Copyright for visual artists

This subject has come up several times over the past few months. Initially I wanted to post something about it, but did not because it can be an unpleasant subject. I'm going to be brave and put this "out there", because it seems to be something many people don't know about.

Now that its come up again and again, I desire to let people know that...

When an artist creates a work of art, they own the copyright of that work, unless otherwise specified in writing. This means that you cannot reproduce it without the artist's consent. It might be disenchanting for some people, but though you purchase a painting, photograph, sculpture, drawing, stained glass, etc, you do not own the rights to that image and there are legal limitations to protect the creator in how it is used and replicated.

There are some rather difficult scenarios that involve outdoor art and the necessity of it being relocated or work attached to a building after the building's ownership has changed hands or development plans.

In a recent headline- http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/cityroom/2012/04/23/at-kennedy-airport-an-artist-fights-to-save-her-sculpture/

For me its a little more basic. Nobody can use, replicate or copy my work without my consent.

On a positive note for my collectors-

I do not do prints. If you own one of my paintings you will only see it elsewhere on my website or used for publicity purposes. 

I believe this intrinsically adds value to owning an original piece of art.

See:

http://www.copyrightalliance.org/files/visual_artists.pdf