Follow up: Artist Jeff Koons, Art Dealer Larry Gagosian are being sued by a trustee of New York's Museum of Modern Art and the producer of the 'Matrix film!'

Alert: This is a follow-up to a blog post I wrote that you can read here: [Link]

Here we go: Would you sign a contract where the item you are purchasing can be delivered at the arbitrary whim of the artist and only a suggested delivery date? — I would not! — I would feel like I was being offered to "buy the Brooklyn bridge"

The lawyer claims that Koons and the gallery failed to deliver three monumental sculptures even after being paid millions of dollars to buy them. Movie Producer Joel Silver is too. Here is a response from the Larry Gagosian gallery as to why it was totally acceptable not to deliver the Jeff Koons' sculptures on time.

"…A gallery spokesperson tells The Blast, “”Mr. Koons has become a world-renowned artist because he approaches each piece with utmost integrity and attention to detail. He produces large, complex pieces of art that require master craftsmanship and take time to execute. Because of the unusual process used to create his pieces, and his impeccable standards for completion, his contracts for sale specifically state that the delivery dates are only estimates. For more than 30 years Jeff Koons has been creating works of art and to our knowledge, without exception, has never failed to deliver these works and always to the enormous satisfaction of the collector. Progress is being made on the pieces at issue in these litigations, and as always they will be delivered upon completion.…”

[Link]

I did some informal research of this quoted line of thought and this is what I learned: It seems to me that the spokesperson's comment may be questionable. (I originally wrote full of sh*t but I am not a lawyer nor qualified to speak to this point of law so take this an an unprofessional opinion only.)

Doing some legal research, this is what I found:

"...Untimely delivery without a legally viable excuse is a breach of contract (default). Under the American common law of contracts, […] if a party to a contract (the seller) materially breaches that contract without a legally viable excuse, the other party (the buyer) is freed of its obligations to the seller and is entitled to compensation for its damages. Thus, the buyer need not pay for any late-delivered goods and can recover any damages that it has suffered..." 

[Link]

Nonetheless, is Jeff Koons' opinion that the art is not good enough yet for real? Is that a viable excuse? But a bigger question lurks... Did these two high end buyers truly change their minds because "artist" Jeff Koons is officially a "has been?"

Artist Jeff Koons, Art Dealer Larry Gagosian are being sued by a trustee of New York's Museum of Modern Art and the producer of the film the 'Matrix !'

Steven Tananbaum is suing first: 

From Artnet:

"...In a bombshell lawsuit filed in New York today, a top collector has accused art star Jeff Koons and his dealer Gagosian Gallery of improper business practices. The asset management executive Steven Tananbaum claims that Koons and the gallery failed to deliver three monumental sculptures—even after he paid millions of dollars for them.

Tananbaum, who is also a trustee of New York’s Museum of Modern Art, claims in the dramatic, 53-page complaint that “the road to Jeff Koons’s success is littered with corruption and [his] international acclaim has a hidden, dark, and unctuous background. ...”

[Link]

Producer Joel Silver is suing second: 

"... Silver then asked Gagosian gallery to return his money because he was “frustrated by the delay and skeptical of when, if ever, the Balloon Venus would be completed.” Gagosian reportedly refused and told the producer he couldn’t have his money back until he made his payments on the new schedule laid out by the gallery. One day before Silver was to make a payment, Tananbaum filed his suit, which claims that the gallery had engineered a Ponzi-style scheme that also involved delayed completion dates. ..."

[Link]

Going to use a "low rent" analogy to imagine what is up with this lawsuit. Sort of like talking out loud in public: The lawsuit in question has nothing to do with Amazon but I am using Amazon as an sample relationship between an artist, a gallery and the customer. Three parties total and three sides to the story. The title of the art that Mr. Tananbaum  and Mr. Silver "purchased" is named: "Balloon Venus." I am using Koons; "Diana" as an example since I have never seen a Balloon Venus. 

Imagine I purchased a Jeff Koons' artwork called "Diana" on Amazon in 2013 and I used my Amazon credit card to do it. Now this item is a very expensive item so and I have to make scheduled payments or else Amazon (our allegorical Larry Gagosian in this case) is not going to be too happy with me but once I make that final payment I will receive my terribly wonderful "Diana"…or will I?

