A Good New Year’s Resolution? Learn About Art Law at All Costs

Just as I was taking a break from a hectic 2012, a friend e-mails me Daniel Grant’s article for the Huffington Post on the pervasiveness of law and lawsuits in contemporary art.

It was big money that drove the lawsuits over the most recent art season, but these cases are notable because they ask basic questions, from what is art to who decides where and how it will be sold and displayed. They are questions that in an earlier age might have been more a part of the general discourse — there was a time when art exhibitions elicited outrage and debate! — but are now left to the courts to decide.

So, if you still haven’t made your 2013 new year’s resolution, here’s a suggestion: Learn as much about copyright, contracts, authentication and moral rights as you possibly can.