Art law scams, screw-ups, what are art schools good for, and manifestos (Updated)

First, Steiner’s essay is excellent because it highlights, to a cynic like me, that courts of law basically play with language and the law in order to arrive at the simplistic, redundant and conservative answer that “everything is art” and thus, given art history, “all art is special.” Just look at Judge Parker’s apology for using Monet in a manner that some thought was insulting. Jesus, will someone please grow a pair! Given Parker’s “Monet apology,” I don’t think judges want to get into the “this is recognized art” and “this is not-recognized art” business. “It might be ‘art’ in some eyes, but to us it’s a piece of shit and thus not worthy of moral rights protection.” I can’t imagine any federal judge taking that position in writing. I wish they would, but they won’t. Everyone wants to be thought of as “cultured” and protective of “art” and its sanctity, even federal judges.

Steiner’s question on how the developer/defendant in this case could have rebutted the plaintiff’s argument that 5Pointz was NOT a work of recognized stature is exquisite. How would the defendant’s rebut “recognized stature”? Let me tell you that I cannot find one, not one, person in the art industry that is willing to state that “something” is not art. Good luck defendants.

If you’ve been living under a rock or are so artworld clueless as to have missed the Inigo Philbrick-Kenny Schachter drama, this is the time to catch up. You’ll probably wonder, as does yours truly, how a seasoned art dealer like Schachter got played for a million like a tourist in Times Square. I can’t help but read Schachter’s articles as confessions of his victim hood. After all, these days, everyone’s a victim.

Conversely, Jerry Saltz penned a heart-felt letter to the art world—my art industry—and to be honest he’s much, much, much more optimistic and romantic than I am.

Saltz: “We all want to go the distance for what we love. That distance has begun. Things are bleak, but batons will be and are already being passed to generations who will emerge on the other side of this who will have the brilliant chance to build a whole new art world.”

I’m not sure what universe Saltz inhabits, but it certainly isn’t mine. I do, however, like the somewhat Darwinian aspect that this Coronavirus symptom brings onto the art industry, but heed my words that the art industry, at.the.top. will only get stronger, richer and more exclusive, and with luck we will lose a good 80% of artists, galleries, dealers, art lawyers, and other non-essentials I listed above (by lose I mean they’ll move on to Zoom Pilates start-ups or running for president). The interesting question for me, a die-hard punk-metal romantic, is: What will the other 15% do?

Lastly, and certainly more importantly, here is my art and law manifesto. Enjoy!

-Sergio Munoz Sarmiento

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