CONTROVERSY: PAY THE PRICE
On August 24, a Beijing intellectual-property court found Chinese artist Ye Yongqing guilty of copying 87 works by Belgian artist Christian Silvain over a period of 25 years. The court ordered Ye to pay EUR 650,000 (USD 696,000) in damages and publicly apologize in the media, marking the most expensive fine arts settlement in China to date. Over the course of his career, Ye has made an estimated USD 15 million from the plagiarized artworks.
Following artist-activist Lim Ok-sang’s and (both 2016), from the Site of Remembrance in Namsan Park, dedicated to victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery. A key figure in the art movement, Lim, 73, admitted to the harassment charge, prompting Seoul’s mayor Oh Se-hoon to decide that showcasing his work disrespects victims. Four other public artworks were removed from other sites in the city.
