Wednesday, March 26, 2008

"The issue is fantastic"

Lawyer Brad Parker on the Rauschenberg-trash lawsuit:

"I'd love to try this case - the issue is fantastic. If Rauschenberg throws away his work product, does the law of abandoned property apply? Does the artist retain the right to declare what work is authentic? Does the artist still own his artistic materials - even if he discards them as unusable or undesirable? And how do those questions apply to long deceased artists? For example, can an auction house sell a Rodin sketch as an authentic Rodin if it was merely discarded work product that he used to create a completed piece of art?"