Long experience teaches that a lot of gallery owners are scum. Some are good
businessmen who run their businesses honestly and profitably. These are the
best. They are honest, they work hard for the artists they exhibit and
represent, and everyone makes money. Others are rich people who open a
gallery because they have a lot of money and nothing better to do. These
types are common in Santa Fe where I am...running a gallery is a popular
pastime for the trust-fund-babies out here. They vary..some are honest,
others cheats, but most do not care about the artists unless you're one of
their wealthy drinking buddies. The worst gallery owners are ones who
actively scam artists, seeing artists as cash cows to milk so they won't
have to go to the trouble of running an honest business, which is hard work
if you intend to make money at it.
Your friend met one of the truly bad ones. At least they got their work
back. The video probably makes the gallery owner look a LOT worse than the
artists involved so I doubt it ever sees the light of day...when he sobers
up he'll probably make the tape go away....
--
Chris Crawford
Photography & Graphic Design
Santa Fe, New Mexico
http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com My portfolio
http://blog.chriscrawfordphoto.com My latest work!
http://www.plumpatrin.com Something the world NEEDS.
On 10/7/07 9:58 PM, "Ali Shah" <alizookoman@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Friends of mine exhibited in a local "art"? gallery in
> which they were the "featured" artists. They
> specialize in HDR work and have some amazing work.
> Anyhow, they suspected something was terribly wrong
> with the gallery owner from the start. He drank a lot
> and was drunk most of the time. The opening reception
> for the show happened during the weekend. After
> running a couple of days - they decided to pull out
> today. The owner was just too strange and drunk. After
> the show closed for the night...they came back to pack
> up their photos.
>
> The owner and his girlfriend were drinking with some
> of their people. They even consumed a bottle of rum
> that they gave to my friends as a gift. When my
> friends stopped into grab their photos, the gallery
> owner popped a video camera in their faces and started
> to threaten them. He started to beat up my friends
> husband and made incredibly rude comments towards all
> of them. He also threatened her son. All of this while
> videotaping the whole thing. His deal was 25%
> commission on sales and didnt charge any rent/fees for
> use of the gallery. He asked for double commission and
> then locked the doors to the gallery. Started to smash
> his own artwork. Needless to say the police showed up
> and my friends asked them to stand guard so they could
> take their stuff. Imagine if the owner decided to
> smash their artwork. They had about $2500 worth of
> work on display. The cops told my friends to pay the
> guy whatever they owed otherwise they'd have to get
> their stuff through court. He made all kinds of
> promises but nothing really panned out. Now he has a
> videotape which he can do whatever he wants and
> basically bad mouth my friends any which way. I still
> cannot believe this happened.
>
> What a nightmare!
>
>
>
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