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The Unknown Artists: Open Letter to Artists
Greetings Artist,
We are the Unknown Artists. We are asking for your help in fixing the broken gallery system that allows artists to be routinely ripped off and taken advantage of. The system that allows gallery owners to make millions while using unpaid interns. A system where artists are afraid ask for a contract and then worry that they will never be paid if their work sells.
Please join us in our call to action against the notorious Los Angeles art dealer, Douglas Chrismas. Chrismas has recently opened a non-profit museum in Los Angeles called the Ace Museum on the corner of La Brea Ave and 4th. Douglas Chrismas has had well over 55 legal disputes with artists and collectors for financial fraud including stealing artwork and refusing to pay artists. A quick Google search will turn up countless examples. (We have provided links below.) Douglas Chrismas has lost lawsuits charging that he stole famous artworks, sold smuggled artwork while claiming it was ‘free and clear of claims’, failed to pay rent and taxes, failed to pay artists for artworks that he sold, and failed to deliver artworks to collectors. He has used bankruptcies to avoid paying claims on at least 7 occasions. One art collector had Chrismas arrested when his bankruptcy filing protected him from paying the money that he owed. Chrismas is currently being sued in a class action lawsuit for “failing and refusing” to pay artists 5% royalties on secondary market sales. Secondary market sales bring in millions of dollars of profit for dealers. Refusing to pay artists 5% for the work they made is clearly exploitative, selfish and greedy. Artists fought hard to win 5% resale royalty rights in California, but art dealers like Chrismas make this law useless.
Douglas Chrismas’ disregard of artists is so legendary, he has earned a place in art history. Miwon Kwon, in her account of site specificity: “One Place After Another,” presents an account of Ace Gallery recreating artworks by Donald Judd and Carl Andre without their permission. Andre and Judd both publicly denounced these recreations as “a gross falsification” and a “forgery,” in letters to Art in America.
Rebuild the Dream, MoveOn, Russell Simmons, SEIU, Occupy the Dream and Courage Campaign are planning on holding an event at Ace Museum titled: “All in for the 99%”. We have contacted Rebuild the Dream and asked them to not work with Ace Museum because of Christmas’ notorious reputation. Representatives from Move On and Rebuild the Dream initially responded by denying they were working with Ace and then claiming to only be renting the space and stating that they do not believe that there is any signage on the building that says “Ace Museum”. We presented them with images of their email explicitly stating that it was at Ace Museum and we told them about the museum’s 9 ft by 50 ft letters spelling out “ACE MUSEUM” on the front of the building. But they are still insisting that Ace Museum has nothing to do with the show.
We are concerned that as Douglas Chrismas moves his practice of fraudulent dealings into the non-profit world, he is going to receive a massive amount of publicity from Rebuild the Dream and Move On as they bring people to his new establishment. People coming to the event are not going to know that Rebuild the Dream is renting the space and they are going to believe that Ace Museum is a place that stands with the 99%.
Now is the time for us to come together against this gallery owner who has been mistreating artists for so long that he has gone down in art history for it. The time to do something is now! Artists everywhere must come together and let the art world know that we are not going to continue to let people like Chrismas blatantly take advantage of us. Ace has galleries in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, New York, and Mexico City and now they are attempting to take their thievery of artists to the non-profit world.
Please sign our petition on Change.org asking Rebuild the Dream to not support Ace Museum and actually stand with the 99%.http://www.change.org/petitions/ace-museum-all-in-for-the-1
Also, if you have personal experience with Chrismas or Ace Museum, we encourage you to post comments to our blog or send your case to ArtLeaks.
Please stand with us in solidarity against this terrible person and forward this email to every artist you know to join us in our struggle. If you have been harmed by Ace Gallery—speak out.
We are artists, we must do what we do best to shame this institution from the art world. Post wheat-paste posters about Chrismas, make and distribute info graphics about Ace Gallery, make websites about Chrismas’ fraudulent business dealings, make paintings about Chrismas—whatever you can do to help us.
This man is everything that is wrong with the art world, he fights artist’s contracts, he fights artist’s resale royalties, he uses unpaid interns while he takes his private jet back and forth from Los Angeles to New York, he recreates artist’s work without their permission! Artists are still struggling while gallery owners live luxuriously lifestyles at our expense! He is the person keeping you down!
