At TEDxNYED, Lawrence Lessig gave a talk on the importance of balancing commercial and sharing culture through copyright. “Freedom,” he states, “is [the] opportunity to both have the commercial success of the [] works and the opportunity to build this different kind of culture — and for that to happen, you need ideas like fair [...]

Looking for something to do in the New York area this weekend? Visit the RE/Mixed Media Festival 2010: Sunday, May 30th 2010; 2 PM Galapagos Art Space 16 Main Street DUMBO, Brooklyn FREE! (21 and over) Presented by the League of Independents (LOFI): The RE/Mixed Media Festival is our way of contributing to the ongoing [...]

Less than 5 days after a controversial mural was removed, a second Shepard Fairey work was painted over in Cincinnati, OH. This time, however, police suspect the work of vandals. Sometime between 8PM and 10AM someone rolled cream-colored paint over the Los Angeles artist’s untitled mural. Last week, a Fairey mural deemed too incendiary for [...]

The city of Richmond, CA  has a new weapon to thwart graffiti artists, at least in theory. KTVU Channel 2 News aired the special report on Monday detailing the effort: “the Police asked KTVU not to reveal what the device looks like or how it works but said once activated, it senses when someone is [...]

The image of a child soldier wielding a rifle was too incendiary for some in a Covington, KY neighborhood, including the business owner who sanctioned its installation. Los Angeles artist Shepard Fairey installed 14 murals in the greater Cincinnati area to coincide with his solo exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) (Feb 14 – [...]

Five paintings were stolen from the Musee d’Art Moderne de la ville de Paris Thursday morning. The heist, worth upwards of £500 million, includes Pablo Picasso’s Dove with Green Peas (1912), Henri Matisse’s Pastoral (1906), Amedeo Modigliani‘s The Lady with the Fan (1919), George Braque’s The Olive Tree near Estaque (1906), and Fernand Leger’s Still [...]

It’s not uncommon for artists to settle disputes out of court to avoid protracted litigation. For instance, in 1980 Robert Rauschenberg settled with photographer Morton Beebe after discovering that his photograph was used in Rauschenberg’s seminal work Pull (1974). The agreement included $3,000 and a copy of the work. Whether for financial or PR reasons, [...]

Typically, I get the news I need on the weather report, but a recent string of high ticket art sales has been difficult to ignore. I’m not sure if this is indicative of a waning recession or emblematic of the liquidity of some collectors. Maybe both, as Bloomberg notes that recent sales “reflected confidence in [...]