Is this copying?

This is too juicy to not post about.

The media is awash with Sam Leach's Wynne winning landscape piece and what looks to be the original piece he "reference" from.

Image taken from ABC news website

What you see on the left is Sam Leach's Proposal for Landscaped Cosmos which recently won the Wynne Prize. On the right is Adam Pynacker's 1660 Boatmen Moored on the Shore of a Lake.

There are quite a few angles on this:

1. Wynne Prize is for a landscape painting of an Australian scenery in oils or watercolours or for the best example of figure sculpture by Australian artists

2. Sam Leach argues that the paintings are different for the following reasons: it is one fifth of the size, important elements from Pynacker's work is not included, there are stars in the sky and reflected in the lake is an LED grid. (Sorry but I couldn't get a better image online of his work)

3. If Sam Leach has been open about his reference, why was it never cited in the media releases?

For more discussion on this, go here.

So now, what do you think? I'd like to know where you stand on this. Should he have won the Wynne Prize?