Artists of the world UNITE!
In solidarity,
Unknown Artists
P.S. PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH EVERY ARTIST YOU KNOW!!!
–
Below are links to news stories about Ace Museum and Chrismas:
ESTEEMED GALLERY OWNER TIED TO $1B ART FRAUD SCANDAL:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/item_4XVuNV91HvqnbvPrR8l3aO
Chrismas Files for Bankruptcy:
http://www.artnet.com/magazine/news/krygier/krygier2-1-00.asp
The Ace is Wild:
http://www.laweekly.com/2003-10-16/news/the-ace-is-wild/
Court Orders Gallery to Return Art, Defense of Lack of Recent Appraisal Rejected (NY):
http://blog.wcmlaw.com/2011/12/court-orders-gallery-to-return-art-defense-of-lack-of-recent-appraisal-rejected-ny/
Corporation Wiki
http://www.corporationwiki.com/California/Los-Angeles/douglas-chrismas/41343513.aspx
Art Law Blog:
http://theartlawblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/chrismas-suit.html
Feingold v. Chrismas et al:
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/new-york/nysdce/1:2010cv08458/370933/
Museum to be haunted by ghosts of Chrismas’ past?:
http://hahamagartconnect.tumblr.com/post/508972734/museum-to-be-haunted-by-ghosts-of-chrismas-past
Artist Sues Maverick L.A. Dealer Over Sales:
http://articles.latimes.com/2006/may/19/local/me-arttheft19
Local News in Brief : Restitution Sought Before Sentencing:
http://articles.latimes.com/1988-11-04/local/me-1076_1_artworks
Lichtenstein and Torres García Paintings Head Back to Brazil:
http://culture.wnyc.org/articles/features/2010/sep/21/us-returns-brazilian-art/
Tangled Web Of Art Deals To Be Unwound At Hearing Of Dealer:
http://articles.latimes.com/1986-04-15/entertainment/ca-5112_1_bankruptcy-law
From Miwon Kwon:
“For example, in spring 1990 Carl Andre and Donald Judd both wrote letters of indignation to Art in America to publicly disavow authorship of sculptures attributed to them that were included in a 1989 exhibition at the Ace Gallery in Los Angeles.6The works in question were recreations: of Andre’s 49-foot-long steel sculpture Fall from 1968 and of an untitled iron wall piece by Judd of 1970, both from the Panza Collection.7 Due to the difficulties and high cost of crating and shipping such large-scale works from Italy to California, Panza gave permission to the organizers of the exhibition to refabricate them locally following detailed instructions. As the works had been industrially produced in the first place, the participation of the artists in the refabrication process seemed of little consequence to the director of the Ace Gallery and to Panza. The artists, however, felt otherwise. Not having been consulted on the (re)production and installation of these surrogates, they denounced the refabrications as “a gross falsification” and a “forgery,” despite the fact that the sculptures appeared identical to the “originals” in Italy and were reproduced as one-time exhibition copies, not to be sold or exhibited elsewhere.”
Miwon Kwon, “One Place After Another: Site-Specific Art and Locational Identity” p. 39.
OUTCOME
Sign Posted by Apple Via and MoveOn at “All in for the 99%” at Ace Museum
Following Apple Via, MoveOn.org expressed support for the sign that was to be installed near the entrance of the Ace Museum stating their total independence from Ace. MoveOn thanked us for bringing this information about Ace Gallery/Museum to their attention and stated that they “honestly had no idea that there was any bad blood between the owners of this space and the rights of artists.” We would like to thank both Apple Via and MoveOn.org for addressing our concerns.
The best news is that MoveOn.org also promised to make it a priority to do proper research next time. We feel that this should be a priority so that these organizations don’t end up working with those that harm the 99%.
Thanks again to all who helped out! If we don’t take action about the economic conditions of the art world, who will?
Censorship cases at Art Dubai
via Tom Gara for the Financial Times
Painting by Chadi Zaqzouq, censored at Art Dubai
Art Dubai, the Middle East’s largest art fair, has this year attracted record numbers of visitors, as the Arab spring, combined with an increasingly mature regional art market, has intensified interest in Arab artists.
