guest post by Burstein!
Simon Cheffins and Gregory Jones of Extra Action Marching Band, the two artists behind the late and legendary La Contessa are suing Michael Stewart who burnt it to the ground a few years ago. Michael Stewart owns the land near Black Rock where La Contessa was left after it broke an axle in 2004. La Contessa was originally parked on the land with the permission of the then-owner, Joan Grant, but she eventually sold the land to Stewart who torched La Contessa because he supposedly thought it was junk.
Cheffins and Jones are suing Stewart for $1 million. The lawsuit is based on the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990.
Here’s more info on the lawsuit and the history of this case.
See Previously:
- La Contessa Has Been Destroyed in a Fire
photo by John Manyjohns
Here Are A Few Related Posts You Might Enjoy:
- La Contessa Has Been Destroyed in a Fire
- La Contessa vs. The Whale at Burning Man 2003
- Million Pirate March at Bay To Breakers
- Photos of 77 Million Paintings by Brian Eno
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I think the key to the law they’re attempting to sue under is the phrase “the author of a work of visual art shall have the right to prevent the use of his or her name as the author of the work [...] in the event of a [...] mutilation [...] of the work which would be prejudicial to his or her honor or reputation”
On a quick read through, there doesn’t appear to be language that grants authors the wholesale right to prevent the destruction of a work, merely the protection of reputation.
Ie, Stewart couldn’t have put up posters “Watch me burn Cheffins and Jones work La Contessa Friday at noon!” — this would have been a direct violation of the spirit and word of the law. Simply burning abandoned property that had been there for two years with no contact? The artists will likely need to show how this was not abandoned goods and how they were defamed.
That said, I’m no lawyer, just an artist.
Makes you wonder what the reaction would be if the Burning Man LLC decided to sue Paul Addis $1,000,000 for torching their private property.
I wonder how it will end. La Contessa was a great “ship”, and I wish I could have seen her, but I can understand, why Stewart thought about it as junk. If something would lie on my property for years, I would have thrown it away too.
He bought the property, with theship on it, and to judge him, I would have to know if he had a way to contact the owner and what Joan Grant, the original owner of the property, told him about La Contessa.
All things considered, it looks like making money for me at the moment. If they were really all over their ship, they wouldn’t have it left alone for 2 years without checking.
See I thought it was the “to prevent any destruction of a work of recognized stature, and any intentional or grossly negligent destruction of that work is a violation of that right. ”
…but what is “recognized stature?”
But then again, the new owner has his own rights and never gave permission to store the art there. I’m waiting to see how this plays out.
Hey! it wasn’t left there alone for 2 years at all! It was at BM2005 for crying out loud. I saw it. Plus it was visited three months before it burned which is how they know the figurehead had been stolen. Am I the only one who’s not drinking the Stewart koolaid?
I can’t agree with the statement it looks like “making money”.
I think Little Lemonade is right!