Legal

Copyright & reproduction

When you buy a painting you own the painting. The right to reproduce the image stays with the artist. Almost nobody is told this at the point of sale, so it is written down here instead of assumed.

Last updated · 2 September 2026

The painting is yours. The image stays the artist's

This is the part most people have never been told, so it is said plainly: buying an original artwork transfers the physical object, not the copyright in it. Under United States copyright law the reproduction rights stay with the artist unless they are transferred in writing, and they are not transferred by this sale.

What you can do

Everything you would expect to do with a painting you own. Hang it anywhere, in your home or your business. Photograph it and post those photographs — a tag is appreciated, never required. Lend it, insure it, leave it to someone, or sell the physical work on. None of that needs the studio's permission.

What you cannot do

Reproduce the image commercially: no prints, posters, postcards, textiles, packaging, merchandise, NFTs or product photography built around the work. Those are the artist's rights, and they are how an independent artist keeps a body of work worth something. If you want to do any of it, write and ask — the answer is often yes, in writing, and free.

What the artist keeps doing after the sale

Alvir Art keeps the right to photograph, exhibit and publish images of the work — in a portfolio, a catalogue, a press feature or on this site — after it has been sold. Your name and your location are never published without asking you first.

This website

Every photograph, text and mark on alvirart.com, including the signature logotype, belongs to Alvir Art. Sharing a link is welcome. Copying the images or the writing onto another shop, listing or catalogue is not.

If a work is damaged or altered

A painting can be restored, and the studio will help you find someone who does it properly. What is asked is that the work is not altered, cropped, cut down or reframed in a way that changes it, and then still shown as the artist's — that is the one thing an artist cannot undo.

Anything here that is unclear, write to Write to the studio and it will be answered by a person.