Fundamental Enquiries
A fundamental problem artists continually bring to Artlaw is the need for basic information and advice on how to set up and maintain a ‘business’ as an artist; it’s a question of survival. It has been the aim…
Management Of Creativity 30 Years On
In October 1976 the first issue of Art Monthly carried the first Artlaw column. Have things improved, worsened, or stayed pretty much the same over the last 30 years? From Jennie Lee’s appointment as…
Charitable incorporated organisation
A Charitable Incorporated Organisation, or CIO, is a new legal form for a charity, brought in by the 2011 Charities Act. A CIO: is an incorporated form of charity which is not a company only has to…
Posthumous Artworks
Blinky Palermo’s reputation was given a major boost through retrospective exhibitions in Barcelona and at London’s Serpentine Gallery in 2003. This, in turn, has led to funding recently being achieved by Edinburgh College of Art to ‘rescue’ one…
National Insurance
Employees and self employed people must also pay National Insurance (NI) as well to pay for benefits and pensions. NI is separate from income tax. It pays specifically for unemployment benefits for yourself if you become unemployed. If…
Money
Income Tax and the achievement and maintenance of self employment or ‘freelance’ status is a recurring theme of these pieces; as is the link between freelance working and claiming welfare benefits (although the names of those benefits have changed…
When I Paint my Masterpiece
Dear Henry, Recently I was amazed to see a portrait I had painted reproduced photographically on a poster in the city where I live. I managed to acquire a copy of the poster and saw…
Collective Bargaining
Last month's column focused on the selling power of those few artists whose works have established a strong market value, and their ability to pick and choose – or blacklist – their purchasers or dealers. To redress the…
Strategies for the Arts
The UK’s general election on May 5 smartly follows the ‘electorate friendly’ annual budget statement made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in March 2005. What will the election manifestos of the UK’s main political parties…
Conservation, Restoration and Replication of Modern Sculpture
Tate Modern will host a colloquium, Inherent Vice: the replica and its implications in Modern Sculpture, this month. With the support of by The Andrew W Mellon Foundation, 40 specialists from a range…
Working as an artist: part II
On the evening of October 4 1979, in London, Eduardo Paolozzi (EP), his assistant Marlee Robinson (MR), John Hoyland (JH) and Brian Clarke (BC) met and recorded a discussion with lawyer Henry Lydiate (HL)…
Copyright and Moral rights: New legislation (introduction)
On October 30 1987, the Government introduced into the House of Lords the long overdue measure to reform the law of copyright and other intellectual property: The Copyright, Designs and Patents Bill'. It…
Selling is Easy
Selling work is easy: give it to the buyer and take the money. However, many artists and buyers care about what might happen to the work in the future: buyers are often concerned about originality, size of edition…
Types of artist commission
This article introduces different kinds of commissions. It suggests things to consider when taking one on. What is a commission? A ‘commission’ can cover different opportunities, including: Types of commissioner There are many different kinds of…
What is copyright infringement?
Copyright infringement takes place where there is copying of all or a substantial part of an image – unless a ‘fair dealing’ or ‘substantial part’ exception applies, or unless it is only the ideas or concepts that…
Copyright and Moral rights: New legislation (part 3)
What remedies are available for Copyright Infringements? Last month’s column continued our three part examination of the new Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988, shortly coming into force (the precise date will…
The Tax Man Cometh
Reading last month’s Page Two (Art Monthly No.74) contribution by Jennifer Oille, reporting the apparently unfair and inequitable treatment of artists under Canadian tax laws, stimulated some comparison with our own regime; sharing these thoughts might…
Second Year Review
The UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) is currently conducting a post implementation review of the first two years’ operation of the Artist’s Resale Right (ARR), introduced into UK law in February 2006 and throughout the rest of…