Law The Estate of Chris Burden Is Suing an Indonesian Theme Park for Allegedly Ripping Off the Artist’s Celebrated ‘Urban Light’ Installation The theme park and selfie museum opened in 2018 with lookalike works by Yayoi Kusama and other artists. By Sarah Cascone, Jun 16, 2020
Law Fugitive Art Dealer Inigo Philbrick Has Been Arrested on a Pacific Island and Charged With Orchestrating a $20 Million Fraud Scheme Philbrick was captured in Vanuatu and is being transferred to Guam for his first court appearance. By Eileen Kinsella, Jun 12, 2020
Law A Year After It Was Stolen, Banksy’s Paris Mural for the Bataclan Theater Has Been Found in an Italian Farmhouse The work was taken from a door at the theater in January 2019. By Taylor Dafoe, Jun 11, 2020
Law Authenticating Modigliani Is Big Business. That’s Why One Expert Is Suing an Organization That Wants to Put Research Online for Free Modigliani scholar Marc Restellini says the Wildenstein Plattner Institute is holding his life's work hostage. By Eileen Kinsella, Jun 10, 2020
Law Sotheby’s Just Lost Its Lawsuit Against Greece Over an 8th-Century BC Horse Statue—and the Decision May Have Lasting Implications for the Trade A lawyer for Greece says the ruling bodes well for the antiquities market. By Kate Brown, Jun 10, 2020
Law A Court Has Temporarily Blocked Virginia’s Governor From Removing Its Notorious Robert E. Lee Monument The governor wants to remove the statue “as soon as possible.” But a descendant of an old Virginia family has other ideas. By Taylor Dafoe, Jun 9, 2020
Law Cady Noland Said a Collector Restored Her Log Cabin Sculpture Beyond Recognition. A Judge Has Thrown Out Her Lawsuit—for the Third Time The judge doubles down on two previous rulings. By Eileen Kinsella, Jun 3, 2020
Law An Ex-Staffer Is Suing the Akron Art Museum and Its Former Director, Claiming She Was Fired for Complaining About the Work Environment The museum's director resigned in May following allegations from numerous staffers. By Taylor Dafoe, Jun 1, 2020
Law What Happens to My Health Insurance If My Gallery Furloughs Me? + Other Questions About Employment in the COVID Era, Answered by Lawyers Two art lawyers offer a primer on the difference between being furloughed and being fired as art-world employers cut staff. By Charles Danziger & Thomas Danziger, May 28, 2020
Law Steve Bannon’s School for Far-Right Populists Can’t Be Evicted From an 800-Year-Old Italian Monastery, a Court Rules The Italian Ministry of Culture plans to appeal the verdict, and is pushing for Bannon’s organization to be slapped with criminal charges. By Taylor Dafoe, May 27, 2020
Law Unionizing Philadelphia Museum of Art Staffers Are Trying to Leverage the Support of One of the US’s Biggest Labor Unions Similar efforts were successful at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and the Shed. By Eileen Kinsella, May 26, 2020
Law A Paint Roller Tore a $20 Million Hole in a Picasso Painting Headed to Christie’s. Now, the Insurance Company Is Suing the Contractor to Pay for It Casino mogul Steve Wynn had been planning to sell the work for upwards of $100 million at Christie's. By Sarah Cascone, May 26, 2020
Law Saudi Arabia Has Joined a Lawsuit Against Disgraced Dealer Inigo Philbrick, Claiming He Sold Them a Kusama Installation He Didn’t Own Who really owns the multimillion-dollar Yayoi Kusama 'Mirror Room'? By Eileen Kinsella, May 21, 2020
Law A Dingbat German Student Broke Into an Australian Natural History Museum to Take Selfies With Dinosaur Skeletons The man also stole an employee's cowboy hat, which he wore during his visit. By Taylor Dafoe, May 20, 2020
Law A Psychic Has Been Ordered to Pay the Costs of Exhuming Salvador Dalí’s Corpse for a Failed Paternity Test The uncanny story of Pilar Abel, who had claimed to be the artist's secret daughter, has taken another turn. By Naomi Rea, May 20, 2020
