Copyright Law

Lopsided Leaflet

By Intellectual Property Law, Esq.

"[Barnes's] Last Will and Testament specified his axe should be ground against the presumed philistinism of Philadelphia?s power elite in perpetuity. That hasn?t happened, and Barnes? acolytes are pissed, so one of them hired Don Argott to make lopsided leaflet of a documentary about it. If only Argott had the courage of a little critical distance. ... One justification for this being a film and not a long-form magazine article is the chance to really look at all that great art, but no such luck: Argott?s too busy with the awkward problem of making a case against more people having more access to a trove of masterpieces. He can?t seem to see how his attempt to curry anti-establishment favor actually endorses elitism, and so his film is vain, unbalanced, illogical, overstated and damn compelling."

Full post as published by The Art Law Blog on April 14, 2010 (boomark / email).