Wednesday, March 11, 2009

"In the end, as far as [VARA] is concerned, it does not make any difference who owns the property"

The Reno Gazette Journal reports:

"Two San Francisco artists are suing a Gerlach farm-owner claiming he torched La Contessa, a replica of a 16th century Spanish galleon that often appeared at the annual Burning Man festival. Simon Cheffins, an artist, and Greg Jones, a mechanical engineer who helped build it, said in their suit that Mike Stewart, owner of Orient Farms, considered their creation 'junk' and destroyed it on Dec. 5, 2006."

Here is the AP's story. Here is a long story from around the time of the destruction in the San Francisco Bay Guardian.