who really owns the copyright (Score 1)

Whoa Everyone, slow down a little and do some research. Copyright AUTOMATICALLY belongs to the artist unless they sell that right (which has become an unfortunate trend largely because of shady back room business dealings of companies like Paul Allen's Vulcan). Let me give you an example...if you buy a painting at a gallery, you own the painting, but the artist retains the copyright. So if you want to paste a picture of your newfound art all over coffee mugs and T-shirts, you can't because although you own the art the artist still owns the copyright, get it? In this case the issue should not be with the artist (although it appears that he was stupid enough to sell his copyright) but with the city of Chicago who seems to be over zealously reinforcing these laws. The city is taking a rather gray issue and painting it black and white.