Cady Noland Sues Seeking Destruction of Artwork “Copy” She Disavowed

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From Artsy.net:

On Tuesday, artist Cady Noland filed a lawsuit seeking the destruction of Log Cabin (1990), a wooden sculpture formerly attributed to the artist that has been embroiled in authenticity and legal disputes.

The suit asserts that, in an effort to conserve the piece, it was entirely reconstructed from new wood without permission or notice, essentially producing an unauthorized copy. Noland says this copy and its subsequent sale for $1.4 million violated her copyright and rights under the Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA).

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Purchased by Schürmann in 1990, the large-scale wooden sculpture went on view outdoors in 1995 as part of a long-term loan with Aachen’s Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum. The piece stayed outside for approximately 10 years, according to the complaint.

The suit charges that in 2010, a conservator evaluated the cabin and recommended to “one or more” of those named as defendants that all of the logs should be replaced. As a result of the advice, “the entire edifice” of the piece was replaced and the original discarded. In July of 2014, the conserved Log Cabin was sold by Galerie Michael Janssen to Ohio collector Scott Mueller for $1.4 million.

Shortly after the sale, Noland says she was informed about the replacements to her work for the first time. She was told the piece had “suffered significant deterioration” and that “a great number of the logs had rotted or begun to rot.” Noland faxed Mueller on July 18th disavowing the piece, writing “this is not an artwork” and noting it was “repaired by a conservator (sic) BUT THE ARTIST WASN’T CONSULTED.”

Under VARA, artists can disavow their work and prevent attribution to them if the piece is mutilated  or modified in ways that are prejudicial to an artist’s reputation. Noland has disavowed other pieces in the past for such reasons, including Cowboys Milking in 2011. The previous disavowals likely contributed to a clause in Mueller’s purchase agreement that, should Noland disavow Log Cabin within 12 months of the purchase, he was entitled to reverse the sale—which the collector sought to do following Noland’s fax. After receiving $600,000, Mueller sued Janssen and his Berlin gallery in a New York court in June of 2015 for the rest of the funds, but the case was dismissed as being time-barred.

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Barring a settlement, the suit will provide rare case-law around VARA, which is often invoked but rarely litigated to verdict. The law does grant artists the right to disavow mutilated or distorted art. But it carves out an exception for modification “which is the result of conservation or public presentation, including lighting and placement” unless that modification is “caused by gross negligence.”

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Noland also charges that the restoration of her work duplicated the cabin in violation of copyright law, which prohibits the reproduction of copyrighted or derivative work without permission. The charge raises broad questions about the conservation of conceptual art, notes Amy Adler, an art law professor at New York University.

“At what point does conserving a piece mean recreating it?” she asked.

Link to the rest at Artsy.net