Copyright Law

"Consistent with VARA, VLS will be reaching out to the artist to determine if he would like to remove the mural within 90 days. If the artist chooses not to remove the mural, the mural will be painted over or otherwise removed. In the meantime, the mural is being temporarily covered."

By Intellectual Property Law, Esq.

"Painted and installed in the VLS Chase Community Center in 1993, 'The Underground Railroad, Vermont and the Fugitive Slave' 'celebrates the efforts of black and white Americans in Vermont and throughout the United States to achieve freedom and justice,' [the artist's] website says. ... [T]his summer, some current students said the mural 'perpetuates white supremacy, superiority, and the white savior complex,' and that the 'the over-exaggerated depiction of Africans, ... is eerily similar to Sambos, and other anti-black coon caricatures.' VLS on Friday said the Board of Trustees agreed with their concerns ..., but also would allow [the artist] a chance to remove the mural to comply with the Visual Artists Rights Act."

Related stories here and here. The Roberta Smith position -- that "once art has been made and released into the often choppy flow of life, it should stay there" -- seems to be losing ground.

Full post as published by The Art Law Blog on July 29, 2020 (boomark / email).