Money in Art - Scams, thefts and more..

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I decided to write this journal entry after receiving a few too many "fishy" offers lately.
Sorry in advance for the long post.

Here I will share with you few personal experiences and ask a few questions that I welcome you to answer.

First off, the statistics regarding artists are horrible... Most artists need to have at least a part time job to keep afloat and even the better selling ones are looking for additional sources of income. The misconceptions about art making being a wealthy source of income still exist, even though the term "struggling artist" becomes more and more popular. Art thefts and scams are quite silly if you think about it, but also very scary.
I can say this upfront, I been selling my work almost from the time when I started painting... but that isn't enough to even pay all the bills, I also teach, and always look for additional projects that I can profit from... The thought of someone making money from my work while I get nothing for it, is just disgusting.

Call for entry

Call for entry is something that can give you that most desired push into the world of selling art, it will allow you to be seen by so many people… all great, right? - Wrong. In my business class I learned a thing or two about the money aspect of it... They welcome as many artists as possible to enter and pay a small fee. The growing numbers of artists that are trying to make it big keeps growing, so they pay, and the galleries make the profit. Of course you can be the lucky one to be chosen, but it is wise to think twice if you really are the one they might be looking for before giving them your money.

Terms and agreements
I haven't given it a lot of thought before, but, there can be so many things hidden in the fine print. After I heard how Facebook gets the right to use whatever you upload in any way they want, I started looking through all the terms that I agree to.

So just a few days ago I was contacted by someone here on DA, asking if I would like to be a featured artist on their site. Sounds wonderful, right? - I even thought to myself, yeah sure, why not! Until I started looking into the site itself. They feature some amazing artists, have few works of their own... and... They sell prints for 10,000$. There is also no information about the quality of the prints, materials used, choice of image, size or anything of that sort... So I wrote back, asking if they will be selling my work as well and why is the price so insanely high. The answer was no, they only sell their works, and asked for my advice on the pricing. Thinking that they want to improve the site, I gave them constructive criticism on everything they might want to look into... with that said, not everyone can cope with criticism and I received a lovely note back "Do not contact either of us again, or it will be construed as harassment "... Harsh, isn't it? So yeah, I don't actually have a reason to further contact them, lost cause, but I still can use my right of free speech and tell my side of the story about it... Whenever anyone gets that defensive, it is usually because they are hiding something...

So I went and looked into their terms of use agreement and found this jewel:

5. c. By posting Content to any public area of Experimental Artists, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to Experimental Artists an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, fully paid, worldwide license to use, copy, perform, display, and distribute such information and content and to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such information and content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing.

Q1. What do you think about the whole thing?
Q2. How often do you read the terms that you agree to?

Scams
Scams are made in any various different ways, it can be regarding art, religion, relationships and many more, but there is one thing in common, they want your money!
The first time I encountered a scam was when we tried to rent a place from someone who moved away,  so basically give money for a key to an apartment that does not even exists, luckily we didn't fall for it, but it made me much more conscious.

Just few days ago I received an email from a publicist & associate curator, Olga Rogoff, from New York, saying they are interested in showcasing my work in their gallery, magazine and online.
There is a production fee that would cover the costs for the print, online, and gallery campaign for a full year.
Here are the links to the gallery and the magazine:
www.broadwaygallerynyc.com/
www.nyartsmagazine.com/

Instead of telling the whole story, I would like to ask this instead:

Q3. How many clues can you find regarding it being a scam from just looking at the provided links?

Under the law, this gallery isn't really a scam. They will showcase your work online... They will print it in a magazine that will be sold only in a newspaper stand under the gallery; they will even showcase your art in so called gallery located on the 3rd floor of an apartment building into which no one ever goes because it's not even listed. And all that for 500-2000$ fee!
They hire people on Craigslist to go to artist's websites and send out at least 40 emails a day or they get fired.

Whenever you think something might be a scam, open Google search and type "-name of the organization- scam". People like talking about these things and it's quite easy to find information and even if you don't… eh… well… just use your brain ^^

Q4. Have you ever come across a scam? If so, what was it?


Be careful.. be wise.. and I wish you all the best in your art path!

© 2013 - 2024 San-T
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MojoCNYartist's avatar
I have received a number of these scam type emails saying that they want to feature my art, and the dead give away is if the email is vague, and not personalized to or about you....usaully that's a clue it's a form that they mass mail to others.  Or they give wonky responses when you ask for details.