Another one under threat
Do I let it go? Oh hell no.
I could provide a link to an article in the Sacramento Bee, but unless you’re a paid subscriber, you can’t read it so what’s the point? It’s written by a terrific reporter, Ryan Lillis, about yet another new multi-story apartment development, this one by a Canadian builder. I’m happy to say they’re using a Sacramento architect, so perhaps they’ll want to save the mural. The Bee covered the installation of the mural in 2005, but I can’t find a link.
I could just wait and sue them. I’ve had to do that before. Or I can reach out. Or perhaps they’ll see my comment in the Bee.
At any rate, I’m a Jack London fan of a significant order and I love this mural. His face is my interpretation and compilation from three or four different photos. The text, as my comment points out, is an exact enlargement from his original manuscripts. I had to get special permission from the Huntington Library to use his text–and that’s not an easy task because the Huntington tightly controls all things London.
I’ve also written about London for the Bee–about his trek to North Korea as a reporter for Hearst in 1904. To this very day, that trip is significant because in London’s writing, we see the nature of the combatants–Russia and Japan, the bystander–China, and the victims of subjugation, the Koreans. Jack London essay in the Bee
Now, 118 years later, in London, we can read about the roots of a multi-national conflict over seas and land that may yet prove to be our Armageddon.
PS. Thanks to Jennifer Tachera for sending this link after reading the above. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/kaves-nypd-lawsuit-1975755
My comment about graffiti: it’s not just artists who want to make their mark. Most people want to be heard in some way, whether it’s graffiti (without permission) or comments on Facebook, or small inked initials on the railing of the Golden Gate Bridge. Our marks say, “I was here.” That the NYPD made an assumption is the point.
But what about permission from the original owner who then sells the wall without stipulating anything about an existing mural? I’ve had both scenarios happen. New owners notified and not notified. Also, under VARA, it may be the case that an artist should be paid a 5% commission of that sale, but honestly, I have no idea what that means. So I’ve made a call to my intellectual property lawyer who may know the answer.