But while the uprisings of the past year may have whetted the appetite of art buyers, one of its underlying causes – arbitrary, often unpredictable state interference in public speech – still hangs over the region’s artists, and over Art Dubai.
As the fair opened last Thursday, March 26, Dubai authorities ordered at least four pieces removed from display in advance of a visit by members of the emirate’s ruling family.
One of the censored works was a painting based on the infamous image of a woman being beaten by Egyptian soldiers in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Another painting by Libyan artist Chadi Zaqzouq, depicted a woman holding underwear with irhal – the Arabic word for “leave”, a common chant of protesters – written on them in Arabic.
Also removed was a piece based on maps of the region that used the term “Persian Gulf,” instead of “Arabian Gulf” as GCC governments insist the body of water should be named.
Antonia Carver, Art Dubai’s director, played down the censorship, saying it is not uncommon for works to be removed from exhibitions across the world due to legal or cultural concerns. Dubai’s approach to artistic expression has developed dramatically in the years since the fair launched, she added.
“As the city has grown as a cultural capital is has become much more open to the subjects that can be tackled,” she said.
A Dubai government spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment.
Censorship is common at art fairs in the United Arab Emirates, and made headlines in 2011 when Jack Persekian, the long-time director of the Sharjah Biennial in Dubai’s more conservative neighbour, was abruptly sacked after a piece of controversial art was exhibited at the show.
Art Media Agency also reported on this story here.
_______________________________
based on original report by Howie Severino/TJD, GMA News and Carlos Celdran’s statements
Carlos Celdran at Art Dubai
Also last week, in the middle of his critically acclaimed one-man show on Imelda Marcos at at the Art Dubai art fair, and soon after his mirthful commentary on the special friendship between Imelda and the late Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi, performance artist Carlos Celdran was interrupted by policemen in robes and taken away for questioning. Celdran had been invited to participate in Art Dubai by the organizers with no limitations on the content of his performance.
“They told people to go away when I was being questioned. The audience was truly scared for me,” he wrote on Facebook and Twitter.
Eventually, the artist was allowed to finish his show – but away from the public stage and near the entrance to a parking lot.
After the show, Celdran says he was brought to an office where five men from the police department grilled him for about an hour about the purpose of his show.
“They really were making sure that I wasn’t talking about Arab nations, that all the issues I talked about were about the Philippines,” he said.
During the interrogation, Celdran performed parts of his show, including lines which he imagines Imelda telling Gaddafi, “Islam is all about peace, and if you are funding a war in my country that is pitting Filipino against Filipino, you are also pitting Muslim against Muslim. How are you following Mohammed?”
Celdran was scheduled for another performance on Saturday, but was told by the authorities to “tone down my work and remove religious and political content in order to perform today (Saturday in Manila). That’s 60 percent of my show. So I decided to cancel it.”
Asked if he learned any lessons from his Dubai experience, he wrote via Facebook, “Freedom of Speech #itsmorefuninthephilippines.
___________________________________
Art Dubai’s response to the censorship of Carlos Celdran’s performance came as follows:
“Art Dubai is a cultural event. Our performance programme is about taking an innovative approach to engaging audiences, as part of Art Dubai’s extensive community-oriented, not-for-profit programme of events. Of course, given the great Filipino community in the UAE, we were so happy to have the opportunity to engage — just as we reach out to all communities in the UAE. The arts scene in the UAE is opening up year-on-year, and providing great opportunities for artists and young people to engage in debate and art and design production. This is a very isolated incident and naturally, as hosts and curators, we regret any upset to the artist. In general, the fair and our programmes aim to build links between communities, and lead to a greater understanding of the role of art and performance in society.”
Carlos Celdran reflected on his experiences at Art Dubai in his personal blog here.
Carlos Celdran, “Get Me the Fuck Out Of Here,” Impromptu Performance, March 24, 2012
“TO CLOSE AND ARCHIVE!” – Protest Action at the Visual Culture Research Center of NaUKMA in Kyiv, Ukraine
via the VCRC (Visual Culture Research Center) at NaUKMA in Kyiv, Ukraine:
On Monday, March 26th at 2 p.m. on Kontraktova square, there will be a performance action near the Skovoroda monument, dedicated to the closing of the galleries at the Old Academic building of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, where the Visual Culture Research Center has been working since 2008. Artists and activists of the Center will meet at the Skovoroda monument to announce their protest against the sudden cessation of the VCRC programs that were planned on the premises of the Old Academic building.
