While urine and vomit are popular, a knife remains the favorite means of defacing works. For further reading visit artcrimes.net. Title: The History of Sex (Photos) Artist: Andres Serrano Year: 2007 Perpetrator: 4 masked vandals Method: Smashed with crowbars and axes Title: Fountain Artist: Marcel Duchamp Year: 2006 Perpetrator: Pierre Pinoncelli Method: Chipped with Hammer Title: [...]

In addition to the Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA) (17 USC 106A), there are 12 individual states with codified moral rights. See also “Know Your Moral Rights” for an overview of moral rights in the context of Wojnarowicz v. American Family Association (745 F.Supp.130 S.D.N.Y.,1990). California, Cal. Civ. Code § 987 (West 1982) (Supp. 1996): [...]

The Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA) (17 USC 106A) of the Copyright Act embodies an artist’s “Moral Rights.” Moral Rights generally include the right to attribution of one’s work, the right of integrity, and the right to disclosure. While twelve states have moral rights acts, they serve to supplement the federal law since its implementation [...]

Mark Rothko died testate on February 25, 1970 leaving an estate consisting primarily of 798 paintings. Within three weeks, the co-executors of his estate, Bernard J. Reis, Theodoros Stamos, and Morton Levine hastily executed 2 contracts disposing of the majority of the paintings. Rothko’s daughter (Kate) and son (Christopher), in addition to the Mark Rothko [...]

The Pirate Bay founders are found guilty, sentenced to a year in jail, and ordered to cough up $3.6 million (30 million kronor). I think it’s time to file an appeal. More here.

What started as a gesture by Los Angeles based graphic designer Shepard Fairey to show his support for a Presidential candidate has turned in to a street born viral marketing campaign for Democratic Nominee Barack Obama. It seems that Obama’s proposed policy for the future of the Arts has inspired a fervor at the grassroots [...]

In 1979, the United States General Services Administration (GSA) selected Richard Serra to create an outdoor sculpture for installation at 26 Federal Plaza in lower Manhattan. The sculpture was commissioned under GSA’s art-in-architecture program which mandated that one half of one percent of the construction cost of federal buildings is reserved for funding artworks by [...]