Ok, I click and agree to the terms and conditions and I add the item to the cart. After further shopping or browsing has ended, I enter the cart area to conclude the  purchase. Therein I see the "select shipping options" which states the delivery is expected to be something like three-years and three-months or something into the future. Hmmm...

I gotta have it, it will look great in my long, imaginary, "limestone hallway" and it will bring great joy to my friends and the public at large… I click that "buy" button

As the months pass I am making my payments on time and it is not easy. Every month I dropping say $200,000-ish and that is a lot of "love."  (The plaintiff's payments were way more substantial with a different schedules and they too were made on time. Steve Tananbaum paid over $13-million). We all know that $200,000 a month leaving my bank account really hurts. Thus the "devil on my shoulder" starts talking to me saying things like "...WTF are you are doing? Is this knock-off really that great? Will Jeff Koons deliver on time? What else could you be doing with that money?" — Then slowly over time the devil on my shoulder has me thinking what could I buy...

Bingo! WIth on payment alone I could buy a French yacht? Yes, the "devil on my shoulder" priced out a  Beneteau 38.1-foot Oceanis sailboat coming in at just over $168,000. Thus with twenty-seven payments worth of Beneteau sailboats I could have my own "navy" — but that is not all... with left over money I would still have enough cash left over to put a male or female model in a Speedo or a bikini looking terrific at the helm as captain and first mate. To wit:

Nice boat huh? — With 27-payments I could create my own French Navy. I don't mean to beat a dead horse, (but it is dead anyway, right?) If I would chosen Bitcoin instead as an investment rather than Koon's Diana or my French navy, I would be up a mad, phat, $100-million dollars and that's four or five F-15 Fighter jets towards owning my own "banana republic."

My dreams are stupid, I send the "devil on my shoulder" well back to hell.

I paid my money  and when the deadline hits I do not get my Diana. months than years go by, NO DIANA! — I am pissed! This is the last straw for me! I love art, I want to contribute to arts and I want THIS Jeff Koons' Statue in my imaginary McMansion. (It has to be an McMansion, right? — I mean, if it is a Jeff Koons' and it definitely needs an equally "kitsch" McMansion to frame it nicely don't you think?

So what do I do? I decide to go to Amazon's customer service link to ask politely: "Where is my God Damn, Diana?"  Next, I jumped through the hoops and I get a hold of an Amazon customer service rep. (Our doppelgänger for Larry Gagosian or more likely one of his employees asked to fall on their sword because they know I am really mad.)

Amazon gets back to me later in the day and I am told that the artist known as Jeff Koons is late because he is such a quality freak that he wants it to be perfect and it is just not there yet… "How does Spring 2019 sound," they ask…"

"FUCK YOU, BLOW ME, Jeff and his assistants, [many of whom he has laid off as of late] had years to put this "babe" together. Michelangelo built the "David" by hand, with no electricity, no assistants, from a block marble that sat around in someone's backyard for ten years after two sculptures screwed it up. GUESS HOW lONG IT TOOK HIM?"

"How long, sir?," she asked condescendingly.

"TWO YEARS!"

"My apologies, but let me remind you that the ROI on this piece will more than make up for the delay. Jeffs Koons is this generation's "Michelangelo of kitsch and..."

"Miss, this is not an arbitrage deal, I did not buy Diana to sell her! - You know what, never mind, I am so suing the two of you. You will be hearing from my lawyer shortly." I hang up and feel burned!

In closing, I make an offer to Steven Tanabaum and Joel Silver... Choose any artwork on this website and I will sell it to you for the cost to bond it to aluminum with 80-tons of pressure and 400º of heat and I will send it to on time within 30-days. I promise, and my word is BOND (unlike the artist you are dealing with now!)  

I bought a John Stango mixed-media print from the Bruce Lurie Gallery and hung it up next to my front door.

John Stango's faux 'Audrey Hepburn Chanel Paris Ad' framed and ready to be taken home from the Gallery.

