Comments on: When a Bad Gallery Owner Happens to a Good Artist…

By: Joyce Owens

Joyce Owens — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:20:13 +0000

Hi: I was searching for a rating system for gallery owners for my blog and found this. I am linking to your blog. I should post it pretty soon:

http://monroeanderson.typepad.com/joyce_owens_on_art/

By: Cath Sheard

Cath Sheard — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 01:22:37 +0000

Glad you decided to move on, but timely warning to one and all – get your agreements in writing and make sure they are specific enough.

By: davidcastleart

davidcastleart — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:01:45 +0000

Update: I’ve moved on. I decided that for this amount of $$, it wasn’t worth investing more of my time – I’d rather create new art!
Upon some reflection, it certainly isn’t wrong to trust people, but I sure should pay attention to red flags whenever they wave and I realize I ignored some in this case.

By: Ellen

Ellen — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:58:13 +0000

What did you decide to do?

By: Janet

Janet — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:01:56 +0000

I agree it would depend on what you have in writing as far as pursuing a small claims court action.
Most reputable gallery owners take a discount out of their cut if there is no agreement with the artist to split that discount.
I hope you have it in writing! Pursue it if you can.

By: Ellen

Ellen — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:36:45 +0000

This is a situation where words matter. Was the agreement to split the “sale price” or for the “retail price”.

You could pursue this in small claims court, but would this mark you as a difficult artist to other galleries? Then again a nastygram from a lawyer might do some good.

Going forward make sure you stipulate no discounts or discounts on approval only in your sales contract.

By: Greg Katz

Greg Katz — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:54:06 +0000

It’s truly a shame that someone like the gallery owner takes advantage of their power over the artist. I’m not sure why they feel they have the right to make decisions on behalf of the artist, but they do feel anointed to do so.

I believe your decision to end the relationship with the gallery speaks of your integrity both as a person and as an artist. Maybe the gallery owner will learn something from you.

It is a small town so I’m sure the gallery owner will discuss it with other owners. I’ll be interested to hear what the word on the street is about the situation.

No matter what… Congrats of the sale!

By: JD

JD — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:52:04 +0000

I’ve also run into dishonest gallery owners and unless the monetary amount is really large, I just don’t think it is worth it – put your energy into creating new art! Good, too, that you ended this gallery relationship – frees you up to move on.
JD

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:28:25 +0000

I would say it all depends on if you have anything in writing about your 50/50 deal before discounts… if you do them proceed with the litigation.. if not, and it was just a verbal agreement, then I would cash the check ASAP and cut your losses.

for sure before you cut your losses, get a full receipt of what they all paid and what he paid you.. just in case it comes back to bite you.