Anne-Katrin Purkiss, portrait photographer

Renowned as a portrait photographer who captures the connection between her subjects and their environment, Anne-Katrin Purkiss focuses in particular upon the space of other artists, immortalising in black and white the likes of Elisabeth Frink, Kenneth Armitage and Andy Goldsworthy. On the prompting of a Royal Academy artist who she was photographing at the time, Anne-Katrin Purkiss researched the work that DACS does, and has never looked back.
 
“One of the Royal Academy artists I was photographing assumed that I was 'obviously' registered with DACS, and it was only at that point that I came to look at it in more detail. And I'm glad I did.
 
Earlier this year, I had a request from a well-known gallery who wanted to use one of my pictures on their redesigned website, insisting that there should be no time limit on usage. When I contacted DACS, it turned out that they were already negotiating with the same gallery on behalf of several other contributors, and they simply added my request to the others. They certainly did not grant indefinite usage rights.”




Marcus Harvey, fine artist

Harvey was one of a group of artists who graduated from Goldsmith’s College in the late 1980s and became known as the Young British Artists (YBAs). His infamous painting Myra, first shown in the 1997 exhibition Sensation at the Royal Academy of Arts, sparked widespread media attention. Since then his work has grown to encompass sculpture and, more recently, ceramics and wood carving.

In 2010 he chose us to represent his copyright.

“The advantage of this for me is that anyone wanting to reproduce my images can be directed to DACS.

“Many galleries are often pressured for time and so it relieves the burden on them and it’s good for everyone if there is a certain amount of independence as well in terms of where your images are being looked after.”

Hew Locke, sculptor

Locke explores cultural fusions, using objects as diverse as mass produced toys, souvenirs and consumer detritus to create complex sculptural collages. In recent years he has focused on ideas of Britishness in a global context, showing a fascination and ambivalence for the subject.

He first heard about us through his curator wife, Indra Khanna, and signed up to our Copyright Service soon after.

“There are too many people out there who are not willing to ask permission before publishing work - taking potential income away from me.

“There seems to be a feeling that an artist’s work is for ‘free’. DACS gives me a bit of mental relief in this area. I know it is a cliché but – if you hire a plumber to do a job, you expect to pay them. I have no idea why people think this doesn’t apply to artists.”