There she is, trashy rich as ever.

I am very happy I bought it and it is a lot of fun. The transaction went smoothly and the staff was courteous. I met John Stango briefly, he is a very nice man and quite humble, and now it's time to  save some more money to buy another piece of art, this time sculpture related.

Jasper Johns' work: "ridiculous" — Andy Warhol's "Death and Disaster" series: “It is dull really.” - So said Francis Bacon circa 1978

Three Studies of Lucien Freud  by Francis Bacon. The two were very good friends.

Jasper Johns' False Start

Warhol's "Silver Car Crash." Thankfully the photograph was taken from a distance. Therein lies a mangled body hanging out of a car door. No doubt the victim's family would not be too pleased. 

All this caught on tape circa 1978. The Guardian has excerpts and they are quite pointed. One comment that made me sad is when Francis Bacon mentioned: "...“When I die, my paintings won’t be worth anything, I’ll be forgotten.” He definitely was not forgotten and his work inspired many contemporary painters and illustrators today. As for his work being worthless, his Three Studies of Lucien Freud sold for $142,000,000 at auction in New York. 

Lucien Freud, 1922 - 2011, Grandson of Sigmund Freud was both a spectacular fine artist but a "serial father" rumored (unlikely) to have sired up to 40-children but 14-children can be documented and acknowledged. Two from his first wife and twelve from various mistresses. (ref: Vanity Fair: Freud Interrupted.

Note: I was going to post some detailed images of Warhol's "Death and Disaster" series but I find the work vulgar and an exercise in victim humiliation. Even Sotheby's only displays them from a distance. but more on Bacon's quotes about Warhol:

From the Guardian:

Bacon was no less scathing about Warhol. On the tapes, he can be heard dismissing the 1991 pop art exhibition at the Royal Academy. Having just returned from a visit, he said: “These pictures are bad. The Andy Warhols are very bad.” […] The whole exhibition had disappointed Bacon, who added: “It is dull really. I thought it might just have some superficial excitement, but it doesn’t even have that.”

[Link]

Are New York Museums involved in collusion and antitrust violations with "swanky" high end galleries? Artist Robert Cenedella thinks so and he is suing!

I call this an ad hoc manifesto. Mr. Cenedella handed out to reporters at the hearing. The artist calls it a proposed museum “disclaimer.”

I woke up in the morning a couple of days ago and this was one of the first article I read. At first I laughed thinking it was either some artist who had a great deal of self worth or a down on his luck lawyer looking for a quick settlement to make up for a late spousal support payment.

However, I woke up quick from my foggy reverie when I read that the honorable "…Judge John G. Koetl recommended that Robert Cenedella file an amended complaint that might better substantiate some of his claims regarding “elements of antitrust damages.” His due date of April 6th. He also added this gem: "…If a Rembrandt came on the market, is he represented by one of these galleries?” — Blam! (Personally, I do think Mr. Dead Rembrandt would represented by one of the galleries in question.

I wondered if this happens in LACMA here in Los Angeles? I did some snooping around on Google and I found only one "usual suspect" but no smoking gun.

From Bloomberg:

"… Robert Cenedella said private collectors, galleries and auction houses play a large role in determining which works end up in museum collections, creating a system that drives up prices for a small group of select artists while shutting out others who "do not carry the imprimatur or financial cache of the contemporary artists within the closed system."

"The system today -- put in place by galleries, auction houses, and art critiques -- has nothing to do with talent, development of skill, or maturation of the art world," said Cenedella, a teacher at the Art Students League of New York known for satirical works that have included a painting of Santa Claus on a crucifix. …"

[Link]

A friend is in the hospital so I have been sending them flower artwork every day.ç

©2018 GK Austin II

©2018 GK Austin II

©2018 GK Austin II

©2018 GK Austin II

©2018 GK Austin II

Where do "misfits" go when they don't graduate high school?

Spring cleaning and I found these high school "diplomas" — brand new, never used.

…As for me I went to "Circus Magazine" and bought two diplomas for $30 from a classified ad so I could get a job. When I received them I felt like I had a ticket into the working world… but a day or two later I was too afraid to use them. I feared humiliation and being databased.

