Wiley would retain intellectual property rights under Dominican law, attorney says
The U.S. State Department is consulting legal representatives about whether it can sell a Kehinde Wiley painting it removed from the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic, after Trump administration officials described the work as “woke.”
The painting, “Young Artists After Siamesas 1960,” was commissioned with taxpayer funds in 2013 through the State Department’s Art in Embassies cultural diplomacy program. The department removed the work from the embassy and is now seeking a buyer.
U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic Leah Campos posted a video on Aug. 11 showing the painting being taken down. The work had initially been covered with a tarp featuring a U.S. flag design.
“Under the Trump administration and my leadership, we are leaving behind globalist and ‘woke’ ideologies to embrace American patriotism and the beauty of our great country,” Campos wrote in a social media post accompanying the video.
Erin Scavino, director of Art in Embassies, said in a recent interview with former Trump White House press secretary Sean Spicer that her team had worked to remove the painting. She described it as “very woke” and “aesthetically terrifying.”
The State Department has cited comments Wiley made about another of his works and sexual misconduct allegations that the artist has denied, according to The Art Newspaper.
Dominican law would allow physical ownership of the painting to be transferred to a buyer, but Wiley would retain his intellectual property rights, according to an analysis published by the Dominican news outlet Acento. Attorney Edwin Espinal Hernández told Acento that Dominican copyright law distinguishes between ownership of the physical object and the artist’s intellectual property over the work.
A buyer could own and display the canvas but could not reproduce it, print it or sell copies without Wiley’s authorization unless the parties expressly agree otherwise, according to the analysis.
Dominican law also recognizes an artist’s resale right. If the transaction takes place through a public auction, an exhibition or a professional dealer, Wiley would be entitled to receive at least 2% of the sale price from the seller.
If the transaction exceeds approximately $12,000, Dominican anti-money laundering law would prohibit a cash payment and require verifiable proof of the transaction.
Wiley created the 107-by-150-inch oil-on-linen painting in 2015 in collaboration with Dominican students from the School of Arts and the Altos de Chavón School of Design in La Romana, according to official documentation from Art in Embassies. The expanded Art in Embassies description says the painting depicts four local art students in poses inspired by Female Nude (1940) by Celeste Woss y Gil and Siamese Twins (1960) by Gilberto Hernández Ortega.
Wiley gained international recognition after painting President Barack Obama’s official portrait, which was unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery in 2018. The State Department awarded Wiley a Medal of Arts in 2015 for his contributions to U.S. cultural diplomacy.