Our Weekly Update is here to bring you our favorite links from the past week: art and design news you might have missed, must-see stories, and the best new contests and calls for entry.
US Postal Service ordered to pay artist $3.5M in copyright lawsuit
The Statue of Liberty has been in the news a lot this week, but anti-Trump protestor Therese Okoumou isn’t the only controversy around the monument. Hyperallergic reports:
“Sculptor Robert Davidson was awarded $3,554,946.95 in royalties plus interest by US Court of Federal Claims over the US Postal Service’s illegal use of an image of his work. The copyright infringement lawsuit focuses on the image of Lady Liberty that the USPS believed was of the original monument in New York harbor but it was in reality an image of sculptor Robert Davidson’s kitschy Statue of Liberty replica at Las Vegas’s New York New York hotel.”
Snapshots of 1980s London’s queer community
On Elephant Magazine, Louise Benson discusses a beautiful and poignant new photo book from David Gwinnutt. Titled The White Camera Diaries, Gwinnutt’s work offers a personal view onto queer life in 1980s London:
“Photography has the powerful ability to build nostalgia for a time and place—even if you were never there at all. The handheld camera in particular allows for unguarded, intimate shots, and the resulting images can create the uncanny illusion of proximity years after the fact. The men who lounge on crumpled sofas and languidly lean against a front door in the pages of David Gwinnutt’s deeply personal photobook feel as if they could be your friends, chatting for hours into the soft early morning light or arguing sleepily at the day’s end.”
Hidden Lucien Freud work unearthed under another painting
Hidden for more than 50 years, an early landscape painting by Lucian Freud has just been restored and is on sale at auction. The work was discovered underneath another landscape by his friend Tom Wright. ArtNet reports:
“In a twist to this already bizarre tale, during the conservation process several areas of the landscape attributed to Freud were also removed from the canvas revealing possibly a third layer of paint beneath it. This mystery third layer appears to be in a palette similar to that which Freud used in his early portraits.”
Call for entry: Aint-Bad’s What We’ve Found
Aint-Bad Magazine issues monthly calls for photography submissions, and this month their theme is Into the Night. Selected photographers will have their work published in Aint-Bad, and submissions are open until July 28:
“This month we want to see how you see the nighttime in your photographs. Is it an enigmatic realm of dreams and a wandering unconscious? A time of grit and seediness, dimly lit rooms and writhing cockroaches? A club with throbbing music and sweaty, glistening bodies? Bring it on!”
Call for entry: FotoRoom Open
Photo platform FotoRoom’s latest open call for entry is open for submissions until July 31:
“London-based agency Kiosk, the juror of the new #FotoRoomOPEN edition, is happy to offer a 6-month professional mentorship to introduce the winning photographer into the world of commercial and editorial photography: a fantastic opportunity for both young photographers looking to launch their career, and more experienced ones who would still benefit from some expert guidance.”
*Have a tip or call for entry to share? Did you write an article or publish a project that you think we’d like? [Let us know.](mailto:magazine@format.com)*