’ve run across.

For those not on Google+, it says the following:

Thank you for alerting us,

We have been notified by Art4Love, the company that licensed us the images that they are removing the content that they have provided us and that they have sold their entire collection.

We apologize for any misrepresentations that Art4love or its executives have made about the ownership of their content. We will continue with the game MARK YOUR SPOT and work directly with any artists that want to form BRUNCH TEAMS in their area in the future.

You may contact Art4love at 877-266-5884 or [email protected]

Thank you
Don’t bother with the e-mail, it bounces instantly. The phone might work, I wouldn’t count on it.

I am most interested in the phrase “sold their entire collection.” As far as lies go (and I suspect this is one) this is so utterly the WRONG thing to say that you almost want to take the idiocy and frame it, like a little jewel.

If people are baying for your blood for selling their art without permission, telling them it’s okay, you’ve sold it all now is not the correct answer. It is the least correct answer. It is having someone run up yelling “OH GOD, I’M ON FIRE!” and saying “Oh! Don’t worry, I have matches!” It is someone thrashing on the floor with their throat closing gasping “…epi…pen….dying…” and attempting to open their airway by forcing peanuts into it. It is magnificently wrong.

Due to epic sleuthing by others, (check comments in some past blog posts) we have found all kinds of nifty heads on this hydra, and I am by no means the only one looking into it.

So this is how it stands. At least they know people want their blood, and have said something. On a post. About octopus salad.