An exhibition of the photographer Yevgenia Byelorusets entitled “One’s Own Room” was planned to open on the 20th of March, after which the next VCRC exhibition projects were to take place. An architectural model of the exhibition will be presented at the Monday action. Also members of the interdisciplinary curators association Hudrada will deliver statements on the labour rights of artists.
On Monday, the 12th of March, the President of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Serhiy Kvit made a resolution to close down the galleries of the NaUKMA Old Academic building. The resolution affected the exhibition “One’s Own Room” by Yevgenia Byelorysets, an exhibition of photography and texts, dedicated to Ukrainian queer families, created in collaboration with the curator Nataliya Tchermalykh. A number of discussions and seminars were planned by VCRC scholars and activists to accompany this exhibition.
The artists and the direction of the Center hoped until the last moment that the exhibition and the rest of the events that were planned, including an international conference which would have started on March 26th, would take place in the building that nonetheless remained closed. Unfortunately, the letters of solidarity from abroad and numerous requests from NaUKMA academics proved unable to change the course of events. Rector Serhiy Kvit’s explained his reasoning for refusing to re-open the VCRC in a recent conversation with the curator (Nataliya Tchermalykh), telling her that “he knows this artist very well – she has already exhibited enough at the Visual Culture Research Center for this year.”
The events that preceded this decision were the closing down of the exhibition Ukrainian Body on February 10th by Serhiy Kvit, who accused the artists and VCRC activists of pornography propaganda. Kvit and the NaUKMA administration also disregarded the letters of support for the exhibition and the Center sent by international scholars, curators and artists such as Slavoj Žižek, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Artur Żmijewski and many more.
The galleries at the Old Academic building played an essential role in the development of contemporary art in Kyiv since 1995. Here Andy Warhol, Illya Kabakov, Joseph Kosuth exhibitions took place in Ukraine for the first time. The artistic biographies of many Ukrainian artists have also begun in this gallery where, the Center for Contemporary Art existed before the Visual Culture Research Center.
Save Your Voice: Wish Kapil Sibal a ‘Happy Fools’ Day!’
In an annual report on cyber-censorhip, freedom of information group Reporters without Borders have placed India ‘under surveillance’ for its increased efforts to monitor internet activity.
The report said that India is one of a number of countries trying to pressure private internet companies to engage in surveillance and censorship. Referring to Communications and IT Minister Kapil Sibal’s calls for social media companies to pre-moderate material that might offend religious groups, the report said:
“The authorities there are trying to persuade them to provide a preview of content so that anything ‘shocking’ or liable to provoke sectarian strife can be eliminated.”
The report attributes stepped up internet surveillance in India down to national security policy and increased efforts to monitor the Internet after the 2008 bombings in Mumbai.
______________________________________________
via cartoonist Aseem Trivedi, Save Your Voice co-founder, on whose case of censorship ArtLeaks reported earlier this year:
“Save YourVoice has begun a campaign to wish Kapil Sibal a ‘Happy Fools’ Day!’ on this April, 1, 2012. We as a team feel that our Minister of Communications and Information Technology is precisely the right person in India to wish a ‘Happy Fools’ Day’ this year. We as a team will visit different places in New Delhi with a dummy of Mr. Kapil Sibal to gather your greetings. We began our campaign at the India Gate on March 18th and our Kapil Sibal received many heartfelt wishes from the crowd there.
Wish Kapil Sibal a Happy Fools' Day: India Gate, March 18th, 2012
We strongly believe that Kapil Sibal truly represents all the fools across India today – by ordering internet companies to censor their content. Who else could give such an order? Our minister has earned his nick-name throughout the world. His foolish statements have degraded India’s image in the eyes of international community. Mr. Sibal is a symbol of antiquated foolishness in the current context in India.
How to participate in our campaign :
Option 1- A dummy Sibal will be visiting different parts of New Delhi up to April 1st. Please take a look at the posted schedule of stops and come wish Mr. Sibal a ‘HappyFools’ Day!’
