Xiaomi caught ripping off an artist’s work — including art commissioned by LG

Elon Musk may not be capable of crediting an artist, but there was never any question that infamous picture of Nier: Automata’s 2B wasn’t his. Chinese consumer electronics giant Xiaomi, on the other hand, appears to have blatantly stolen and combined not one or two, but three pieces of art from the same 3D artist to help promote its devices in Spain.

What you see at the top of this post is the hero image from Xiaomi Spain’s website — the first thing you see when you land on Xiaomi’s homepage.

Now, take a look at this piece of art. Look familiar?

3D artist Peter Tarka tells The Verge that he created it in May 2018 as part of his Installations collection, as you can see here on his Behance portfolio. It looks like Xiaomi’s artists barely changed a thing — simply swapping out the ramps and balls for renders of the company’s products.

Oh, but it gets better. See that green chair on the left, and the hanging lamp on the right?…