Art in America's Brian Boucher has a report on the agreement reached last week between artist Lauren Clay and the Estate of David Smith. (I negotiated the settlement on behalf of the Smith Estate.) He leaves out a crucial element of the agreement – namely, that Clay agreed not to make any more work based on Smith’s work without permission. With that commitment in hand, the Estate had no problem allowing this limited body of work to be shown.
Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento has some thoughts on the underlying merits here.
UPDATE: Art in America has a new piece up with a fuller description of the settlement:
"As part of the deal, which allows her to show and sell the seven works,
Clay has acknowledged that these are her only pieces based on Smith's
sculptures and agreed not to make further such works except by mutual
consent. She resolved not to make multiples based on these seven works
and pledged to exhibit an agreed-upon artist's statement along with the
sculptures wherever possible."
Be sure to check out Nicholas O'Donnell's post (with images) here as well.
