From yesterday’s L.A. Times:

“The legal adventures of Shepard Fairey came to a head today when the L.A. street artist received a sentence of two years probation from a Boston court as part of a plea arrangement with prosecutors.

Fairey agreed to plead guilty to three vandalism charges in exchange for the prosecutors dropping 11 other charges. The artist pleaded guilty to one charge of defacing property and two charges of “wanton destruction of property” valued at under $250.

The judge also ordered Fairey to pay $2,000 to a graffiti removal organization and said that the artist cannot possess tagging materials except for legal art installations.”

Although Fairey’s Boston-related court case is over, his legal battle with the Associated Press over his use of Barack Obama’s image is still ongoing. Read more on this story here and here.

If you haven’t heard who Steve Bierfeldt is, he was flying from Lambert Airport in St. Louis to Washington D.C. on March 29, 2009. He was later detained in a small room at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport and interrogated by Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials for nearly half an hour after he passed a metal box containing cash through a security checkpoint X-ray machine. Mr. Bierfeldt is also the Director of Development for the PAC “Campaign For Liberty” which among other things is an advocacy group for promoting and defending the principles of individual liberty, constitutional government, sound money, free markets, and a noninterventionist foreign policy, by means of educational and political activity.

On top of that he used his iphone to record the entire interrogation, which can be heard here:

Now this is not literally in the realm of the fine arts but it easily could have. If you spend anytime with a major art institution or business you could easily have $4,000 USD on you (from fund raising, merchandise sales, ticket sales or any other activity), could easily be asked to answer questions that officers have no legal authority to have you answer or better yet questions that have little to no bearing on the function of their assigned duties under the law.

Basically the point of this do you have the right to travel within the United States with however much money cash you want. Do you have to right to not answer questions in regard to you employment, activities, plans, political affiliations among other things? Needless to say it is not the responsibility or interest of any police officer or government agent of any department to advise you of your rights at any time. Infact the day to day operations of may departments predicates that you do not know and do not care to utilize the rights you have under law.

This is brought up to ask questions more then to give any one opinion or legal reading but it is pertinent to know two things:

1. Anything you say can and will be used against you (and never in your defense).
2. Not answering questions does not imply guilt, just that you are willing to spend time fulfilling the curiosity of agents who feel it’s their legal and moral right to have any and every point of interest answered.

To clarify those points you have the great and simple faq of your constitutional rights provided by one of Tony Fitzpatrick’s favorite groups “The National Hobo Museum” on top of that here is a very good primer on “why” saying anything less then 100% truthfully and accurately can harm you and in all even the most innocuous statement can be used against you and never in your defense (Rule 801(d)(2)(A) thrown out as hearsay).

I have seen way too many artists lack of knowledge of the legal, financial & business rights and terms used against them to exercise information or money out of them over the years. It’s important to watch after yourself since no one else will.

This is an ongoing story that I will barely scratch the surface of but Bill Henson an artist/photographer living in Australia has over the last few days/week been having his work of 25+ years seized, closed down and put into legal doubt.

His work is largely inky black desaturated figurative photos of individuals in minimal or distant urban environments wearing either loose clothing or nude. The catch is that there are also nude teen age models included. Read more

This just in from the New York Times. Hooray!

Biomaterial charges against N.Y. art professor dismissed.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — A judge threw out charges Monday against a college art professor accused of improperly obtaining biological materials for an exhibit protesting U.S. government food policies.

U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara ruled that the 2004 mail and wire fraud indictment against Steven Kurtz, a University at Buffalo professor, was ”insufficient on its face.”

Kurtz is a founding member of the Critical Art Ensemble, which has used human DNA and other biological materials in works intended to draw attention to political and social issues. His arrest drew protests from artists in several countries who called the charges an intrusion on artistic freedom.

”Obviously this is a weight off his back, but he still had to suffer through this for four years,” said Kurtz’s attorney, Paul Cambria. ”The last thing this guy is is a bioterrorist.”
Read more