During his long career, Bob Dylan has marched against the Vietnam War, campaigned for the civil rights movement and written progressive anthems that highlight such social blights as poverty, racism, criminality and nuclear proliferation.
Now the voice of a generation faces a battle which may end up leaving him onthe wrong side of history. It pits the multi-millionaire pop legend against Rob Oeschle, a middle-aged photography enthusiast from Pennsylvania.
Oeschle, 58, is otherwise known as Okinawa Soba, the owner of an account on the photo-sharing website Flickr.
It emerged last week that several of the paintings in Dylan's latest New York art show were direct copies of pictures from that very feed.
"It's plagiarism, pure and simple," Oeschle told the Independent. "If a writer were to use a phrase from Shakespeare, and not credit him, or attribute it in any way, that's what they'd be accused of. There's an ethic expected of an artist, and Bob Dylan should be good enough to have it."
When Dylan's show opened at the Gagosian Gallery in Manhattan last month, the 18 oil paintings were billed as a visual journal of his travels in Asia. In its catalogue, the singer claimed: "I paint mostly from real life."
It has since emerged, however, that at least half of the works are copied from the internet. Six of them came from Oeschle's Flickr account, which contains antique photos of Japan which he collected during 30 years as a resident of Okinawa. "Why didn't he just credit the source?" said Oeschle.
"That would be the civil thing to do: give credit, say thanks, and acknowledge where the idea came from. If someone made a record that copied Dylan's music, he'd hit the roof."
The musician also claimed the art represented fictitious locations.
A Dylan painting called Shanghai was based on a photo taken in Guangzhou. One called Mae Ling, a Chinese name, was cribbed from a shot of the Ainu, an indigenous people from Japan.
Dylan did not breach copyright since the antique images from Oeschle's Flickr are too old to be protected by proprietary laws.
His failure to own up to their provenance is a flagrant breach of Flickr etiquette, says Oeschle.
"It's sad, because I'm a fan of Dylan." But, he adds: "I guess you could say the times, they are a-plagia-rising."
