Good News about Our Disgusting National Gallery

I am disgusted in our National Gallery. The gallery you might expect to be our nation’s strongest advocate for the rights of visual artists is opposed to fair treatment of Canadian visual creators to the extent that they have fought our advocates all the way to the Supreme Court. This is not our government fighting us; this is the leadership of the National Gallery.

Canadian Artists Representation/le Front des artistes Canadiens [CARFAC] and le Regroupment des artists en arts visuals du Quebec [RAAV] are the two organizations that have been working with Canadian public galleries to secure fair and reasonable exhibition fees for the artists the galleries show—these are galleries that do not sell work, often charge admission and exist only to show visual art.

In 1980, along with other nations, Canada signed a declaration of commitment to improve the financial situation of artists. Our government then passed The Status of the Artist Act (SAA) that allows professional arts organizations (CARFAC and RAAV for us) to negotiate collective agreements with federal institutions to cover things such as artists’ fees and working conditions.

Then, in 1988, our government added the exhibition rights to the Copyright Act giving artists the right to expect payment when their work is, “presented at a public exhibition, for a purpose other than sale or hire.” Consequently, the fair payment of artists’ exhibition fees has become standard professional practice in Canada.

CARFAC and RAAV began negotiations with the National Gallery in 2004. Discussions progressed for two years and then, in 2007, the Gallery ceased negotiations. They based their decision to conclude negotiations and oppose the fair payment of artist exhibition on a refusal to recognize CARFAC’s and RAAV’s right to negotiate for Canadian visual artists. They believe that there is a conflict between the objectives of the Copyright Act and the Status of the Artist Act. 

In 2008, CARFAC filed a complaint with the Canadian Artists and Producers Professional Relations Tribunal (CAPPRT—sorry for all these acronyms). It is the body that oversees the SAA. That action led to unsuccessful mediation sessions that lasted for over a year. Finally, in 2012, the Tribunal found the Gallery guilty of bargaining in bad faith. The Gallery then asked for a judicial review in the Federal Court of Appeal and the Tribunal decision was overturned on a split vote of two to one.

Here’s what CARFAC has to say about the decision:

In essence, the National Gallery believes that the Copyright Act, which protects the rights of individual artists, trumps the Status of the Arts Act, which allows artists to organize collectively. They believe that because CARFAC and RAAV do not have copyright assignments from all individual Canadian artists, we do not have the right to negotiate minimum fees for their work. 

The CARFAC explanation (above) successfully explains the legal basis of the National Gallery of Canada’s opposition to the payment of artists’ exhibition fees. But why, you might ask, is Canada’s foremost exhibition hall for visual artists so opposed to fair treatment of the artists they exploit to earn their visitor admission fees? (General admission is $12; seniors & students admission tickets cost $10; youth admissions are $6.)

The split decision is why CARFAC and RAAV appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada to fight for our rights. I believe the Court may shame the Gallery in their ruling but to win CARFAC and RAAV need your help. Please visit the carfac.ca to donate specifying that your donation is to help fight the Supreme Court case against the National Gallery.

Sad Commentary on Public Taste

From Neatorama:

There's many path of to artistic fame, but Cecilia Gimenez's is unique: back in 2012, the amateur octagenarian artist decided to help "restore" a deteriorated fresco called Ecce Homo at her local church, painted over 100-years ago by Spanish painter Elias Garcia Martinez. 

The end result of Gimenez' "restoration," described as a "crayon sketch of a very hairy monkey in an ill-fitting tunic," was widely mocked on the Internet. The restored version has been called "Ecce Mono" (or Behold the Monkey, a pun on its original name) and "Potato Jesus." 

The ridicule was so bad that the priest of the church had considered covering up the painting. But thank goodness that didn't happen, because the botched painting turned out to be quite a boon to the local town of Borja, Spain. Since gaining worldwide attention, the infamous fresco has raised more than 50,000 euros (US$66,660) for a local charity and drawn more than 40,000 visitors. 

