Dr. Enrico Bonadio, an intellectual property scholar from the City Law School in London, has joined CUNY Law as a visiting scholar for the Fall 2016 semester. His current research focuses on graffiti, street art and copyright law.
Intrigued by the prospect of researching street art in its generally accepted birthplace, New York City, Dr. Bonadio applied to be a visiting scholar, after meeting Professor Ruthann Robson and other members of the CUNY Law faculty last spring when they visited the City Law School.
The plan is to interview artists from all five boroughs, as he builds an argument for copyright protections for street artists, particularly against corporations that use the street artists’ work, without compensation.
“Being a street artist is a job, and if artists can extract money from corporations through copyright, the artists should be able to do that,” he said.
Furthermore, he is finding that “many artists want protection and their message will not be corrupted since there is nothing contradictory between continuing their art while having it protected.”
Dr. Bonadio considers his research to be in socio-legal realm, since he focuses on how attitudes and behaviors of street artists relate to copyright laws. He points out that there is “solidarity in the [street art] community…and respect between the artists.”
In early November, Dr. Bonadio will present his work in progress to the CUNY Law community. 3L Navid Khazanei is taking the lead in planning this event. Look out for more information to come.