Some kids spend 12-years in school and get a "rubber-stamped" diploma just for showing up. Other kids put in the work and are upwardly pointed enough to go to college and become something. Ultra "brainy" kids "leap-frog" into college or by passing a G.E.D. exam. Show me a 10th grader that can pass a G.E.D. exam and I will show you an introvert that worked really hard in junior high.

I spent 13-years in school and didn't make it. I showed up when I was suppose to, save for 10th grade whereas I was so overwhelmed and disenfranchised I would force myself to show up 2-days a week. I told them at the end of year I would never come back… What went wrong? I was placed into catholic school after the third grade that did not have the patience nor the resources to educate me. Though I had a heroic single mom as my de facto parent, she was not educated herself. Consequently by the fourth-grade (two tries) everything was way over my head so instead of boredom I chose day-dreaming, drawing and looking out the window.

So where do misfits go who don't graduate high school or college? — Simple! — Trade schools, minimum wage hell, or the arts. I chose the arts and the best thing that came with that choice were like-minded individuals who were supportive,  patient, motivated and intelligent.

One other thing about choosing art as a profession is that a diploma is secondary to a solid portfolio. This applies to fine art, design or even graphics.

Look what happened to this guy:

"... A self-taught artist, [He] began drawing at an early age on sheets of paper his father, an accountant, brought home from the office. As he delved deeper into his creative side, his mother strongly encouraged to pursue artistic talents.

[He] first attracted attention for his graffiti in New York City in the late 1970s, under the name "SAMO." Working with a close friend, he tagged subway trains and Manhattan buildings with cryptic aphorisms.

In 1977, [He] quit high school a year before he was slated to graduate. To make ends meet, he sold sweatshirts and postcards featuring his artwork on the streets of his native New York. .."

Hi name was Basquiat!

[Link]

Never to late start.

How I ship my artwork? …Like a HUGO BOSS!

The painting size is 24x36 inch and wrapped

The Fedex guy has selected an industrial strength box for art shipments

Not quite bullet proof but more likely than not it is puncture resistant. 

The artwork is centered.

There are three layers of foam. This layer has perforated squares so you can design a compartment as a "cushy" frame for the artwork. Another layer of foam will be placed on top. 

Here is how I ship a painting:

1. Painting is wrapped so it will make it safely to Fedex
2. Buy an Industrial shipping box lined with kevlar and three layers of foam
3. Perforated foam cut to the size of the painting
4. Foam overlay on top between the kevlar
5. Tape box and pay for insurance

I learned how to do this the hard way. There is nothing more terrible for an artist than having his work damaged.

John Stango show at the Bruce Lurie Gallery last night!

The girl in the center of the photo sitting down had amazing tattoos.

Very nice people in attendance.

Hand made StarWars space ship with Ferrari stickers all over it. Ambitious; Spot welds all over it.

Urbanized Star Wars "Walker" - How about that R2D2 with the beer can body?

I love when people pose near a painting for a photo. It means the work is so meaningful to them that, at the very least, they want a souvenir of the moment as proof that it existed.

The man on the left is Bruce Lurie of the Bruce Lurie Gallery. The guy on the right needs a hair cut really bad. Maybe we start a "GoFundMe" campaign for a $15 haircut?

I met the artist last night. A very affable man who I met first at the L.A. Art Show and when I ran into him at the Art Palm Springs show, he invited for last nights John Stango opening. Consequently I even purchased a Stango silkscreened, mix-media, print of Audrey Hepburn in a Faux Chanel Paris ad. In the photo above the print is in Between bruce and I. When I hang it I will take a photo of it. 