And things are definitely looking up for Gimenez: the 80-year-old artist has sold her art on eBay for thousands of dollars. She now has her own art exhibit, where two dozens of her other works are on show. No word, however, on whether she'll attempt another restoration anytime soon.

Kickstarter Goes Canadian (and British)

Canadians who want to crowdfund a film, video game or other project can now start building a page on Kickstarter, for public launch as soon as Sept. 9.

U.S. crowdfunding giant Kickstarter announced on its blog Monday that effective immediately, Canadians were invited to click on the "start your project" button on the company's homepage. Canada has now been added to the U.S. and U.K. in the drop-down menu that pops up.

The New York City-based Kickstarter announced in June that it would soon start allowing projects from Canadian creators. As of Tuesday, the company's own statistics say it has helped raise $627 million for 109,294 projects since it launched in 2009, including the high-profile Pebble smartwatch, Ouya gaming console and Veronica Mars movie.

Kickstarter takes five per cent of the money raised by projects that meet their fundraising target, while another three per cent plus 20 cents per pledge typically go to the company that processes the payments. Funders do not pay the money they pledged and Kickstarter does not receive any money for projects that don't meet their fundraising goal.

In conjunction with its Canadian launch, Kickstarter is hosting a series of meetups and workshops across the country over the next few weeks, which are posted on its Canadian homepage. As of Tuesday afternoon, events in Toronto and Montreal between Aug. 8 and Aug. 13 were sold out.

While Canadian projects previously had access to other crowdfunding platforms, such as San Francisco-based Indiegogo and Vancouver-based Fundrazr, Kickstarter is by far the largest and most popular, generating a much larger volume of web traffic, according to the Crowdfunding Press Center blog. Consequently, it potentially provides access to a larger community of funders and therefore more money.

Guests, Summer and Athma

Summer is always way too much fun to accommodate blogging. Plus, guests come and go, asthma comes and goes (and when it comes, everything stops) and these are times to play in one of the world's most spectacular cities and my home, Vancouver. Back soon ....

Artmaking as Factory

Abbey House artist Jakub Slomkowski, whose work will be shown at the Saatchi's Polish Art Now exhibition.

From The Guardian...

What if someone came up with a scheme that offered artists financial security while giving them time to work and develop their practice? Abbey House, an auction house and gallery based in Warsaw, Poland, has done just that. 

Set up in 2010 by a young team with backgrounds in business and the luxury sector, the company has agreements with nine Polish artists – some established names, some emerging talent – paying them each a monthly stipend in exchange for an agreed number of works per month. Abbey House then sells these works, via monthly hammer auctions and through private sales, to a growing group of largely Polish collectors. 

But here's the catch. Aside from their fixed salaries and occasional bonuses triggered when a certain number of works are sold, the artists see nothing from these sales. All proceeds go to Abbey House, which is also free to do what it likes with any works that go unsold. The other kicker? These contracts are exclusive and last five years. 

Curious about this new model, I travelled to Warsaw in advance of an exhibition that Abbey House is presenting at the Saatchi Gallery in London.

Link.

Civic Collections & Civic Bankruptcy

This is a shocking development...

After walking up the stairs of the Woodward Avenue entrance to the Detroit Institute of Arts, passing one of Rodin's "Thinker" statues and entering the main lobby, visitors are quickly drawn toward a sky-lit courtyard with four walls painted by Diego Rivera. The frescoes signify, in many ways, the museum's identity: art at an awe-inspiring scale, serving as a testament to the industrial heyday of the Motor City. 

Rivera's work, and the rest of the DIA's contents, may soon be seen merely as financial assets in the eyes of creditors looking to get back the massive amounts of long-term debt the city of Detroit owes, currently estimated to be as much as $15 billion. The DIA's collection is believed to be worth billions, and art museums do sell off parts of their collection from time to time, though usually to acquire other art. 

"This is unprecedented in the history of any art museum," says the museum's vice president, Annemarie Erickson. "We’re in unchartered waters."

From The Atlantic CIties. Link.