Sure, she painted a huge mural on the side of a building on the Bowery, but that doesn’t mean everyone from Grammy nominees to designers can use it as a backdrop for ads.
Internationally renowned visual artist Maya Hayuk slapped singer Sara Bareilles and her handlers — including Sony Music and Epic Records — with a copyright-infringement lawsuit Wednesday for using images and video of a popular Hayuk mural to promote Bareilles’ music and concert tour.
Hayuk also filed another lawsuit in Manhattan federal court Wednesday against clothing and apparel designer Coach. It raises similar copyright-infringement claims against Coach for using Hayuk’s colorful, geometric 60-foot-by-20-foot mural “Chem Trails NYC” in its ads.
The well-received painting was commissioned for Bowery Mural Wall, an outdoor exhibition space on Bowery and Houston Street.
It went up in February and remained on exhibit until about a month ago.
“Maya is an extremely prolific and hard-working artist,” her lawyer Aaron Silverstein told The Post.
“This is how she pays for rent and feeds herself, so when there’s a misappropriation of her work, it’s a big deal for her.”
The suit alleges the defendants began using unauthorized photos and videos of the mural in May to promote Bareilles’ “Little Black Dress Tour” via ads, Facebook and other social media.
Images of the mural were also used to push Bareilles’ album “The Blessed Unrest,” and third-parties like Ticketmaster were wrongfully instructed by the defendants to use the images when pitching Bareilles’ concerts and music, the suit claims.
Silverstein said he believes Bareilles and the other defendants profited significantly from using the mural in promotional material.
The 45-year-old artist is seeking at least $150,000 in money damages on each of the two suits.
Reps for Sony and Coach declined comment. A publicist for Bareilles did not immediately return messages.