Artist Rauschenberg sues over 'art' taken from his trash

By Mary Wozniak, The (Fort Myers, Fla.) News-Press


FORT MYERS, Fla. — Artist Robert Rauschenberg has filed lawsuits against a Florida artist and art gallery that give new meaning to the phrase "one man's trash is another man's treasure."

Rauschenberg says that Robert Fontaine and the HW Gallery of Naples, Fla., improperly sold artwork under his name, complete with bogus certificates of authenticity, after pulling discarded pieces from Rauschenberg's trash.

"Rauschenberg is an incredible artist," Yale Freeman, Fontaine's attorney, said recently. "But what happens when that incredible artist discards material? Do the laws of abandonment apply?"

The case could break ground regarding the rights of the artist and how to deal with the trash disposal of an artist, Freeman said.

this is Rauschenberg's 1957
"Factum II" that sold for $12
million in 1999

"The potentials here are just mind-boggling," he said.

The work of Rauschenberg, who lives on Captiva Island in Florida, can be found in galleries and museums throughout the world. He has had exhibits of his collages and paintings in the Whitney Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and was the first American artist to win the Grand Prize at the prestigious Venice Biennale, in 1964,

Neither Rauschenberg nor his associates can comment because the matter is under litigation, said Mark Pace, speaking on the artist's behalf. Pace is executive assistant to artist Darryl Pottorf, a close Rauschenberg colleague and confidante. Rauschenberg's attorney, Lawrence Kolin of Orlando, could not be reached for comment.

"I have no comment," Lauren Greenough, director of HW Gallery, said Wednesday. HW Gallery lists four Rauschenbergs on its website.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Fort Myers asks that Fontaine and his associates be stopped from doing anything likely to mislead others into believing that works of art not attributable to Robert Rauschenberg came from the artist or are approved by the artist.

The lawsuit also asks that any material in Fontaine's possession bearing Rauschenberg's name or claiming to be the work of Rauschenberg be destroyed, and that any profits derived from the use of his name be returned.

The lawsuit points out that Fontaine's alleged actions have damaged Rauschenberg's image, "which, in turn, jeopardizes the economic value of the legitimate works he has authored."

A second lawsuit filed in Lee County (Fla.) Circuit Court by Untitled Press, a Rauschenberg corporation, asks for fact-finding in the alleged sale of counterfeit work and involving "possible forgery and theft" of Rauschenberg's work. That lawsuit names Fontaine, whose real name is Robert Francis Montgomery, and HW Gallery as defendants.

Neither lawsuit refers to how the defendants may have acquired the artwork that Rauschenberg says is falsely attributed to him.

Freeman says that Fontaine — then a 20-year-old art student — found the artwork in 1998 in trash put outside Rauschenberg's Captiva home. Fontaine grew up on Captiva and lived near Rauschenberg.

"Robert (Fontaine) goes to the post office one day and sees all this junk piled up on the street," Freeman said. "He pulls out of the trash three rolls of what are called chromes."

The rolls had numerous 30-inch-by-30-inch sheets of what looked like negatives, he said.

Fontaine, who had been awarded a Rauschenberg scholarship of about $500 to study art, put together a presentation for an art class using little pieces of the chromes, which he called "Walking with Bob," Freeman said.

"All of a sudden it all dawned on him that this is Rauschenberg's, kind of, trash," Freeman said. The signatures on the pieces are apparently Rauschenberg's, he said.

"It appears Rauschenberg threw this stuff away," Freeman said. "It is not like (Fontaine) is creating phony Rauschenbergs and putting his name on it."

Fontaine, now 30 and affiliated with the Aptivea Gallery in downtown Naples, is not trying to denigrate or degrade the artist in any way, Freeman said.

"He's kind of a nice, quiet soul who holds Rauschenberg in the highest esteem," the lawyer said.

FEDERAL

• The federal lawsuit claims violation of the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990.

The federal lawsuit asks that Robert Fontaine and his associates be stopped from doing anything likely to mislead others into believing that works of art not attributable to Robert Rauschenberg came from the artist or are approved by the artist.

The lawsuit also asks that any material in Fontaine's possession bearing Rauschenberg's name or claiming to be the work of Rauschenberg be destroyed, and that any profits derived from the use of his name be returned.

The lawsuit points out that Fontaine's alleged actions have damaged Rauschenberg's image, "which, in turn, jeopardizes the economic value of the legitimate works he has authored."

COUNTY

• The Circuit Court lawsuit is filed by Untitled Press Inc., a Rauschenberg corporation.

The lawsuit asks for fact-finding in the alleged sale of counterfeit work and involving "possible forgery and theft" of Rauschenberg's work.

Posted by Madame Lamb on Friday, February 29, 2008 at 9:27 AM