Here is a snippet John Stango's bio:

"With a world-wide following drawn to his distinctive American Muscle Car style, John carries the pop art movement into the 21st Century. His work is powerful. John builds upon the 1950’s tradition, infusing it with a new vibrant, colorful, testosterone-fueled approach. Musicians, art collectors, politicians, actors, and professional athletes alike prize his work, which can be found in stadiums, corporate offices, and galleries across the country. John is America’s artist. …"

Full Bio

The Bruce Lurie Gallery has sponsored some very robust artists. From their about page: : 

"The Bruce Lurie Gallery was established in the early 1980’s in New York’s East Village. Bruce Lurie has an history of launching emerging artists into the main-stream art scene, and in his early career gave Jean-Michel Basquiat his first show as requested by Leo Castelli. The gallery has since relocated to Los Angeles' Culver City Arts District. The gallery has a particular focus on establishing emerging to mid-career artists specializing in cutting edge street art, abstract minimalism, and pop art, with an additional recent focus on photography. The Bruce Lurie Gallery features a wide range of monumental sculptors as well. ..."

Link 

Business cards from the various presenters at the 'Art Palm Springs' fair last weekend.

The gallery that represented Banksy featured prints from his 'Dismaland' work.

My art was featured at 'Art Fair Palm Springs 2017' this past weekend

The first image is the cover of a 20-page catalog I designed for myself for the Thomas Paul staff to hand out to people that wanted more information. It was great being at the show. Around the corner at booth #513, Banksy prints for Dismaland and more were being sold. (I made sure to get their card) As for the rest of the fair, it was an honor to be there. The art was spectacular and I roamed around for hours on Friday night and Saturday morning and then had to leave before I could greet some friends. Gallerists prefer not to have the artist around when doing business so I agreed to go home. I once read here a "…John Baldessari via Sarah Thornton quote about art fairs, "…attending them is like seeing one’s parents have sex. You know it’s why you exist but that does not mean you want to look at it..."

I have added two new artwork galleries to the site 'Ectropy' and 'Super Critical Liquid'

'Bombay Sapphire Gin' group show for best emerging artists in L.A. 

Title card for the piece hanging above.

A lot has happened since July 2017: I participated in a group show for 'Bombay Gin' at the 101 Gallery in West Los Angeles. I finished and rendered to aluminum fifteen new pieces, and finally last weekend I had the pleasure of having my work included at the 'Art Palm Springs' fair with Thomas Paul Fine Art. I promised I would blog more and I have not. That's officially a fail on my part; I apologize and I must change that.

I added two new galleries to the site: 'Ectropy', defined as order moving into a chaotic system and thereby organizing it. It's antonym is Entropy defined as chaos or disorder entering a nicely organized system and thereby degrading it back chaos.

Next up is 'Super Critical Liquid' — I love water and I wanted to embrace my passion for it by doing some fractal flames! What inspired 'Super Critical Liquid' was the quote: "…weather is nothing more than water moving through air.…" That sent me down a 'rabbit hole' trying to figure out how much water is in a cloud? How much does a cloud weigh and the numbers were staggering. If you consider that a square cubic-foot of water weighs 7.5-pounds that average looking cloud floating above you head is probably filled with several metric tons of water. Those thunderhead clouds you see on the horizon in late summer are nothing short of a floating mountain of liquid. I hope you like the pieces.

I am doing a second version of a Breeze Series Piece.

The pink is far superior though the red and yellow is appreciated more probably because those colors mimics the suns spectrum more so than magenta. In fact there are magenta does not exist, it is actually a trick our brains play on us no sort white light "minus green." This video explains:

Have not blogged in awhile, shame on me! That has to change. Here is my newest piece

This is a reinterpretation of a painting that was created 1,000 years ago by Chinese master, Fan Kuan. His painting titled "Travellers among mountains and streams" is both ethereal and a welcoming landscape. My version, arguably dystopian is up to you, my dear viewer, to conjure up in your wonderful imagination to event that is transpiring.

©2017 Medium: Fractal, Title: "Homage to Fan Kuan" 60in x 30in

It's late, 12hr day, put this painting up at "Nuance" tonight — Also a fractal fame I recently finished will in be in a surrealism show this month at the "bG gallery" in Santa Monica.

© 2017 GK Austin II

© 2017 GK Austin II

© 2017 GK Austin II

The painting is titled "Ectropy #1" - Ectropy is a word and it is an antonym of the word entropy. Ectropy means an organizing force that brings order to chaos. Sort of like mushroom fungus converting death into life. (That is what they ultimately do; keep in mind I am very tired right now and a bit loopy.)

