The result of a lawsuit levied against Richard Prince’s “Canal Zone” series of photos has determined that the artist may be forced to destroy the works, as they violate copyright laws protecting the series of photographs appropriated by Prince, “Yes Rasta” by French photographer Patrick Cariou. In the end, what happens to Prince’s work is up to Cariou. The court case revolved around whether or not Prince’s alterations of the Cariou’s photos constituted total transformations of the originals, and thus protected under fair use laws. The answer handed down by the court was that Prince’s works didn’t count as fair use of the images — in a word, Prince’s works were too derivative.
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Guggenheim Leaders Respond to Artist Protest of Abu Dhabi Outpost
Last week, we reported on the growing concern in the visual art and human rights communities about the treatment of workers at the Abu Dhabi Guggenheim project, and this week two Guggenheim leaders have written directly to two prominent artists who signed the petition.
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Maine Gov Removes Labor Dept Mural for Being Pro-Labor [UPDATE]
The Portland Press-Herald is reporting that Maine’s labor leaders believe their Republican governor’s decision to remove a pro-labor mural from the state’s Department of Labor is “political payback” and “a spiteful, mean-spirited move by the governor that does nothing to create jobs or improve the Maine economy.”
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Is Japanese Radiation Bad For Art? [UPDATE]
According to the Japanese Chunichi Shimbun newspaper, an exhibition called The Birth of French Impressionism set to open at the Prefectural Art Museum in Hiroshima City on April 5 has been canceled due to the cancellation of art loans from France. The loans seem to have been canceled because of fear of radiation damage to the artworks due to the Japanese earthquake and its aftereffects on the area’s nuclear power plants. No one wants to see an irradiated Cezanne! Yet a glance at a map of Japan shows that the French could be worrying a little too much. [Hat tip to Annie Bissett]
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Williamsburg Luminary Meredith Allen Passes Away
On March 17, artist Meredith Allen (1964-2011) passed away after a three year battle with cancer. We’ve reproduced an image from her popular Melting Ice Pops series that, Ed Winkleman (Winkleman Gallery) writes, are “addictively sensuous images [that] became Meredith’s break-out series and are included in many collections around the world.”
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Human Rights Watch Endorses Protest Against Gulf Guggenheim
In reaction to exploitative conditions for construction laborers at the site of the upcoming Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, an international group of artists and art world figures are boycotting the Guggenheim, refusing to “participate in museum events or sell work to the museum,” reports the New York Times and today, Human Rights Watch endorsed the artist protest.
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Walker Art Center Snags Merce Cunningham’s Art Collection
The Star-Tribune has the story of how Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota purchased a treasure trove of American art accumulated by dance legend Merce Cunningham. The stash “includes at least 150 major objects and perhaps thousands of smaller items,” according to the newspaper.
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NYT Goes Museums, Hosts Twitter Chat [LIVEBLOG]
In the mood for some museum news? You’re in luck, because the New York Times has more than you could EVER READ. Their annual special “Museums Section” was just published, and we sorted it for you. Check out a selected list of their stories here, plus stay tuned for an NYT Twitter chat this afternoon about museums and social media. [UPDATE] We have a collection of the best tweets from the #nytmuseums conversation in this liveblog.
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Final Report Says 54 Objects Missing from Egyptian Museum
Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities has released the final list of the historic objects that have gone missing from the Egyptian Museum since the January 25th revolution began … while in Spain, a museum finds a van Dyck in its basement.
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The Ides of March Auctions
The New York Observer has a report about the recent New York art auctions and it lists who the author thinks are some of the winners and losers … In other news, BBC announced that China just became the second biggest auction market in the world.
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Murakami Asks People to Tweet Art in Support of Japan
On Sunday, Murakami issued a statement in the wake of the devastating Sendai earthquake in Japan asking people to show their support of Japan by tweeting original art with the hashtag, #newday_GEISAI.
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The Banksy Elephant in the Room
Remember one of Banksy’s recent pieces in Southern California titled “This Looks A Bit Like An Elephant,” which was removed and is now for sale. Well, according to Vandalog, Tachowa Covington (aka Rollerball) has lived inside the tank for about seven years. He says that he saw Banksy paint the tank and he is now homeless. [via Vandalog]
