another possible scam
the original posting has been removed as requested by re-title.com and Galeria Gaudi of Madrid. I was wondering about this particular "scam" because it didn't have the usual weirdly phrased sentences. I thought it was a whole new innovative style of scam. It turns out it may not be a scam afterall, at least not in the usual sense.
Comments
Lateley there are lots of 'offers' from so called art connoisseurs, museums, who all want my art but for a 'fee'.
Thanks for communicating this info to other artists and possible victims.
Alann
www.alann.info
neville
Message from Cristina Uribe
From: Cristina Uribe (galeriagaudi@gmail.com)
Sent: Wed 10/29/08 10:01 AM
Dear (anonymous)
My name is Cristina Uribe and I work in the International Department of the Gaudà Gallery from Madrid, in Spain.
I am contacting you because very soon, from February 20th until the 23rd, the gallery will take part in the International Art Fair ARTEGENOVA that will take place in Italy
www.artegenova.org
We are very interested in your art work and we think that fits perfectly with the art works we are going to present in this Art Fair. If our proposal is of your interest, please contact us by mail and we will send you the contract with the conditions of the participation.
Awaiting for your answer
Sending you by best regards,
Cristina Uribe
From british arts website:
art gallery Gaudi - “would appear it is a bit of a scam. Or at the very least an organisation to avoid “
http://www.britisharts.co.uk/artistsbeware.html
http://www.artscams.com/ another helpful website
Artist, stay strong against such unscrupulous galleries such as “Gaudà Gallery from Madrid, in Spain” taken directly from one of my emails the gallery sent me.
thanks for posting these warnings- god i love the internet for avoiding sharks like these.....
"My name is Cristina Uribe and I work in the International Department of the Gaudi Gallery in Madrid, Spain. I am contacting you because very soon, from April 23-26 the gallery is taking part in another International Art Fair, Glasgow Art Fair. We have seen your work through internet, wich we find incredible, and we would be very interested in your participation. If our proposal is of your interest, please contact me and I will send you the contract and conditions of participation. Hoping to start a relationship based on confidence and succes. Best regards, Cristina"
I got the same crap today from Galeria Gaudi! They just want to get some easy money from the hopeful artists... You don't get anything for your money if you pay them. This is the same as Agora Gallery.
Galeria Gaudi's mail said:
My name is Cristina and I work in the Gallery Gaudi in Madrid, Spain. Apart from our exhibitions every moth, one of the galleries main events is the participation in international art fairs.
Our next project is in Bolzano, Italy and will be held from May 21-24. For more information of this art fair take a look at www.kunstart.it
In this fair we have a space of 168m2 and we are looking for talented artists to represent there.
If this project is of your interest, please contact me and I will send you the contract and conditions of participation.
Looking forward to hearing from you
Kind regards,
Cristina
My intuition made me investigate further and as a result I stumbled upon this and other pages!
As an artist one hopes that one will be discovered one day and sometimes one loses sight when exciting opportunities like these crop up, however one should not have to pay vast quantities of money to attend with ones outstanding creations!
Here's to being discovered in sincere ways fellow artists!
www.gigilopez.com
Another ex worker as the poor Cristina Uribe, I suppose!
enliten.livejournal.com
enlighten@mail.ru
We have a blog for art scams in Spain.
www.insultarte.blogspot.com
We made a post based on this comments.
Best Regards.
NEVER work with this gallery Gaudi from Madrid or Proyectos Scarpellini or Feria de Vigo or Arteando (this is the new name for the Irun fair). They are not interested at all in your work they are just interested in your money.
Excelent service and collaboration with the artists.
I totally recommend Galeria Gaudi from Madrid in order to exhibit your artworks in Europe and not only.
The Director MARTA SCARPELLINI and His assistant Roxana Popescu are very nice and professional.
They sold 2 of my pictures last year in Paris and this year I will participate again in the CANNES artfair in July.
I ve just send to them more paintings in order to go to this fair.
I also visited them in December when I was in Madrid with my familiy and I REALLY RECOMMEND YOU TO DO THAT.
Greetings from ITALY,
MARIA P
Greetings from Madrid, Carolina
On top of these costs the "gallery" take a 40% cut of any sales! Apparently the upfront costs are to cover the booth rental, marketing and shipping - however this is highly unusual and irregular behaviour for a gallery.
The art fairs they participate in are at the lowest end of the market and so their participation costs can be found easily online.. For instance a 10 square meter booth at Discovery Art Fair Cologne will cost the gallery a total of €2375, and 20 square meters costs €4565 total. With these figures in mind it's easy to see that the gallery can very easily manage to break even or be in profit before they even arrive at the fair!
