Two San Francisco artists are suing a Gerlach farm-owner claiming he torched La Contessa, a replica of a 16th century Spanish galleon that often appeared at the annual Burning Man festival.
Simon Cheffins, an artist, and Greg Jones, a mechanical engineer who helped build it, said in their suit that Mike Stewart, owner of Orient Farms, considered their creation “junk” and destroyed it on Dec. 5, 2006.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Reno, claims Stewart violated a federal law that prohibits the destruction of art work and seeks $900,000 in damages and also punitive damages and legal fees.
Although the ship was kept on property that Stewart had later acquired, the “Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990” protects and artist’s work regardless of where it’s housed, said Paul Quade, a Reno lawyer representing Cheffins and Jones.
Stewart, an outspoken opponent of Burning Man, never tried to contact the artists, Quade said, and had the debris left after the burning hauled away for “scrap.”
Quaid said that it took about 100 people more than 9,000 hours to build the galleon in 2001 and 2002 using donated funds and grant money.
“Performances of theatre, music and trapeze took place on La Contessa during Burning Man and other festivals,” Quade said. It was also featured as “a significant work of art” in numerous media outlets, he said, including Rolling Stone Magazine, the Discovery Channel, and the San Francisco Guardian.
entertainment icons, performing at the Hard Rock Casino & Hotel in Las Vegas and elsewhere. Beacher partied at Tao nightclub last week and in his farewell he said he will be touring with his entourage throughout Midwestern U.S., playing to smaller and enthusiastic audiences as he earns enough money, hopefully, to supposedly open his own house and show when he later returns to Las Vegas at some unspecified future time.
Similarly, The Scintas are sadly ending their nine-year run as Las Vegas headliners and taking their show on the road, at least for now. “With the economy where it is and people not traveling as much as before, we’re going to the people,” says Frankie Scinta, who fronts the four-member family group that includes brother Joey, sister Chrissy and longtime member Peter O’Donnell. The group is reportedly not moving out of Las Vegas, is currently working on a sitcom pilot, and they vow to return in April to the Suncoast for their thank-you to their Las Vegas fans.
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