The Jersey Heritage Belief is suing the sunshine artist Chris Levine and his firm Sphere 9 over portraits it commissioned him to create of the late British monarch Queen Elizabeth II. The images have been taken in 2003 and 2004 to have a good time the 800 years since Jersey, a self-governing dependency of the UK, pledged allegiance to the English crown. The charitable belief, which is supported by the states of Jersey, alleges that Levine is in breach of contract in addition to copyright and claims the artist owes it cash—each associated to a settlement settlement made in 2015 and from gross sales of allegedly unlicensed copies of the portraits, that are mentioned to be price “a number of thousands and thousands”, based on court docket papers.
Levine denies allegations of copyright infringement, describing the litigation in a counterclaim filed on 29 Could as “pointless and wasteful”. The artist additionally disputes the scope of the works the belief has rights over, saying the charity knew of his “ongoing” creation and exhibition of variations of the portraits. He accepts, nonetheless, that he didn’t “all the time search advance approval [or] present advance notification”.
Levine reportedly spent two years getting ready for the fee, which was accomplished over two sittings at Buckingham Palace, in November 2003 and March 2004. Two holographic works have been subsequently created: Equanimity, the primary 3D lenticular portrait of the Queen, which was utilized in 2012 for a brand new £100 observe issued in Jersey to mark the Diamond Jubilee; and Lightness of Being, which depicts the Queen along with her eyes closed, resting between takes. In an interview with Wallpaper journal from 2022, Levine describes how he got here throughout the “outtake” some years later. [I was] blown away,” he says. “I instantly put a filter on it and the piece was made. It’s as if I channelled it.” The Nationwide Portrait Gallery in London acquired a replica in 2013.
Equanimity and Lightness of Being, together with “spinoff variations” of the holographic pictures, are the topic of the authorized case mounted by the Jersey Heritage Belief, which formally interacts with the UK royal household on behalf of the Jersey authorities and secured the preliminary sitting with Elizabeth II.
In line with the 2015 settlement, Levine was granted permission to make use of the works topic to a licence, however the Jersey Heritage Belief says the artist ignored sure restrictions together with notifying the belief upfront of the manufacturing of additional works and failing to pay a royalty of 20% of internet gross sales. Conversely, if the belief made copies of the works, or exploited the works in another approach, it must pay Levine 80% of proceeds. There was additionally an settlement for each events to supply one another with annual audited statements detailing the gross sales of works, based on the belief’s criticism. Levine maintains he supplied spreadsheets detailing gross sales to the belief, which, he says, additionally did not notify him when it undertook sure licensing of the works.
In line with the belief’s declare, Levine is in breach of the 2015 settlement, which says the artist owed the belief £300,000, payable in 9 instalments. Court docket paperwork present that £100,000 of that quantity remains to be excellent. As well as, the belief claims, Levine has made “vital earnings within the a number of thousands and thousands from the exploitation of the works”, particularly Equanimity and Lightness of Being. In line with Levine’s accounts cited by the belief, his earnings from these works and their derivations have totalled greater than £3.7m since 2015, and greater than £1.2m in 2022 alone. The charity calculates that, in consequence, it’s owed at the very least £650,000 as of 10 November 2022. Levine disputes the declare that this sum was due in full by that date.
The belief estimates that Levine has bought at the very least 66 copies of Equanimity since 20 November 2017 with a gross sales worth of at the very least £585,000, “with out looking for, or receiving, the prior written permission” from the charity. Since that very same date, Levine has bought “or in any other case exploited” 223 copies of Lightness of Being and different works, “with a gross sales worth of at the very least £3m”, based on the belief’s criticism. The charity says it’s “entitled to any unpaid licence charges” at 20% of the artist’s internet revenue.
The court docket papers present that Levine informed the belief he was “presently unable” to pay the remaining £100,000 from the 2015 settlement, partly due to money owed, “however that he has up to now earned vital sums”.
Levine claims within the court docket papers that he’s “presently unable” to pay the remaining £100,000 from the 2015 settlement, “however that he has up to now earned vital sums”, as he’s in debt to the UK’s tax authority, HMRC. He additionally factors out that, between 1 February 2017 and 11 February 2018, he has made royalty funds totalling £107,165.