Also dropped off a painting at the "bG Gallery" in Santa Monica - Something experimental and part of the Breeze..." series; I need to explore it more. Nice colors therein. I will be there on primarily to see people's reactions to it (That is why I create art.)

Details:

Day Dreamers is a survey of artists influenced by surrealism, with a focus on lucid dreaming and daydreams. 

Exhibit duration April 22 - May 11.

Artists: Allois, Gregory Horndeski, Thomas Whittaker Kidd, Shawn Marie Hardy, Evgeni Gordiets, Brooke Sauer, Andrew Currey, Sarah Stone, Gwen Adler, John Sproul, Bibi Davidson, Arthur Schwartz, Serge Hamad, David Isakson, Robyn Alatorre, Lucinda Luvaas, Lena Moross, Allan Peach, Scott Hutchison, Susan Lizotte, Axelle Kieffer, Allen Linder, Hal Goldberg, Ian Trask, Chris Samaan, Ryota Matsumoto, Michael Pannier, Alexis Avlamis, Michael Mason, Suhyung Park, John Huneycutt, Robin Ward, Guy Austin, Ben Mittleman, Vincent Minor, Brett Kaufman, MC Easton, Kevin Schoonover, Dale Odell, Steve Engelmann, Jennifer Kennedy, Yaron Dotan, Todd Impson, Michelle Kingdom, Dave Quick, Karin Swildens, Shen Li.

bG Gallery — c2525 Michigan Ave, Santa Monica, CA 90404

I like to learn from the masters of their craft and then try to see what I can do differently! — Here is an example!

On the left is Guan Zhi: Wind in Pines among  Myriad Valleys (万壑松风), 2015, ink on Xuan paper, 90 x 160 cm — On the right, "Untitled" Fractal Flame Study — © 2017 GK Austin II

The goal here was to pay home to asian ink wash drawing. Hopefully what comes next is a bigger piece with mountains, trees, fog and water and a whole bunch of calming thoughts. 

Rushing this before bed—Rendering out a "Gothic Helmet" for a show at the bG Gallery in Santa Monica. Will do about six versions of these.

Tired, but the the show must go on. My policy is to do some some sort of artwork each day albeit a figure drawing or a fractal flame. Today, getting ready for a show on April 22nd. More details later.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has an online reading room with free ebooks you can read at your leisure!

A sample page from "German Expressionist Prints and Drawings, Vol: 2" — The Robert Gore Rifkind Center for German Expressionist Studies — Pretty boss, huh? — I am on page 54 of 842.

Here is an explanation of the LACMA reading room:

"... The [LACMA] Reading Room is a special corner of lacma.org dedicated to catalogues and brochures of exhibitions past. These are out-of-print, hard-to-find publications available here in full for free. From a unique set of publications focused on the Southern California art scene to rare books about German Expressionism, modern art, Southeast Asian art, and more, the catalogues and brochures here reflect the depth and breadth of LACMA’s collection and exhibition history. We continue to add new publications on an ongoing basis. ..."

A great reference site for artists, art critics, or those rare individuals who appreciate deeper subject matter than a FaceBook "meme." 

…And here we go — The finished piece: Medium: Fractal Flame / Title: "Ectropy #1" — Yes, "ectropy" is a word!

Medium Fractal Flame — Ectropy #1 

"Ectrophy" is an antonym of "entropy." Ectrophy is defined as an organizing force amidst chaos. This was a lovely experiment and I will determine in the next couple of weeks if this 40-inch by 60-inch artwork should be bonded to white aluminum.

Got distracted while making a "Breeze…" series piece and suddenly this structure grew before my eyes.

Serendipity happens! This structure appeared while editing a "Breeze…" element and I had to go with it. I will be adding some more elements to the foreground and background in the final composition. I am aiming for a piece that is 60in x 40in so the render is taking a really long time. What stated as a 8hr render suddenly became a 10.5hr render and then a 22hr render.

We go back to the Breeze series when this beast is complete. Had to share it with you.