“Serra denies saying he would withdraw the work from the Broad collection. ‘If a work is damaged and the surface is anonymous and the client agrees, I restore it,’ he says. Asked if he would have disclaimed the drawing if the Broads had not agreed, Serra would only say: That’s hypothetical.’”
Eli Broad is living the hypothesis. He lives in a Frank Gehry home that the architect disowned.
This is interesting to me, you can disown something but that doesn’t mean it’s still not something you made, you designed. Can you tell someone else what to do with what is technically their property? When you create something like Serra’s oilstick drawings you have to anticipate how they will age, future wear and such, and if you don’t like it, choose another medium? Figure out a way to seal it? Is it the artist’s job or the collector’s to protect it?
