Heres a picture of an Amazon executive with the art before the building was demolished.
  • Here's a picture of an Amazon executive with the art before the building was demolished.
Back in June, I reported that Amazon had picked up some street art from the site of the old ConWorks, and was now displaying it without attribution or permission in its corporate headquarters. It was a gray area legally, at best: The artists had left the work for dead, assuming it would be demolished along with the ConWorks building that was making way for Amazon's new campus; but morally, it was clear: if you're going to show the work of local artists, at least bother to get their names. When Amazon tried that, it refused to pay the curator it brought in as a consultant, Damion Hayes, and the relationship deteriorated before it even began.

But now there's a new curator involved and he says he's happy to give up the details for free to Amazon. His name is Chris Cook and he runs Flatcolor Gallery, which represents several of the artists involved. "It sounds like they have the right perspective about it," he said of the guy at Amazon who contacted him to ask his help. "It will probably take a long time, but that's how corporations work," he said.

I told him we'll keep on it, and I'll let you know when the art is finally attributed—hopefully with images.