Artist Resale Rights News (From CARFAC)

Ottawa, Thursday, May 30, 2013 - Support across parties is building in Ottawa for the Artist's Resale Right. NDP MP Pierre Nantel recently put a motion on the Order Paper of the House of Commons supporting the Artist's Resale Right and Liberal MP Scott Simms introduced a private member's bill yesterday. Some Conservative Members of Parliament have expressed their support to CARFAC for visual artists and the concept of the Artist's Resale Right. These include Gerald Keddy, Member of Parliament for South Shore - St. Margaret's.

The Artist Resale Right will give artists 5% from the resale of their work through auction houses and commercial galleries. It is common for visual art to appreciate in value over time, as the reputation of the artist grows. For example, acclaimed Montreal artist Marcel Barbeau gave a painting to a friend in the 1950s that resold in 2008 for $75,000. Barbeau didn't receive a penny from this sale.

"There's support from all over Canada, from North to South, to make sure Canadian artists can benefit from the resale of their works here and abroad," said Nantel. "Now we also have the support from MPs from across the political spectrum. Artist Resale Right exists in dozens of countries like France, the UK and Australia: now's the time to make it a reality in Canada." 

"At least 69 nations now provide compensation to artists as their works are sold," said Mr. Simms. "Sadly, Canada has no regime in place to provide fair compensation for Canadian artists and it is now time that we take our place. Like most other occupations, it is time for our artists to receive recognition for their vision, hard work, and dedication to their craft.

At the same time, support has been building among art market professionals. Earlier this month, Ritchies auction house announced that they would voluntarily pay the Artist's Resale Right starting with the inaugural Project Contemporalis in May.

"Auction houses have been profiting from the works of great Canadian artists without giving anything back for far too long," said Gordon Gothreau, head of Ritchies contemporary art department. "Canada must do more to protect its artists - granting artists resale rights is the first step on a long road."

URGENT: You can send a support email to your MP (if you are Canadian) by clicking here. Your MP is automatically selected for you so the process is very simple. 

Art Critique Rant (Performance Art)

You may have seen this video if you are interested in visual art and are a blog junky like me. Well, the blog Laughing Squid posted today that it is, in fact, a fake crit—well, not fake exactly. The artist purposefully did a dreadful painting hoping to elicit negative response from those critiquing her so that she could stage (and film) her rant.

The Value of Peer Assembly

Because visual artistry tends to be a solitary endeavor, I have long been an advocate of peer assembly, encouraging artists to take courses, join collectives, partner for commissions and join visual arts service organizations online and or in their communities. So I was happy to discover this text by Leonardo da Vinci:

“I say and say again that to draw in company is much better than working alone, for many reasons, the first of which is that you would be ashamed to feel inferior to the other students, and this shame will make you study well; secondly good envy [la invidia bona] [sic] will stimulate you to be among the number who are more praised than you, and the lauding of the others will spur you on.”  

I love that term, "good envy," and although this quotation is about the advancement of the artist's technique, I think getting together with your peers is very important for career advancement—you are individually involved with solitary wheel reinvention without it.

Rembrandt Flash Mob

How they made it (in Dutch, but still interesting):

Nudity in Art on Facebook: The Problem

Detail of "Ema (Akt auf einer Treppe)," 1966 by Gerhard Richter.

If you are interested in an insightful consideration of the problem of posting art that contains nudity on Facebook or if your are interested in Internet censorship, read this article from Blouin ArtInfo by Terri Ciccone. It is an interesting read.

To get at the root of the problem, it helps to know how Facebook goes about identifying and removing obscene content in the first place. When an image depicting “sexually explicit” content gets reported by a Facebook user, it heads to the “abusive content” department, one of four teams that work around the world and around the clock to monitor time-sensitive material (the process is detailed by a chart on the website NakedSecurity.) 

The team then measures the photo against Facebook’s community standards, which define what type of content is prohibited, including content containing violence and threats, self harm, bullying and harassment, and “graphic content,” which among other things includes nudity and pornography.  

If the image is found to have violated a standard, the team will issue a warning. A second offense causes the account to be disabled. There is no algorithm or auto-delete that searches for offensive content, save for a software called PhotoDNA, which polices the platform for child pornography. 

We reached out to Facebook for a clarification on what is acceptable and what is not, given the recent scuffles over artworks. In an email, Frederic Wolens, a representative of Facebook’s Policy Communications, explained....