Creator of “Nothing” sculpture sues Italian artist for profiting from his work

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) - A Gainesville artist who created an invisible sculpture is suing an Italian artist for profiting off his idea.

Tom Miller, a multidisciplinary performance artist, installed his sculpture called “Nothing” at Bo Diddley Plaza in 2016.

Now, he said an Italian artist is trying to sell a different “nothing” for 18 thousand dollars.

“The space in our world is legitimate to work with as an artistic product. So the idea is fashioning nothing into a sculpture, and that’s what the lawsuit is all about,” said Miller.

Miller’s “Nothing” was recognized by Alachua County Commissioner Robert “Hutch” Hutchinson when it was installed.

“When I saw that I thought ‘that’s exactly my idea’ and ideas are important in the world, and recognition for those ideas are important. So I simply wanted that attribution so I contacted him, he dismissed it away, and then I hired an Italian attorney,” said Miller.

He said living in the internet age, all it would’ve taken was a simple Google search for the Italian artist to see “Nothing” had been done before.

“If you Google ‘Tom Miller Nothing’ you can easily see I had this whole paradigm sorted out before before Salvatore Garau ever even thought of doing a sculpture of nothing.”

Miller said all he wants is credit for his work.

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