Below is a really interesting article that was emailed to me in regards to your rights as an artist. I've posted the article information in as well as the link from the original article.
Article from
Sydney Morning Herald 20/4/2012
Register or
regret: artists alerted to new ownership law
Wendy Frew
A new consignment regime seems to
have taken many by surprise.
Artists risk
losing work they have consigned to commercial galleries if the galleries go
bust, thanks to a new federal government law that few in the art world know
about.
The Personal
Properties Securities Act, which came into effect on January 30, requires
artists to lodge ownership of their consigned work with an electronic register
that can be searched by potential buyers. Artists previously relied on
consignment notes to prove they owned their work.
Artists
should be prepared to either comply with the new law or risk losing any security
interest over their work when they give it to galleries for sale or exhibition,
says the Arts Law Centre of Australia.
Advertisement: Story continues below
The law
change is timely in light of charges against Cameron Hall, the director of
failed Sydney art gallery Smith & Hall, of obtaining money by deception.
When Hall's companies were placed into administration in late 2010, hundreds of
artworks were caught up in the collapse, including paintings owned by
self-managed superannuation funds.
The new register
replaces 40 asset registers and 70 laws across Australia that covered security
interest in assets other than real estate. The government says the system was
introduced to help consumers and businesses manage credit risk.
''If artists
don't register their interest, then an administrator [of a failed gallery] is
able to just presume all the property held at the gallery is owned by the
gallery,'' said the executive director of Arts Law, Robyn Ayres. The paintings
could be sold to help pay other creditors owed money by the gallery, Ayres
said.
''The
register involves an extra step and increased expense for artists to secure
their interests … It is a shield for the administrator, not for the artist if
the artist is not on the register.''
The Arts Law
Centre and the National Association for the Visual Arts are worried a lack of
publicity about the new system means many artists aren't aware they need to
register their work.
The
Australian Commercial Galleries Association knows little about the scheme and
is unclear what role galleries play in registration.
The visual
arts association had not been contacted formally by any government agency about
the scheme, ''let alone explaining it to us,'' said the association's executive
director, Tamara Winikoff.
''This is
something that everyone needs to know about,'' she said.
The one government advertisement about the scheme seen by the Herald makes no mention of artists or art galleries.
A spokesman
for the Attorney-General's office said the new register provided improved
protection for artists.
''For less
than $8, artists can register their entire interests in one gallery for up to
seven years, which should give artists great peace of mind to know their works
are secure,'' the spokesman said. ''It's important to note that artists who
have their works in a gallery before January 30 can register their interests
for free on the register.''
He said the
register provided ''improved protections for artists over and above the past
use of consignment notes''.
A
spokeswoman for the Insolvency and Trustee Service, which administers the
register, said a single registration could cover all artworks delivered on
consignment to one gallery.
The Sydney
artist Camille Masson-Talansier might have been better protected if the
register had been in place when Smith & Hall went into administration.
Masson-Talansier
became aware the gallery had folded only when she discovered the four paintings
she had verbally consigned to Smith & Hall had been sold by auction company
GraysOnline, on behalf of the administrator, at prices dramatically lower than
those she usually commanded.
The artist
said she produced emails that made it clear Smith & Hall had received the
paintings from her but she said they did not convince the administrator, who
used the money to pay other Smith & Hall creditors.
''The artist
is always in a vulnerable position,'' Masson-Talansier said.
''My
situation is a case in point, because I didn't even realise that my work could
be considered the gallery's asset.''
