Art gallery crooks
Tony W.
The owner kept trying to cheat me by telling me that if he displayed one
of my paintings that was valued at $1,600 unframed, he would get them
framed (using cheap frames which I know he pays only about $150 for) and
add about $800 to the cost of the painting. Then, if a painting would
sell, I'd get $800 (50 percent of the unframed price) while he'd get
$800 (half of the unframed price) plus $800 (for the frame) and he'd
insist that he'd thereby be charging a 50 percent commission.
To try to avoid this rip-off, I got the paintings framed (at the same
shop where he get his frames).
The contract I wrote for the framed paintings says, "Artist is to be
paid $1,200, which is 50 percent of the retail price, within 30 days of
the gallery selling the painting. The painting remains the property of
the artist until he has been paid."
But since I wrote the contract, the gallery owner and I made a verbal
contract to raise the price of my 30- by 40-inch (framed) paintings from
$2,400 to $2,900, but I neglected to change the written contracts.
One of the paintings just sold, but without the frame I had had put onto it.
Because the painting sold without a frame (and probably to offer a
discount to induce the customer to buy the painting (even though I had
asked him not to give discounts), the gallery staff slashed the price of
the painting to $2,400, without consulting me, even though they knew I
was at home (and therefore available for discussion) at the time that
the customer was trying to decide about buying the painting.
After the sale, the customer found my Web site and emailed me to ask if
he could buy one of the paintings that my Web site says is available for
sale at my studio.
Because he had written to me and told me he had just bought one of my
paintings, I asked how much he had paid for it. He told me $2,500.
Being suspicious of this guy (because he's often tried to deceive me) I
then I called the gallery and asked how much the painting had sold for
and the gallery owner told me $2,400 and that I would get $1,200, but
that I wouldn't get the frame back and that if I wanted the frame back,
he'd charge me a higher commission.
This is a rip-off because:
1) he said that I wasn't entitled to get my frame back, even though I
had gone to the trouble and expense of ordering and buying the frame and
even though it hadn't sold with the painting and even though he had
already reduced the profit that we'd get by taking $500 off because of
the customer not wanting a frame.
2) The owner didn't consult me about about reducing the price of the
painting by $500, even though his sales assistant was talking with me on
the phone about the sale at the time that the customer was in the
gallery negotiating with her about buying the painting
3) the customer told me that when he went into the gallery, the frame
had already been removed from my painting because the gallery staff had
wanted to use it to frame another painting, and I hadn't been informed
or consulted about that by the gallery staff and only found about it
later through the customer
4) the owner lied about the real sale price of the painting so he could
pocked some extra profit ($50).
I told him that I want my frame back and $1,250 (which would give him
his 50 percent commission). He told me he'd pay me $1,200 and charge me
to get the frame back. What should I do (other than being more careful
in future contracts and taking my paintings and frames elsewhere?)
Peter H.M. Brooks
"Tony W." <ton...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:3E80A3FF...@hotmail.com...
> A have a few paintings consigned to an art gallery.
>
>
> his 50 percent commission). He told me he'd pay me $1,200 and charge me
> to get the frame back. What should I do (other than being more careful
> in future contracts and taking my paintings and frames elsewhere?)
>
However, if your relatinship is that bad you should either move to another
gallery or, through a lawyer, make it clear that you won't put up with this
in future.
The easiest route is to hire a lawyer just to write a letter (tell him that
that is all you want him to do), putting the gallery on warning to behave.
If you are wrong and the gallery have been acting within their rights then
they will be cross and won't take your works in future - and you find
another. If they have been innocently wicked them they might be better
afterwards - but not for long.
So, contact some of the other artists who exhibit there and see if they also
feel badly done by. If they do than you really have a case. All of you can
work collectively to get the gallery to work better. If you, on the other
hand, find that they are all happy then look into yourself and see if you
may have been unreasonable.
--
Life is a tale told by an idiot - full of sound and fury, signifying
nothing - Jaques
Lauren Foster-MacLeod
(snipped)
> his 50 percent commission). He told me he'd pay me $1,200 and charge me
> to get the frame back. What should I do (other than being more careful
> in future contracts and taking my paintings and frames elsewhere?)
It sounds to me like you need a clear contract with this guy, that covers
this kind of thing. As you know what he's like, if you are going to deal
with him you need to "cover your ass" so-to-speak.
He does indeed sound like the kind of guy that it is best for you not to
be in business with.
Are there any artist-organizations you can join, that have guides for
artist contracts? Here in Canada we have (I think it's still around) C.A.R
-- "Canadian Artists Representation" -- which was started by artists, for
artists. They have done a lot of great things for Canadian artists.
Lauren
--
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Tony W.
Thanks, Lauren.
I'm a Canadian, too, and I was a member of Canadian Artists'
Representation for a while. I suppose I should join it again.
I've found though, that contracts written by others -- whether for fine
art, graphic design, photography, writing, editing or Web site design
(all of which I've done professionally) aren't very useful because they
contain a lot of clauses that don't apply in my cases and legalese that
make the contracts overly complex and could scare off customers and they
lack important clauses that are pertinent to my particular situations.
In other words, they need to be custom-written, and since I have a
background as a professional writer, I'd prefer to write them myself.
I'm learning the hard way, though, that I have to make the contracts
more and more detailed as I encounter more problems -- such as the ones
I've outlined here -- that need to be covered.
Tony
Tony W.
>
> "Tony W." <ton...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:3E80A3FF...@hotmail.com...
> > A have a few paintings consigned to an art gallery.
> >
> >
> > I told him that I want my frame back and $1,250 (which would give him
> > his 50 percent commission). He told me he'd pay me $1,200 and charge me
> > to get the frame back. What should I do (other than being more careful
> > in future contracts and taking my paintings and frames elsewhere?)
> >
> If you have all this in writing then you can spend money on a lawyer.
> So, contact some of the other artists who exhibit there and see if they also
> feel badly done by. If they do than you really have a case. All of you can
> work collectively to get the gallery to work better.
Thanks, Peter.
This isn't helpful, though.
Just finding some of the artists and interviewing them once each could
take hours.
Some of the artists wouldn't necessarily admit to being abused by the
gallery for fear of their statements being repeated to the gallery
staff, which would get the artists into trouble.
If the gallery staff were to find out that I was orchestrating a revolt,
the gallery staff would be even more angry than it is now.
> If you, on the other
> hand, find that they are all happy then look into yourself and see if you
> may have been unreasonable.
This is simplistic advice. I'm intelligent enough, old enough and
experienced enough in business and life to know when I'm being abused. I
don't need to ask other artists if they've been abused by this gallery
to help me to decided if I've been abused by the gallery.
Your suggestion is like saying that, in a court of law, if someone is
charged with a crime, he is considered guilty because he has been
charged with other crimes, whereas if he hasn't been charged with other
crimes, he's likely not to be guilty of the current charges.
Tony
Peter H.M. Brooks
> > hand, find that they are all happy then look into yourself and see if
you
> > may have been unreasonable.
>
> This is simplistic advice. I'm intelligent enough, old enough and
> experienced enough in business and life to know when I'm being abused. I
> don't need to ask other artists if they've been abused by this gallery
> to help me to decided if I've been abused by the gallery.
>
don't want to make a public case of it, you do have a much stronger case to
take to a lawyer - one case can be explained away as a mistake, an error of
judgement or some similar explanation. Two or more are consistently bad
practice.
It is, of course, you decision and advice is always there to be ignored!
--
In a nutshell: Hobbes was right, Rousseau was wrong - Steven Pinker, The
Blank Slate