They also send mass emails, to hundreds of artists, and there is no information about which artists participated at which fair and no documentation of their activities - so it seems likely they don't bring all works sent (and paid for) to the fairs. A normal gallery business model is that they take a 50% cut of sales - but they cover all of their costs (art fair rental, marketing, shipping, staff, etc). This incentivises the gallery to sell(!) but also look after their artists. This arrangement makes sense when you consider the artist will likely have their own costs (studio, materials, etc). Accept nothing less than this.
This is a predatory scam - Their business model is not primarily based on selling artworks, like a legitimate gallery with a genuine interest in the work they exhibit, but indiscriminately selling booth space and the promise of sales/exposure to artists!
They also emailed me and expressed an interest in representing me at an art fair in Monaco this August. Everything is friendly and they are responding to my email questions generally. They have asked for 1000 euros as a participation fee.
Naturally this alarmed me as a local gallery I normally work with take a 45% cut and nothing up front. Similar to how most galleries work I guess.
I've tentatively agreed to it but not coughed up any cash yet as I am digging deep into the internet to find more information. They have emailed me their bank details 3 times to make the transfer.
I'm not sure what to do; 'potentially' risk a £900 (1000 euros) in a sort of scam, or miss out on a genuine opportunity to sell some art on a global stage due to me getting cold feet!?
Everything I have read online about the gallery seems to check out, but there are a few red flags;
1) The email address I'm being contacted from is a .gmail account.
2) I cant find any online presence of anyone who matches the name of the curator I'm speaking to. I would be more confident if there was a LinkedIn or staff page somewhere.
3) Google reviews of the gallery, many from alleged collaborators, are overwhelmingly positive, however bar one, have only ever written one review.
Id love to hear from anyone who can put my doubts at ease. :)
1. It all sounds too good. Van Gogh Gallery - Madrid - Monaco Art fair, etc.
2. The curator has not given her last name in any of the emails. I can not find any information about any curators in Van Gogh Gallery.
Dear Mark,
My name is Daiana and I m writing you from Van Gogh Art Gallery, a contemporary art gallery located in the center of Madrid.
I had the opportunity to discover your amazing style of work and it would be great if you can provide us your email address in order to stay in contact and speak about a possible future collaboration.
I wish you a great day and we ll stay in contact for everything for sure.
Best regards,
Daiana Fernandez
And then this email:
Dear Mark,
A pleasure to greet you once again,
Thank you very much for your answer and your interest in our call.
As I've told you in my previous message, my name is Daiana and I belong to VAN GOGH Art Gallery curator's team.
Our Gallery, located in the heart of Madrid, represents a point of reference in the national and international art scene with international experience by participating previously at important art shows all over the world: Miami USA, Paris France, Milano Italy, Vienna Austria, Innsbruck Austria, Frankfurt Germany, Leipzig Germany, Bruxelles Belgium, Luxembourg, Marbella Spain and also in different top locations in Europe / outside Europe.
We offer representation internationally to both emerging and professional artists and also local representation in Madrid by searching continuously for new opportunities to build the connection between the artists and collectionists and also to connect the art with emblematic institutions as embassies , interior designers, architecture studios and decorators, international companies, and 5* hotels.
I could see your amazing artwork and it fits perfectly with our activity. It would be a great opportunity to discuss a possible collaboration with our gallery.
I am happy to inform you about our next international project, the ¨ Art Innsbruck 2021 " organized from 8th to 11th of July in Innsbruck, Austria.
The immense variety of styles and disciplines that will be exhibited at the fair, promises a special experience for all, including artists, collectors and visitors.
I will send to you attached to this email the complete information about the Innsbruck ArtFair and also the conditions of participation.
Please don´t hesitate to contact me for every question you may have.
It will be an honour to represent your work on this project and have a successful collaboration.
We ll stay in contact for everything.
Best regards from Madrid.
Yours sincerely,
Daiana Fernandez
MY REPLY:
Hello Daiana,
Thank you for reaching but I’m assuming this is one of those situations that wishes to charge me exorbitant fees in order to participate?
Best,
Mark
HER REPLY:
Dear Mark,
Thank you for your reply and for your comments.
I would like to mention that for the international art fairs there is a participation fee established on the total cost of the project (organization, logistics, publicity etc).
In order to collaborate with us inside the Gallery there is no cost and we would like to stay in contact with you in order to find a way to collaborate in the near future.
Right now our exhibition schedule is complete but is a good opportunity to keep in touch.
As a Gallery we have a very dynamic activity also on the local market working with 5stars hotels, interior designers and some embassies but it is true that the possibility of sale increases a lot participating in international artfairs.
