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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Community benefit society
Community benefit societies (BenComs) are incorporated industrial and provident societies (IPS) that conduct business for the benefit of their community. Profits are not distributed among members, or external shareholders, but are instead returned to the community. It…
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…
What works are covered / protected by copyright?
The simple answer is – any original work made in any medium whether visual, musical, dramatic, literary, film, video, TV or sound broadcasts, including artworks (paintings, sculpture, drawings and prints of any…
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…
Making the most out of exhibitions
Exhibitions take a huge amount of time and effort to secure and organise. Think strategically about exhibiting so you get what you need from the process. Ask yourself why you want to exhibit now…
Photographing Art Collections
In May 2007 a conference was held in London to discuss a leading court judgment, made in 1999, which ruled that exact photographic copies of public domain images could not be protected by copyright because the copies…
If I hire a stand at an Art Fair to sell my own artwork, what can I do if the event is cancelled?
You need to check the hire contract for your contractual rights. The company will be in breach…
Public art commissions: expressions of interest
An expression of interest is the first stage in the commissioning process. A Commissioner will: As an Artist you should:
Dear landlord, please don’t put a price on my soul
It happened to artists in New York and Chicago in the sixties, and it’s beginning to happen in London today. Artists seek out and find low cost studio space in…
Self employment
Self employment means that you work for yourself. Many artists work in different short term projects and get paid as a freelancer. Some also have regular employment too. How do artists work? Artists, like everyone else, will work…
Stamp of Approval
The Stamp Art and Postal History of Michael Thompson and Michael Hernandez de Luna was recently published in the US and makes fascinating reading. The authors are mail artists, who teamed up in 1994 to pursue their…
Collaborations
If two or more artists collaborate on a work of art, which one of them will own the copyright of the finished work? What if there has been a creative partnership between two artists and one of them wishes…
Riding the D-Train (part 1)
Because of the unique nature of every practitioner’s financial circumstances, it has seemed impossible over the past nine years to address, in a meaningful way in this column, one vital issue. My failure to do…