The Art Of The Steal  Music Videos Often Incorporate Works By
Other Artists So Much As A By-your-leave. Is This Flattery Or
Outright Theft?  February 2, 1997|By SEAN PICCOLI Music Writer
Regarded by peers as one of the Rembrandts of his trade, music
video director Mark Romanek spent a rare moment in front of the
lights last year when he took home the Grammy Award for Scream,
the jagged, science fiction-themed clip he directed for Michael
and Janet Jackson.  It was not the first time Romanek's work had
turned heads. For the clip accompanying Closer, a 1994 single by
Trent Reznor's industrial rock tribe, Nine Inch Nails, the
director was also cited _ but not by an awards panel.  In that
case, Romanek was accused of theft.  The complaint came from
Santa Fe photographer Joel-Peter Witkin. The Closer clip was, as
Spin magazine would later describe it, ``an animated meltdown''
of Witkin's dark, perverse photography, with images re-created
in acute detail, frame for frame _ and without Witkin's credit
or consent.