Creative Collaborators: Authors or Assistants?
In this post digital age increasing numbers of artists collaborate to create non traditional works of time based or mixed media, for which a significant global market has developed and is advancing. For art market…
Who Owns Street Art
A Banksy style rat holding a sign asking ‘Why?’ was recently stencilled on the wall outside a London shop from which the Banksy attributed mural Slave Labour had been hacked away a few weeks earlier. This…
How can I get my gallery to disclose the names of my buyers?
This article answers a question that artists regularly ask our legal specialists. So is the Data Protection Act just an excuse and how can you convince your…
Henk Gieskens: Money = Time
I left art school thinking I would find a paid job in a gallery. 5 days a week that covered the rent and bills, and enabled me to buy materials to create art. As well…
Art fairs and tradeshows
What do artists and makers need to know when participating in fairs and trade shows? Tips for art fairs and trade shows
Moral Rights: A Suitable Case for Treatment?
Artists’ moral rights laws have been in force in the UK since 1989. Have they been operating well for the past twenty odd years, or is there room for improvement? This question is…
Self-organised exhibitions
One of the best, and fastest ways of getting an exhibition is organising your own. This article highlights the key things to consider if you decide on a D.I.Y. approach. At the start of your career, you need…
Do I have to pay tax on the award or grant I have been given?
There continues to be no up to date and definitive answer or ruling to the question of whether prizes and awards will be deemed taxable…
Endangered Public Sculptures
Several currently running cases concern the legal status and protection of sculpture in the public environment. In November 2012 the London Borough of Tower Hamlets made a policy decision to sell Henry Moore’s sculpture, Draped Seated Woman,…
What work should I get paid for?
If you work in the arts you should get paid. Even if you volunteer you should get paid expenses so that working does not cost you anything. Many people in the arts do…
Claiming money owed to you through the Courts
If you are owed a small amount of money you have two choices, you must either persuade who owes you money to do so amicably, or you must take court action. As…
Making and selling an artist’s book edition
A detailed case study of Paul Greenleaf’s experiences self publishing and selling an artist’s book edition. In this article he: If you are interested in making artists’ book, also read Tom Sowden’s article…
Commissioning Contemporary Art
There is a real shortage of published material that authoritatively and comprehensively covers the complex and extensive challenges of commissioning new artworks: conceptual, cultural, ethical, managerial, financial and legal. A new book, Commissioning Contemporary Art: a handbook…
Catch-22 Inheritance Tax
The absolute certainty of death and taxes poses an unavoidable estate planning question for owners of artworks: how will they be valued for inheritance tax purposes? A recent valuation dispute between the US Government’s Inland Revenue Service…
Gallery of Lost Art
Summer 2012 in the UK was notable for the opening of two unique exhibitions with closely related themes: invisible art and lost art. On 12 June London’s Hayward Gallery opened ‘Invisible: Art About the Unseen 1957…
Authenticity Certificates Value
What is the essence of a Sol LeWitt wall drawing? What makes these works – which famously exist as a series of instructions, executable by anyone who owns them – authentic LeWitts and not just some lines…
If I use a pseudonym can I sign documents and contracts with a gallery under my legal name?
Historically there have been many artists who have signed their works without using their full legal name, or any part of it,…
How and why do collectors collect?
These films commissioned by Own Art give insight into how and why people decide to collect art. It’s rarely for investment, and overwhelmingly for the happiness living with works of art brings them. The collectors…