Tag Archives: street art

Will the Real Banksy Please Stand Up!

Posted on: March 18, 2024 by Emily Gould

We know him so well, and yet we know him not at all. Banksy’s iconic images, his famous pranks and his politically-inspired street art are known the world over, yet he remains a shadowy enigma. Operating through the company Pest Control, the person (or persons) behind the Banksy brand have successfully maintained their anonymity over […]

New York class action alleges NYPD treats art like litter

Posted on: August 4, 2021 by Stephanie Drawdy

On 10 April 2021, the New York City Police Department launched a city-wide graffiti clean-up campaign. One of its first orders of business: the documented destruction of a mural titled Death From Above that allegedly had been in place on a Brooklyn wall with permission for over a decade. The New York City Police Department’s […]

U.S. Supreme Court declines to review 5Pointz ruling

Posted on: November 13, 2020 by Stephanie Drawdy

The 5Pointz case has now been confirmed as viable authority in favor of artists’ rights in the United States. In early October, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the petition for certiorari filed by developers Gerald Wolkoff and several of his real estate entities, thereby eliminating the last appellate hope the developers had to […]

5Pointz case stayed pending petition to U.S. Supreme Court

Posted on: June 12, 2020 by Stephanie Drawdy

A nearly seven-year long legal battle over the rights of aerosol artists that played out before the New York courts and resulted in a $6.75 million judgment in favor of the artists has taken yet another turn. In 2018, a ground-breaking judgment was handed down against a group of New York developers for willful removal […]

Corporate Misappropriation of Urban Art: The Legal Landscape in the U.S.

Posted on: March 31, 2020 by Stephanie Drawdy

Does an advertisement that shows street art without the artist’s permission infringe the artist’s rights? Does it matter if the art was painted on a building with the property owner’s permission? Would the answer change if the mural is on a building that is visible to the public? The unfortunate answer to each of these […]

5Pointz appeal marks quantum shift in U.S. copyright law

Posted on: March 18, 2020 by Stephanie Drawdy

The appeal of a multi-million dollar award in favor of a group of artists that made headlines in 2018 was recently decided by a U.S. appeals court. The question looming for the last two years in the precedential case known as 5Pointz: would a New York developer be required to pay over $6 million in […]

Multi-million Dollar Award Under Appeal In Divisive 5Pointz Case

Posted on: November 28, 2019 by Stephanie Drawdy

Ninety days versus $6.75 million. That’s what the 5Pointz case currently on appeal in the US before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals boils down to. Twenty-one artists should have been given a ninety-day notice to remove their art from the façade of a real estate developer’s property before he whitewashed the works, according to the […]

A happy ending for Stik and the people of Gdansk

Posted on: July 5, 2019 by Julia Rodrigues Casella Hommes

We have a noteworthy development to report that will be seen by many as a welcome conclusion to the long-standing dispute over some removed Stik murals. It has taken the street artist Stik five years to reach a resolution, working alongside Miss Take, of the Polish collective ‘Graffiti Ladies’. Some of you will recall listening […]

A shredded Banksy…but still a Banksy?

Posted on: October 11, 2018 by Emily Gould

Following the excitement of the sale of the self-destructing Banksy last Friday night about which we reported on Monday, it has all gone rather quiet. We half-expected to hear more, perhaps from the aggrieved purchaser or maybe even from those ‘in the know’ to reassure us that it had all been one big hoax. Maybe […]

Banksy’s latest artwork: self-destruction

Posted on: October 8, 2018 by Alexander Herman

On Friday night in London, Sotheby’s auctioned off a ‘unique’ version of Banksy’s famous image of a young girl reaching for a red balloon. It was the last lot of the Contemporary Art auction in an important week for the London art market, with Frieze London having opened earlier that day. But just as the […]