Japanese artist Takashi Murakami and his Monogramouflage canvases and signature bags for French fasion brand Louis Vuitton. These limited edition items were on display last year at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, and are now the subject of a lawsuit.

A luxury boutique in the middle of an art exhibition was supposed to be controversial, but not a legal matter. The temporary retail space allowed in October by the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) Los Angeles has become the center of litigation, though. A law suit by an L.A. collector alleges that Louis Vuitton failed to take the law into account when selling limited-edition prints by Japanese Pop artist Takashi Murakami at his show at the museum’s Geffen Contemporary.

The 500 Murakami prints that were on sale for an average of $8,000 lacked the ironclad certification required, making them less valuable for resale. A museum spokeswoman said that officials would reserve comment while reviewing the suit. Meanwhile, Louis Vuitton said in a statement that the collector’s suit is “baseless litigation,” and that he refused the company’s offer of a refund plus interest.

The artist retrospective, Vuitton store included, is now at the Brooklyn Museum in New York till July 13.

Read more
Los Angeles Times (July 3, 2008)
Los Angeles Times (June 25, 2008)

Related posts:  Museum sues artist for right to show his work  //  Is It Art Yet? And Who Decides?  //

This entry was posted on vrijdag, juli 4th, 2008 at 12:31 pm and is filed under Art, Business, Ethics, Museum, North-America. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.