Comments on: West Prize to Award $100,000 to International Emerging Artists

By: Paige

Paige — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:12:52 +0000

Joan, Thanks for your kind words and constructive critique of the legalese for the West Prize. I am in total agreement with you. Thanks to you we are right now working to get the off-putting legalese fixed. It is often a battle with lawyers to get them to think/speak/write in plain language, but we will fight this battle to make sure we are helping artists understand exactly what they are getting into. It sounds a lot scarier than it is. We do not want anyone thinking they are giving up their rights for this prize. What is needed is only for artists to allow us to potentially use images of their work for press on the prize, as an example. Hopefully, press for us will be good for them as well. We also plan on publishing a book on the ten winners and their permission to reproduce their work in this book is needed. It isn’t more complicated than that, but the legalese sounds like one has to give up copyrights for eternity. This is the lawyers’ way of blanketing/covering the bases/protecting us from a “just in case” scenarios. Thanks again for the heads up and I hope you check in again to see if we have “fixed it” so that you may want to recommend the prize to others. Any other recommendations or opinions you have would be greatly appreciated and you can contact me directly at paige@mixedgreens.com.

By: Paige

Paige — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:12:00 +0000

By: Joan Daidone

Joan Daidone — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 05:37:23 +0000

There will be more and higher quality submissions if the legalese were not so off-putting and did not appear as if one was giving away one’s copyright and rights to the work all over the world forever. This needs to be clarified for both artists and their representatives. I deal with legal contracts all the time, and I find the fine print on this particular prize indecipherable. I have a great deal of respect for what Paige West is doing and has done for the world of Contemporary Art. And I admire the West Collection based on what I’ve read and heard, but still find it difficult to recommend this to the artists I represent without more clarification. There is a communication issue that needs to addressed. Let’s put this in plain language. Emerging artists and their supporters do not have easy access to costly legal counsel. It’s a wonderful concept, let’s be more open and transparent. Thank you.

By: Joan Daidone

Joan Daidone — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 05:37:00 +0000

By: Round Up « ‘Bout What I Sees

Round Up « ‘Bout What I Sees — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:15:02 +0000

[...] Collection’s West Prize [via, [...]

By: Kirsten

Kirsten — Wed, 07 May 2008 17:04:30 +0000

Thank you for making this open to artists outside the U.S.

By: Kirsten

Kirsten — Wed, 07 May 2008 17:04:00 +0000

Thank you for making this open to artists outside the U.S.

By: kelsey

kelsey — Mon, 05 May 2008 18:31:35 +0000

psyched about this! thanks for posting.

By: kelsey

kelsey — Mon, 05 May 2008 18:31:00 +0000

psyched about this! thanks for posting.

By: Paige

Paige — Fri, 02 May 2008 19:54:09 +0000

We goofed with not allowing new media and video. So sorry. We collect video and new media so it should be represented in the prize. We are working on changing that as soon as possible.