The Art Worker 020
CAL IRL @ ICA LA
Thursday, March 28, 5-6:30pm
Join us for our next monthly working group @ ICA LA: March 28, 5-6:30pm. We hope you’ll join us as we work through our agenda. Listen in, or participate, if you’re called to! All self-identified art workers are welcome. Come early to see the glorious, historic exhibition Scratching at the Moon—the first focused survey of Asian American artists in a major Los Angeles contemporary art museum. The ICA LA is located at 1717 E 7th Street, LA, CA 90021. The galleries will be open until 7pm, and admission to ICA LA is always free.
About CAL IRL @ ICA LA: For 6 months in 2023, this event was a monthly informal gathering for art workers to get together, talk openly about the opportunities and challenges we face in our life’s work, and build toward CAL’s long term goal of offering professional support, community services, and advocacy opportunities in a cooperatively owned community center. In March and April of 2024, we’ll gather on the 4th Thursday of the month at 5pm to work through our monthly agenda. Join us, and get involved!
In Solidarity
Artist and CAL volunteer Malado Francine lost her home, studio, and most of her work in a recent fire. Help her relocate and rebuild by donating here—please give if you are able. Read Matt Stromberg’s article about artists losing their work in studio fires, and see the uncannily timed exhibition Of Flames and Shadows Gone Astray, which features Malado’s work alongside Francesca Bifulco, Bryan David Griffith, and Cody Norris. The exhibition is on view through April 6 at Bermudez Projects.
Talking Points for Artists:
Reasons to use contracts and advocate for resale royalties.
By Virginia Broersma
CAL volunteer, artist, founder of The Artist’s Office, co-founder of The Artist’s Contract
The Artist’s Contract emerged out of a series of community conversations to hear directly from artists about what challenges they face and the rights they are having difficulty protecting. From these conversations, it became clear that it was time to create a new sales contract for the realities of today’s art marketplace. The 1971 Artist’s Reserved Rights Transfer and Sale Agreement was a model and guide to learn about how artists have struggled to secure their rights over the past 50 years. With input from the artist community, we drafted the Fair Artists’ Reserved Equity Contract, which we call the FARE Contract. In doing this project, the co-founders recognized that we can—and want to—create a hub for any type of contract a visual artist may need to protect their rights, their work, and to establish better business practices within the art world. The goal of The Artist Contract is not only to offer free contract templates but to normalize the use of contracts as a mutually beneficial practice in our field.
This is a partial list of talking points for artists to use when discussing the general use of contracts and resale royalties with their buyers, dealers, and galleries. For more ideas and talking points to consider, our talking points resource is a great place to start.
Having a contract is a best practice for the protection of all parties involved in a transaction.
Most large purchases and monetary transactions in other industries use contracts.
Resistance to paperwork is not a strong argument for skipping the written agreement.
“This is the way it’s done” and “you should trust me” are not justifications for handshake deals.
Resale Royalties are a right granted through legislation in over 70 countries around the world.
Resale Royalties are already a common practice in some galleries and are a great way to build trust and strength in the gallery/artist relationship. Some galleries that have publicly acknowledged that they return a percent of profit to artists upon resale: Lisson Gallery, Victoria Miro (source), Jack Shainman (source), Matthew Marks, Barbara Gladstone.
The majority of collectors intend to keep the work that they purchase for their lifetime, in which case the resale royalty provision is a gesture of goodwill towards the artist and will not ever be utilized. The vast majority of people buying art truly want to keep that art for the rest of their life. They are not interested in flipping it for profit, so the Resale Royalty in the FARE contract should not be a barrier.
For those artists whose work goes to the secondary market, it is fair that they benefit from the increase in value of their work.
Artists want the ability to earn a living through a sustainable system, and including terms that offer small but meaningful opportunities to earn income from their work is one way to contribute to an artist’s sustainability.
Visual artists are at a material disadvantage compared to other creative professionals such as authors, musicians, and actors who have successfully advocated for royalties. Visual Artists do not in general share in the long-term financial success of their works, with any financial gains from resale going primarily to dealers, auction houses, and collectors.
A single artwork is one small part of an artist’s oeuvre. The artist’s practice involves many activities that contribute to an ongoing increase in value of their work. Most of these activities are uncompensated. The resale royalty offers a small but significant compensation for this ongoing labor. This in turn supports the artist and can help them continue to work and expand on their legacy, benefitting all who are owners of the artist’s work.
In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in BIPOC and female artists' work. Often artists are “rediscovered” after decades-long careers. While their work may skyrocket in value, these artists do not share in the profits.
There is no evidence that the modest royalties provided to artists in the UK negatively impact the art trade, nor drive sales away from the U.K. In fact, comparing the percentage of ARR royalties collected by DACS against post-war, contemporary, and modern art auction sales in the U.K. in 2014—a record year for the market—ARR was only 0.64%. This suggests that artists’ share of the lucre is not big enough to put a dent in the market’s performance. Source.
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