Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Visual Art A Tale of Two Breakages
Posted by Jen Graves on Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 9:03 AM
Remember when the walls of the Pompidou inexplicably lost hold of a Craig Kauffman sculpture, and it fell to pieces on the floor? Voila! Replaced.
That's nothing compared to the total, unprecedented demolition this week of an oil-painted fiberglass and resin sculpture by Carole Feuerman. It was en route to Miami. (Ironically, it was called The Survival of Serena and depicted a woman clinging to an inner tube for safety.)
As Slog tipper Jim notes, the insurance company says it will return to the artist $9,100—a fragment of the $300,000 of the work's estimated value. How will insurance rates for art be affected by the new economy?
Serena, not surviving
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2
How long can Neo-Realists continue to exploit the public by selling a photograph from the "Living Section" of any city daily as an art work just because they projected it on a big canvas and painted it??
3
Um, John? It's not a painting, it's a sculpture. And an incredibly lifelike one at that.
When you create something of comparable beauty and meaning, give us a ring. We'll be happy to overvalue it.
When you create something of comparable beauty and meaning, give us a ring. We'll be happy to overvalue it.
4
"How will insurance rates for art be affected by the new economy?"
Yeah, this is definitely one of the things keeping me awake at night...
Yeah, this is definitely one of the things keeping me awake at night...
5
It's not the insurance company that's offering $9,100 -- it's Continental Airlines. That's their standard freight rate. The insurance company is still looking into Continental's handling of the piece, but their liability is $100,000 if in transit, $400,000 if the piece was stationary. You're jumping to conclusions here; the insurance investigation is far from over.
The guilty party is the Italian shipping agent, who took her fee for special art shipping, but then consigned it to Continental as ordinary freight, and pocketed the difference. If Continental had received it as special art freight, they would have treated it differently, and would have compensated damage differently. The Italian shipping agent is guilty of fraud.
My prediction: the insurance company will pay her $100k, which isn't bad, and then pay their lawyers a million to bankrupt and possibly jail the Italians, depending on who pays the biggest bribe to the Italian "justice system".
The guilty party is the Italian shipping agent, who took her fee for special art shipping, but then consigned it to Continental as ordinary freight, and pocketed the difference. If Continental had received it as special art freight, they would have treated it differently, and would have compensated damage differently. The Italian shipping agent is guilty of fraud.
My prediction: the insurance company will pay her $100k, which isn't bad, and then pay their lawyers a million to bankrupt and possibly jail the Italians, depending on who pays the biggest bribe to the Italian "justice system".
7
It may not be keeping some people up nights, but it sure is keeping me up.
I have had to stop signing my work (I wait until they're sold) so that I don't have to pay tax on "inventory." If I did, it would cost more than twice what I made all year last year-- before expenses. I can't afford the insurance whenever I ship anything. Its just way too expensive. I have to assess the works for about 5% of their real value in order to be able to afford insurance, VAT, etc. What that means is not much of a consolation if something happens. I have taken to 'courier-ing' the work, so that it doesn't leave my sight. It helps a bit, but not perfect. Ever since 9-11, shipping artwork and doing exhibitions abroad have become giant headaches. Is it worth it? I'm starting to wonder.
I have had to stop signing my work (I wait until they're sold) so that I don't have to pay tax on "inventory." If I did, it would cost more than twice what I made all year last year-- before expenses. I can't afford the insurance whenever I ship anything. Its just way too expensive. I have to assess the works for about 5% of their real value in order to be able to afford insurance, VAT, etc. What that means is not much of a consolation if something happens. I have taken to 'courier-ing' the work, so that it doesn't leave my sight. It helps a bit, but not perfect. Ever since 9-11, shipping artwork and doing exhibitions abroad have become giant headaches. Is it worth it? I'm starting to wonder.
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