Option 2- If you are not able to reach us in New Delhi, you may also send him your direct wishes at this address:
Mr. Kapil Sibal
Department of Information Technology Ministry of Communications and Information Technology
CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi
110003, India
Email: kapilsibal@hotmail.com
Option 3- Visit our blog www.saveyourvoice.in and leave your comment. We’ll send your comments to Mr. Sibal directly.
Join our movement on Facebook.”
___________________________
via India RealTime
The ultimate goal of his April Fools’ Day campaign is to rally public support in defense of free speech on the Web: “Our campaign is a voice for those who are victims of this government-led propaganda.”
A spokesman for the Ministry of Communications and IT declined to comment on Mr. Trivedi’s campaign. He added that Mr. Sibal was unavailable and “extremely preoccupied” with Delhi’s upcoming local elections.
He reiterated his ministry’s position saying that they have “no intention to censor the Internet,” explaining their aim is only to ensure that “content deemed objectionable under law is screened.”
Rashid Alvi, a spokesman of the ruling Congress party, told India Real Time that he does “not wish to comment on a campaign or an organization that is not known to anybody.”
Although Save Your Voice is relatively small, it is gaining popularity on social media.
“Best wishes to Kapil Sibal on April Fools’ Day. You are truly ‘superman’ for the foolish,” a user commented in Hindi on the non-profit’s website.
“Great initiative. Now Mamata Banerjee should pester PM to declare April Fools’ Day as a national holiday,” another user commented. West Bengal Chief Minister Ms. Banerjee has reportedly written to the Prime Minister four times demanding that birth anniversaries of famed Bengalis be declared national holidays.
Slavoj Žižek writes in support of the VCRC, however the Center is officially deprived of its premises
Protest against censorship and repression at the VCRC, Kiev-Mohyla Academy, February 27
On Monday, the 12th of March, the president of NaUKMA, Serhiy Kvit made a resolution on the prohibition of all events and exhibitions in the Old Academic building, referring to its «condition conducive to accident», where the Visual Culture Research Center has been working since 2008. Despite its «accident rate» the galleries of Old Academic building are shortly to be used as the library archives. Hence the president of NaUKMA closed the VCRC’s exhibition Ukrainian Body at first, then the Center itself, and eventually the premises where the VCRC is conducting events, announcing their «condition conducive to accident».
On the same day the social philosopher and culture theorist known worldwide, president of Institute of Sociology Slavoj Žižek presented a letter of support for the Visual Culture Research Center at NaUKMA. Žižek belongs to the top-25 of the world’s major public intellectuals today, according to Prospect Magazine (Great Britain), and Foreign Policy (USA).
In his letter to Serhiy Kvit, the philosopher mentioned about the importance of the Center’s activity being a milieu that provides critical thought and alternative knowledge, and asked the president of NaUKMA to resume the Center’s work in full scope. Eventually, Slavoj Žižek informed about his plans of the first visit to Kyiv in December 2012, intending to give a lecture at VCRC.
The present sanctions are blocking the Center’s activities. Not only the famous philosopher’s December visit is at risk, but also a number of international exhibitions and events with participants from abroad.
Reminding the previous events, on February 23rd the Academic Council of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy passed a resolution to bar the activities of Visual Culture Research Center of NaUKMA after the exhibition «Ukrainian Body», dedicated to the study of corporeality in the Ukrainian society, which was closed by the president of NaUKMA Serhiy Kvit.
____________________________
Full text of the letter by Slavoj Žižek:
Dear Serhiy Kvit,
I’m writing to you because of my deep concern related to the events around the conflict between the Visual Culture Research Center and Kyiv-Mohyla Academy administration.
Many of my colleagues in the intellectual field took part in different events at the VCRC, and what I’ve heard from them was only the best feedback proving the relevance and the level of critical thought that is developed in the walls of NaUKMA now. I know that there is a community of socially-engaged academics, students, artists and activists, who search for useful alternatives to the neoliberal system, and who focus on the change of the social structure following the ideas of equaliberty. I would also happily join the work of the Center myself, thus I am planning on giving a lecture during my visit in December this year.
Taking this into account, I was surprised by the news about the ban of the exhibition Ukrainian Body held by the VCRC, and the cessation of activities in the VCRC itself afterwards. Such actions are incompatible with an image of a democratic university. Therefore, I strongly urge that you resume the work of the Center in full scope.
Best regards,
Slavoj Žižek
ArtLeaks 