Whereas copyright for the works has been assigned to the Jersey Heritage Belief as “safety” for the 2015 settlement settlement, these rights are transferable to Levine as soon as the excellent sum has been paid. The artist’s defence argues that, underneath the settlement settlement, the belief has “waived its proper to hunt to deliver a copyright infringement declare quite than a declare for licence charges”. Furthermore, the court docket papers say, 80% of damages gained in a copyright case must be transferred again to Levine upon cost of the excellent £100,000.
The unique settlement between the 2 events was made in July 2003. In line with Levine’s defence, the Jersey Heritage Belief solely funded the primary sitting with the Queen; the second sitting, “from which just about all of the printed works derive”, was funded by Levine personally at a price of £50,000. In February 2004, a second settlement was entered into. In line with court docket filings, that settlement awarded Levine copyright to all works “arising out of or in relation to the [November 2003] sitting”. The artist, within the settlement, granted the belief an unique 70-year licence to make use of “one unique holographic portrait and one copy of that holographic portrait” created throughout the 2003 sitting. The price he was given to make that portrait, Equanimity, was £147,000.
Court docket papers say that Levine produced Lightness of Being a number of years later—and that it was first printed within the December 2007 version of Walrus journal. The work “was derived from a picture taken throughout the second sitting”, court docket papers say, and was created by Levine “on his personal initiative and shaped no a part of the unique fee” by the Jersey Heritage Belief. However the belief says works created from the 2 sittings shouldn’t be “handled any in a different way”. It provides: “Given […] that it isn’t unusual for a portrait to require a couple of sitting, it’s unlikely that Her Late Majesty would have thought-about the second sitting to be meaningfully distinguished from the primary sitting.” The 2015 settlement later created supplied phrases masking each Equanimity and Lightness of Being.
Exhibition charges
In his counterclaim, Levine introduces one other level of competition. In line with the court docket papers, in September 2011 the artist was approached by Louise Downie, who was then a curator on the Jersey Heritage Belief, to mount an exhibition at Mont Orgueil Fort in Jersey. The present reportedly included Equanimity and Lightness of Being and, based on Levine, he was additionally requested to “produce quite a lot of new works for the exhibition”. Nonetheless the belief, he says, “had solely a modest price range” to place all of it collectively.
Mont Orgueil Fort in Jersey, the place the 2012 exhibition The Queen was held
Picture: Lawrence
The belief paid for the manufacturing of 12 new works. The court docket papers say that manufacture of all of them price £24,943 (with complete prices together with charges, set up, advertising and marketing and launch budgeted at £44,861) and Levine was paid a price of round £1,500. In his counterclaim, the artist says this “was manifestly not a correct or business price”, significantly on condition that he had spent a number of weeks serving to to design the exhibition, overseeing the manufacturing of the brand new works and supervising their set up. As an alternative, the artist claims the low price mirrored his perception that he was to realize possession of the works as soon as the exhibition closed.
The exhibition opened in Could 2012 and was so profitable, Levine’s counterclaim says, the Jersey Heritage Belief wished to increase the six-month run, to which Levine didn’t object, “though no phrases for the [extended] mortgage have been particularly agreed at the moment”.
The belief, which remains to be in possession of the exhibition works, disagrees that they belong to Levine. “…Levine doesn’t, and by no means has, owned the bodily Mont Orgueil works,” the belief says in a response to Levine’s counterclaim. “While he was concerned of their conception, [the Jersey Heritage Trust] paid for his or her bodily creation, and so they have been created by [the London-based manufacturer] Haberdasherylondon Restricted.” The belief “duly paid the ultimate stability of the agreed worth on 21 September 2012, and possession of the Mont Orgeuil works was accordingly transferred to [it]”. The charity additionally maintains that “there isn’t a foundation for inferring a mortgage by… Levine, or another occasion”.
Nonetheless, the artist claims that, as per the situations of the 2015 settlement settlement, he’s now entitled to 80% of entrance charges to the Jersey exhibition. The belief counters that the exhibition “was a part of a charitable endeavour” and due to this fact no cost is required. Moreover, it says, any earnings comprised of viewing Levine’s work must be separated out from the remainder of the fort’s points of interest. “They’d be a really small proportion of the general ticket worth,” the belief says.
The Artwork Newspaper has contacted Levine for remark.
