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Stormtrooper ‘Art Wars’ sparks legal action

A number of artists, including several well-known names, are considering legal action against London-based curator and artist Ben Moore. They say that Moore created a collection of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) tied to their works without owning the copyright or license to create additional works from their original design. surname. The “Art Wars” collection is an online project of 1,138 NFTs of which about 100 are made from photographs of Stormtrooper helmets. They were originally designed by artists such as Anish Kapoor and Jake & Dinos Chapman for a separate charity project that was shown at the Saatchi Gallery in London in 2013.

As of November 6, sales from the NFT collection have raised more than 1,600 ETH (about £5 million) on the OpenSea platform, according to Jon Sharples, an associate at Canvas Art Law who represents several artist.

“In the short term, it would not be efficient to say that NFTs represent some sort of gray area to which the current rules do not apply. This is the first episode to involve several prominent artists in the contemporary art world having their work tied to the NFTs without their permission,” said Sharples.

Ben Moore says he’s “sorry that some artists were taken by surprise by the online launch and he has since removed works at their request. All participating artists receive royalties from relevant sales, he adds. Over the past few weeks, he said, “It was like diving into a world that I had never been in before. NFT and the crypto universe is a different landscape.” At the time of writing, the entire Art Wars collection has been removed from OpenSea.


Christine Bourron, chief executive officer of art market analysis firm, Pi-eX, said this month’s megawatt auctions in New York brought 2021’s total public sales to nearly double what it was. thwarted results of last year. Revenue from Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips now stands at $10.8 billion this year, Bourron said, compared with $5.8 billion in the same period last year. One-owner’s collections, notably November offerings from divorced Macklowes at Sotheby’s and works by late Texas oilman Edwin Cox at Christie’s, testify The dominance as sellers sit on their hands in 2020 has gone viral this year. A separate report by ArtTactic shows that single-owner sales have accounted for a record 20% ($2.2 billion) of auction value so far this year, with Macklowe and Cox auctions. earned 1 billion dollars.

‘No Bare Back, after Embah’ (2017) by Lisa Brice

Primary market darlings, kept by their exhibitors, are also finding their audience at the evening auctions: “No Bare Back, after Embah” (2017) by Lisa Brice , sold for $2.6 million ($3.2 million with fees, estimated $200,000 – $300,000) at Sotheby’s fresh-made art sale Nov.

Pi-eX found that the number of lots had dropped significantly since 2007, when auction houses were hunting for trophies at all costs. Todd Levin, New York-based arts consultant, said that “Macklowe has picked up speed this season, and there’s more to come in May. Right now, there’s still a huge amount of net worth sitting in a quantity. relatively small number of people who are viewing art as an asset to buy, hold, and engage with”.


Disgraced art dealer Inigo Philbrick, who was arrested on the run on the South Pacific island of Vanuatu in June 2020, has pleaded guilty to defrauding buyers and investors of more than $86 million. For years, his “false statements” included forged contracts, one of which stated the stolen identity as the seller of the work, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. United States Attorney’s Office. Philbrick’s claims were deceptive in paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Christopher Wool and Rudolf Stingel.

Philbrick faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced next year but his attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, said he “hopes that Inigo will receive a lighter sentence.” Regarding his clients, Lichtman says that he “has a long way to go to regain the trust of those around him, but he is very sincere in his remorse. . . He realized that his behavior was stupid, immature, but most importantly – criminal. He will spend the rest of his life repaying his victims and becoming an effective member of society. ”


Christine Messineo, newly appointed director of Frieze LA and Frieze New York

Frieze has appointed Christine Messineo to run its US fairs in Los Angeles and New York, replacing Rebecca Ann Siegel, who left in July 2021. Messineo has worked at galleries in both venue – as a partner at the Bortolami Gallery in Manhattan and as a director at the Hannah Hoffman Gallery in LA. Most recently, Messineo founded the popular Plan Your Vote initiative, along with Vote.org, to encourage participation in the 2020 US general election through artwork. She officially begins next week when she will, along with Frieze’s recently appointed Seoul expo director, Patrick Lee, visit the Art Basel Miami fair (December 2-4). Art Basel itself has yet to find a replacement for American director, Noah Horowitz, who also left this summer. A spokesperson said that “Art Basel is actively recruiting a new American Director; This is an ongoing process and details will be announced in due course. ”


Portrait of Catherine the Great by Dmitry Levitsky

As efforts to convince the public against Covid-19 intensified, MacDougall’s – an auction house specializing in Russian art – issued a 1787 letter from Catherine the Great calling for a smallpox vaccination. She wrote to the Governor-General Piotr Aleksandrovich Rumiantsev: “Such vaccination should be universal, in order to avoid “great harm”. The Queen experienced smallpox first-hand – her future husband contracted the virus shortly before their marriage and was permanently disfigured. The letter will be auctioned along with Dmitry Levitsky’s portrait of Catherine II, likely painted during her reign (1762-1796), both from the same Russian collection, with prices between £800,000 and £1.2 million at MacDougall’s in London on December 1. Highlights since the sale, including the portrait and letter, will be viewed at Zubov House in Moscow until May 30. 11.


‘The Auction’ (1958) by LS Lowry

Sotheby’s London has sold the only known painting in the auction room by favorite British artist LS Lowry, for £2.1m (£2.6m plus fees, or £1.2m pounds – 1.8 million pounds) on Tuesday. While life mimics art, much has changed since Lowry painted the bustling “Auction” in 1958. There are no jokes or stacks of paintings in the glossy 2021 sales room. , where most people buzz over the phone or online. The work is one of five Lowrys works sold at Sotheby’s Modern British and Irish art shop on November 23. This also offers “Head” by Elisabeth Frink (1967), for sale. by fashion designer Mary Quant for an estimated £75,000 (£94,500 in fees).

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