Franco Forte

Love him, hate him, think he's a curse, think he's a godsend. People might not agree how to define Franco Debono, but i think everyone agrees that for the last few months he has dominated the political agenda . Some of his critics describe him as an insubordinate maverick and his actions are the result of spite and envy. Others describe him as a man of principle fighting for what he believes in, irrespective what the consequences might be. Probably he's a mixture of both. People are far more complex than the 2D image we would like to believe they are. But what i have seen so far is that the man is following a plan, or rather, his actions are following a pattern. Let me explain; this is what happened so far....  

Artibus 027

Diego Rivera from the cycle: Political Vision of the MexicanPeople (Court of Fiestas):Insurrection 1928

I don't think artists can avoid being political. Artists are the proverbial canaries in the coalmine. When we stop singing, it's a sure sign of repressive times ahead. - Theresa Bayer

Royalties? What Royalties?

Way back in November 2007 I had written a blog post on artists' royalties. This is the post http://rupertcefaiblog.blogspot.com/2007/03/of-royalties.html. In a nut shell, in 2006 the government issued a legal notice  (LN174 of 2006), to implement European Directive 2001/84/EC which gives artists the right to royalties when their art is re-sold from art galleries or the like. Next year, this right should be extended to the artist's heirs.

I tried to make some research on how the system is being regulated and implemented but no one seems to know what's going on. Maybe I have just asked the wrong people but those I asked don't even know of the legal notice let alone how its working. There should also be some 'collecting society' in operation but until now, I talked to no one that knows that it exists. I find this so depressing.

So, if any of you out there, heard anything about it, know if auction houses are collecting royalties and if there is someone regulating all this, please let me know.

Post Election

This last month i have not blogged at all. I was busy over at Jacques' discussing the election and its outcome. I cannot say that i am happy with the result but that's life. Now that a little bit of normality is taking over and election fever is beginning to subside the intention is to write here more. A number of things happened this last month that i wanted to blog about but did not, one of them was the art exhibition by AD's Core Green. I had a couple of paintings there, here I am reproducing one of them, Kaxxi Kaxxi, Kullimkien Kaxxi. Quite happy of this piece.

The Politics of Art

I have wanted to do this for a long time and finally I have set the ball rolling. Other artists are joining in too.
As artists we are probably the most disorganised and worst represented interest group in Maltese society. We have no unions to defend our interests and no professional body exists that represents our work. Yet, we continuously hear of the need of a cultural policy and of how important Art and Culture are to our islands. But do we hear about artist’s rights? Do we hear about legislation to protect us and our work? Unfortunately, we seldom do. Most of us do not even know what rights we already have and how existing legislation protects us. What about other countries? What’s happening in the rest of Europe? What rights do artists in other countries have, are they better protected?......

of Royalties

With interest I have been following the WGA (Writers Guild of America) strike. I have been fascinated by the mega-bucks corporations’ argument that material posted on the net, on which the corporations make loads of money, is just promotional material. Thus no royalties are paid to the people who wrote it. What a load of BS. For those of you who would like to know more have a look at these videos: Tim Kazurinsky on WGN , the writers of The Office, ot the article “Why the Striking Writers Are Right” by Mark Harris.

So, what has this to do with artists in Malta? The whole issue revolves around royalties. Yes its money; that paper stuff that most artists lack. Are artists entitled to a share of what other people do with their creations? Music composers get a share from the sale of CDs; they even get paid royalties if their music is played on radios and TV etc. Writers (even the WGA) also get a share from the sales of their work, and if a story becomes successful and something else is done with it permission is needed. But what about painters, sculptors, graphic artists, photographers etc., are they entitled to royalties too? According to the EU, yes. We artists are entitled to a share of a resale of our work. Ie if a painting I sold 5 years ago is sold today, I am entitled to a percentage of that sale. This was established in Directive 2001/84/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of the 27th September, 2001 on the Resale Right for the Benefit of the Author of a Work of Art.
The reasoning behind the directive is the following - When someone sells a house (or anything else) he does not expect any share from profits made by the resale of the property say 20 years later. Shouldn’t it be the same for paintings? No. What really contributes to the increase in value of an art piece? Is it some attribute pertaining to the present owner or is it the direct result of what the artist did during his career and who the artist has become after a lifetime of work? For a piece of art to increase in its value from when it was first sold there needs to be some basic conditions namely;
1 – the artist and work of art have to be good;
2 – the artist made a name for himself;
3 – the artist is either dead or at the peak of his career.

