Art Exhibit Plans to Showcase Celebs' Hacked Photos

Jennifer Lawrence's explicit photos could wind up in a gallery.

ByABC News
September 5, 2014, 10:54 AM

— -- A Florida gallery says it's going to showcase the hacked photos of starlets -- including Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton -- as part of an art exhibit about privacy in the age of the Internet.

The leaked images will be printed on huge canvases and added to Los Angeles artist XVALA's ongoing "Fear Google" project, Cory Allen Contemporary Art said on its website. The St. Petersburg, Florida, showroom will put the images on display on Oct. 30, as part of XVALA's "No Delete" show.

"The artist and myself were both really inspired and encouraged by the way people are reacting to this -- both positive and negative," founder Cory Allen told ABC News. "It's inspiring to see that people are angry, and that they care about privacy in an age where everyone gives away their information."

Update: Cory Allen told ABC News on Sept. 10 the art gallery has changed its mind about showing the celebrities' nude photos, and that they would no longer be a part of the exhibit.

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The point of the project is "to show how technology is consuming us," Allen added.

The latest installment is part of a seven-year art project about privacy, he said. It also includes paparazzi photos of celebrities. The timing of the celeb photo hack was a coincidence, he said.

Allen said he and the artist aren't too worried about police interference, and won't show any photos they believe were taken of the celebrities when they were underage. As for any potential legal hurdles, he said "we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

And they will probably have to, according to attorney Brad Shear, who specializes in digital issues.

"Their fair use claim would be very weak, because at the end of the day these are just stolen images," Shear told ABC News.

The artist and gallery owner could potentially be violating privacy laws, revenge porn laws and copyright laws by using the images, he said.

Allen stressed that the gallery doesn't condone hacking, but the goal of the exhibit is to continue the social conversation about privacy.

Kate Upton and Jennifer Lawrence vowed to go after hackers after the leaked images surfaced.

"This is obviously an outrageous violation of our client, Kate Upton's, privacy," attorney Lawrence shire said. "We intend to pursue anyone disseminating or duplicating these illegally obtained images to the fullest extent possible."

Liz Mahoney, a spokesperson for Jennifer Lawrence, has said the actress will "prosecute anyone who posts the stolen photos."

Mahoney and Shire did not immediately respond to ABC News request for comment on this specific matter.