Best wishes from Madrid,
Yours sincerely,
Daiana Fernandez
I’m sure that’ll be the last I hear from her
https://yuezengartstudio.com/2021/04/28/possible-scam-by-gallery-at-madrid/?v=7516fd43adaa
A pleasure to greet you,
My name is Sofia and I'm the head curator of VAN GOGH Art Gallery, an international art gallery specialised in contemporary and modern art with a very dynamic international activity.
Our Gallery, located in the heart of Madrid, represents a point of reference in the national and international art scene with international experience by participating previously at important art shows all over the world: Miami USA, Paris France, Milano Italy, Vienna Austria, Innsbruck Austria, Frankfurt Germany, Leipzig Germany, Bruxelles Belgium, Luxembourg, Marbella Spain and also in different top locations in Europe / outside Europe.
We offer representation internationally to both emerging and professional artists and also local representation in Madrid by searching continuously for new opportunities to build the connection between the artists and collectionists and also to connect the art with emblematic institutions as embassies , interior designers, architecture studios and decorators, international companies, and 5* hotels.
We had the fantastic opportunity of discovering your art production and we're very much interested in your artwork, it fits perfectly with our gallery activity. This would be a great opportunity to discuss a possible collaboration.
I am pleased to inform you about our next international project, our participation at the "International Contemporary Art Fair of Luxembourg" organized from 17th to the 19th of September of 2021 in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg.
The immense variety of styles and disciplines that will be exhibited at the fair promises a special experience for all, collectors and visitors, and if you're interested in this project, If you're interested in the project I'll be pleased to present you the complete information.
We'll stay in contact for everything.
Best regards from Madrid.
Yours sincerely,
Sofia
Dear Mega,
A pleasure to greet you,
My name it's Francisco and I belong to the VAN GOGH Art Gallery's curators team, an international art gallery specialised in contemporary and modern art with a very dynamic international activity.
Our Gallery, located in the heart of Madrid, represents a point of reference in the national and international art scene with international experience by participating previously at important art shows all over the world: Miami USA, Paris France, Milano Italy, Vienna Austria, Innsbruck Austria, Frankfurt Germany, Leipzig Germany, Bruxelles Belgium, Luxembourg, Marbella Spain and also in different top locations in Europe / outside Europe.
We offer representation internationally to both emerging and professional artists and also local representation in Madrid by searching continuously for new opportunities to build the connection between the artists and collectionists and also to connect the art with emblematic institutions as embassies , interior designers, architecture studios and decorators, international companies, and 5* hotels.
We're very much interested in your artwork. This would be a great opportunity to discuss a possible collaboration.
I am pleased to inform you about our next international project, our participation at the international contemporary art fair ¨Intennational Contemporary Art Fair of Luxembourg¨ organized from 17th to 19th of September of 2021 in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg.
The immense variety of styles and disciplines that will be exhibited at the fair promises a special experience for all, collectors and visitors, and if you're interested in this project, If you're interested in the project I'll be pleased to present you the complete information.
We'll stay in contact for everything.
Best regards from Madrid.
Yours sincerely,
Francisco
I was contacted by the curator Lara.
If somebody received a similar message i would like to know
A total SCAM!
IF THEY WANT MONNEY THEY NEED TO GO TO WORK NOT SCAMMING POOR ARTIST.
If i want to exhibit my works inside of a space is better to rent it that paying high fees.
SO BEWARE OF THIS!!!FRAUD
A month ago I received an email from the MONAT Gallery (Madrid)
I was offered to participate in a group exhibition with the possibility of sale. I paid 500 euros for this, signed a contract and have to send them two artworks. But now I fear that this is a scam.
Do you get any sale yet from the Monat gallery?
I’m afraid to send money and artworks to a gallery that i do not know.
Thanks
I got today an offer from GALERIAAZURMADRID
god we have to avoid sharks like these.....
Check out how many artists participated and there for payed in the last exhibition. It's about 30 artists, so you do the math! €€€!
Artists also pay shipping and the gallery takes commissions of the sold art. Although according to Artsy they don't sell much, few pieces per show if even that.
This is a vanity gallery! It doesn't look good on your resume! Wake up!
We received exactly the same kind of email, from a gallery in Madrid called "Galeria Gaudi". They propose participations in Art3f fairs in Europe, with a minimum cost of 1000 euros to share the fair costs.
It seems that our spanish friends are well organized in making artists dream of success.
So please be careful with this gallery too.
Kind regards.
Just received a mail to my non professional address, it seemed weird for a reason I suppose… anyway, for me it was Monat Gallery from Madrid represented by Adriana Becerra. I never replied.
Please never pay to be represented as an artist, you already worked “free of charge” while searching and applying for grants, now it’s time your schedule work be paid for, not the other way around!!
Cheers,
Eva Debreceni
evadebreceni.wordpress.com