An art collector has filed a lawsuit against Louis Vuitton after discovering that his $12,000 Murakami prints, purchased at the MOCA exhibition of Murakami’s work, came from repurposed materials (meaning they were just reused factory Louis Vuitton matterials). The company says art’s ‘ambiguity’ is part of the ‘bargain.’
They may not have realized it, but the folks who snapped up as much as $4-million worth of limited-edition prints by artist Takashi Murakami two years ago at the special Louis Vuitton boutique inside his exhibition at L.A.’s Museum of Contemporary Art apparently were getting nicely mounted handbags — minus the snaps and straps.
At least one buyer, Clint Arthur, is steamed enough to have sued Louis Vuitton for fraud. “Louis Vuitton . . . knew that neither [Arthur] nor anyone else would pay $6,000″ if it was clear they were getting factory leftovers from handbag production, says a legal memo that Arthur’s attorneys filed last week in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, countering Louis Vuitton’s attempt to have Judge A. Howard Matz dismiss the case as groundless.
Awkwardly, the guy is refusing to take a refund of the $12,000 he paid for two prints, plus interest. Louis Vuitton contends that his suit is merely an “opportunistic” bid for “windfall profits.” If Clint was smart he’d just take his money and run.