So an artist today still contributes to the value of a piece of art he sold 30 years ago! I did some research and discovered the following:-
* The Maltese Government has issued a legal notice in 2006, L.N. 174 of 2006 to implement the directive. While asking around, up until now, I have met no artist or their heirs that know about the legal notice.
* The successors in title, ie the artist’s heirs, are only entitled to benefit from the royalties after 2010 or after 2012 if the minister deems it fit. This means that if a painting is sold today, an artist will get the royalties but if tonight he goes to meet the creator and the painting is sold tomorrow his wife/children etc will not receive a penny.
* Royalties are only due if the resale is conducted by a resale professional; this means artists are not due any royalties if the sale is private, ie only if the sale is conducted through an art gallery or an auction etc.
* The royalty shall be calculated as follows
(a) 0% for the portion of the sale price up to and including euros 1,499
(b) 4% for the portion of the sale price from euros 1,500 to euros 50,000
(c) 3% for the portion of the sale price from euros 50,000.01 to euros 200,000
(d) 1% for the portion of the sale price from euros 200,000.01 to euros 350,000
(e) 0.5% for the portion of the sale price from euros 350,000.01 to euros 500,000
(f) 0.25% for the portion of the sale price exceeding euros 500,000 Provided that the total amount of royalty may not exceed euros 12,500 and the sale prices referred to above are net of tax.
The resale right may be exercised by the holder independently or through a collecting society operating under the conditions provided for in the Copyright Act and regulations made thereunder.
What I am interested to know is how are these royalties being collected and who is collecting them? What sort of mechanisms are there to check that royalties are paid?
I think I need to do some more research.

er Duce

Yesterday I had the privilege of listening to Josie Muscat on Smash TV. He seemed to be quite offended that they labelled his new political party, Azzjoni Nazzjonali (AN), as extreme right. He said that when one mentions the extreme right one thinks of the fascist regimes before the 2nd world war and what they did, and AN is not like that. Their website goes further still; they claim that the political organization is not derived from any particular ideological doctrine.

Lets assume that the name AN is only by coincidence so close to ANR (alleanza nazzjonali repubblikana, the Maltese extreme right movement) and Fini’s Italian AN, the inheritors of Mussolini’s fascist party. Let’s assume that Mr. Philip Beattie ex ANR is not an extreme right political activist and that Mr. Josie Muscat never parted from the PN due to his extreme views, then we can assume that the newly founded AN is not an extreme-right political movement and that Josie Muscat is not just a Duce wannabe.

But for sure their political agenda is conservative and to the right of the political spectrum, especially to Maltese standards. Let’s just hope that we see no extreme elements.

Let’s just wait and see.

some more photos from Rome

Caput Mundi

What an eventful week! I have just arrived from a week at the citta eterna, Rome. Though this is my third time to the city, it was my first occasion that I really had the time to have a good look around and I did. My feet are still hurting from all the walking that we did. I cannot count the number of churches I went into, the remains I saw, the palaces, piazzas and monuments. Each corner you turn, a new surprise. Rome is just wonderful.

Apparently, even here a lot of things happened. More people lost at sea, the formation of a new (extreme) right political party, the arrest of a policeman for hitting an old lady, etc. etc. Unfortunately, I became aware of these things not because I was following the local news but because Italians have told me about them. We are beginning to be famous for the wrong reasons.

Here are some photos I had while I was there

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Driftwood

A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic - Joseph Stalin

Maybe we’re still away from a million deaths, but that’s how the Maltese politicians and media are treating the current migration crisis. Yes it is migration and not immigration and as long as we continue to refer to the phenomenon as an illegal immigration problem we will find no solution. The issue is a mass migration phenomenon, where people from poor regions migrate to rich areas with the hope of finding a better future. What’s wrong with that? This has happened throughout human history. Countries have been built this way, namely the USA. And that’s what the Maltese did after both world wars.

Our government seems to be more interested in dealing with other authorities not to let people stranded at sea reach Malta than rescuing those who are risking their life to reach our shores. Apperantly these illegal immigrants are guilty to be born in a poor country or fleeing war and persecution. How dare they! We seem to forget that these are human beings and not driftwood.

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This weekend I realised that I have a number of paintings that I started and never finished. Sometimes this happens; I start a painting and then stop working on it, as if I cannot decide what to do next. I look at a painting, know that its not ready yet but do not know where the next brush stroke should go. What I usually do is leave the painting somewhere where I can see, with the hope that one morning I wake up inspired to finish it off. And behold, that’s what happened this weekend. The following paintings are the ones I managed to finish these last two day.

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untitled - acrylics on canvas 70x70cm

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untitled - acrylics on canvas 80x80cm