For the second time, the Russian plastic artist, Grigory Korasov, accused the Egyptian graphic designer, Ghada Wali, of stealing his designs and using them without his permission in an advertising campaign for a carbonated water company, which sparked a war of words between the two sides.
The artist’s lawyer said that Korasov discovered that one of his paintings and artistic drawings was used in an advertisement on all media and television channels of the “Pepsi” company, according to his statements to “Cairo 24”.
The lawyer explained that the Russian artist decided to take legal action against Pepsi and designer Ghada Wali, and demanded huge financial compensation and an official apology from the company for these unjustified acts of stealing a person’s effort and work and attributing them to them.
According to the Russian artist’s lawyer, Korasov has all the documents indicating that the drawings that appeared in the advertisements belong to him.
In July 2022, the Russian plastic artist accused the Egyptian graphic designer of stealing four paintings from his works, and using them with minor changes to the murals of the Girls College metro station in the capital, Cairo.
The metro administration removed this mural and apologized to the Russian artist at the time, according to Egyptian media, including the “Masrawy” website.
Ghada Wali, for her part, denied the accusations of the Russian artist, and said that they were “completely false and have no basis in truth.”
In a press release published by several Egyptian media outlets, Wali confirmed that her designs for the campaign are original and have no connection to the Russian artist’s drawings.
And she considered that the Russian artist seeks to gain fame at her expense by falsely accusing her from time to time of stealing his paintings without providing any evidence.
She said that the Russian artist took advantage of her reticence to remain silent and not respond to his previous accusations regarding the subway mural designs, which resulted in a “trend” on social media, to decide, after several months of the incident, to repeat the ball again.
In a related context, the Egyptian graphic designer published a video clip on her Facebook account, in which she said that she “had a major crisis last year, and she did not return at the time because she was in trouble due to childbirth.”
She pointed out that the campaign for the carbonated water company was from 2018, and said, “I drew these drawings with my own hands and they are available on the Internet.”
And she confirmed that she respects all artists inside and outside Egypt, adding, “I will resort to the Egyptian judiciary, and I will not abandon my right.”
