[raiden]

So I've been dealing with a situation for a couple months regarding a Blek Le Rat print I purchased from Subliminal Projects Gallery during Blek's show.

Gary Baseman, great artists and a nice guy, got me in early enough to purchase his Angel in Ox Blood colour, edition of 17. I purchased it on the spot, jittery with my credit card, because I don't have the cash some of you on this board have, but realizing it was a good investment, gorgeous piece, huge.... blah blah blah

I really fell in love with this print.

Anyways, I called the gallery for three weeks to pick it up, and was told they were still putting them in tubes and would call me when it was ready. Then I went to their next opening to try to pick it up - but told they were too busy.

Finally, I get a call to pick it up that week, so I show up on Friday and find out they oversold the print and were giving me another edition - the least sought after gun metal color - which I just was underwhelmed with.

What gets me, is that from day one, I was told my print was full reserved. At the point I purchased it, I could have bought the remaining five!

Now I'm thinking that the reason I got the short end of the stick was because I'm a small time collector and people like Christina Aguilera also bought this print.

I'm hoping to resolve the issue with the gallery, but at first they were only offering to refund my money, when the after market is clearly multiples of this print - but more importantly, I wanted this on my wall!

I'm pushing for them to release to me an AP, and they told me an AP was produced for this particularly piece, but its being sent to Blek and according to the gallery "its a long shot."

I hear that Blek Le Rat is a good chap... Does anyone know a way to get in contact with him?

Any other advice in terms of recourse? I really get the feeling they sold my print because I'm a smaller time collector - though in fairness, they are claiming that the publisher sold a few without informing them.

[freeisthemagic]

Christine Aguilera wouldn't shit on this print, they just over sold it to people who shout louder than you, get a refund and spend it on a nice holiday.

My advice is to be ultra nice to the gallery, DONT say anything nasty or accuse them of anything, if you already have, then its too late.

[Deleted]

That stinks!.A similar situation happened to me when i ordered and paid for a piece of work direct from an Artist, a few months after my payment his work began to rise in price and i was told he had unfortunately "Let it go" to someone else (who happened to be a dealer), and would i accept a refund... i contacted my solicitor who also collects contemporary art and was told that my contract with him was for the originally ordered work and nothing else and that i was fully entitled to sue for either a replacement work OR a refund based upon a current market value which could have been lower or higher than the price i paid... she sent off a solicitors letter and funnily enough the Artist in question "Found" that he had another one left after all!!. I dont know the situation in your country but that is the UK law. solicitors do not recognize the "Oversold" thing at all and prefer to concentrate on "Pecuniary Loss" . However... i would do as Freeisthemagic says and walk away from it a wiser person.

[onemandown72]

Depends if you want to continue to collect art, if so use the galleries mistake to your advantage, politely explain your extreme disappointment and ask how else the gallery can make this up to you.

[Poppy Sunshine]

Give Christine Aguilera a call. Perhaps she's found she doesn't have room for it after all.

[Karl Read]

I think explaining to them your extreme dissapointment and saying that you will except a refund based on the fact that if a new release comes up you want it's sold to you as a pre sale or something.

[dmandpenfold]

so the gallery has held onto your money for the last few months and told porkies about your order...but the general consensus seems to be that it's best to walk away in case you upset someone and because you're not "Christina or whoever" you should accept said state of affairs...

sounds very reasonable to me

[alsbabar]

bollocks, it takes the piss - if a gallery treated me in that manner, I wouldnt buy from them again, irrespective to the artist - there are plenty of other good art/artist out there who would value my custom better.

I wouldnt hold any punches, I would suggest you speak to Mike at BRP, as they represent Blek here in the UK and see if they have one.

Under no circumstance should you suck up to this gallery, they fucked up and lied to you, so why should you accept that!!!

[stjohn]

Jun 17, 2008 7:55:37 GMT 1 @onemandown72 said:

Depends if you want to continue to collect art, if so use the galleries mistake to your advantage, politely explain your extreme disappointment and ask how else the gallery can make this up to you.

This is the best advice! You will find that if they are in your debt they will help. Who knows, something better will probably come along with them...

[blacksy]

So general consensus seems to be something along the lines of
"be nice to the gallery at all times"

Has anyone on here ever bought a house? - perhaps we should try using the same theory with an estate agent.........

Here's the money, i'll sit here and wait three months, in the mean time I'll have a survey done, land registry searches etc etc, I'll probably start buying furniture etc, booking removal vans....

In the mean time, if anyone else comes along and you can get a better price - feel free to sell it to them and fob me off with some lame excuse - afterall - technically there are other houses out there i could go and buy.

[raiden]

It is a situation where I don't want to particularly offend, as its Subliminal Projects Gallery, Shepard Fairey's new Gallery. He's super cool and a good chap, so I don't want to give him headache, but I would be surprised if he knows about it all. To their defense, they are brand new and this was one of their first big shows.

At this point, I'm in talks with them, they're being helpful now that I was like... "Hey, I'm not settling for a lesser print, lets talk about an Artist Proof."

But Wizbong, I will take your advice and get in contact with Mike from BRP. Thanks for that.

As for legal avenues, since this is under $5K, it can be put through the US small claims court at minimal cost and not a huge time commitment (we sue happy Americans), but that's still option of last resort as I'm hoping that they're just cool about it and we resolve it in a copacetic manner.

Any other thoughts are appreciated. Though I'm not entirely against going nuclear with this one, because 1) I really am obsessed about this piece in this colour 2) Subliminal projects next couple shows I'm iffy about anyways - nothing particularly notable is coming up there till Shep does a fall or winter show.

[onemandown72]

Jun 17, 2008 10:10:08 GMT 1 @alsbabar said:

bollocks, it takes the piss - if a gallery treated me in that manner, I wouldnt buy from them again, irrespective to the artist - there are plenty of other good art/artist out there who would value my custom better.

I wouldnt hold any punches, I would suggest you speak to Mike at BRP, as they represent Blek here in the UK and see if they have one.

Under no circumstance should you suck up to this gallery, they f**ked up and lied to you, so why should you accept that!!!

There is a difference with being obsequious and assertive. Done in the right way polite assertiveness get's you a lot further, and as the art world, like any, is fairly small it's better to remain on good terms with all concerned. Raiden has leverage here, why give it up?

[onemandown72]

Jun 17, 2008 10:55:48 GMT 1 blacksy said:

So general consensus seems to be something along the lines of
"be nice to the gallery at all times"

Has anyone on here ever bought a house? - perhaps we should try using the same theory with an estate agent.........

Here's the money, i'll sit here and wait three months, in the mean time I'll have a survey done, land registry searches etc etc, I'll probably start buying furniture etc, booking removal vans....

In the mean time, if anyone else comes along and you can get a better price - feel free to sell it to them and fob me off with some lame excuse - afterall - technically there are other houses out there i could go and buy.

Depends on the state of the market, and I very much doubt you;d find any estate agents not snapping your hand off to sell you a house.
This is all about negotiation - gallery f*cked up, as I previously posted if you want to continue to collect this can work far more to your advantage than just buying one print. The gallery is in Raiden's debt. What he does with this is now up to him, the intelligent thing to do is utilise this debt

[nacional]

Happens all the time.

I got stitched up the same with a Walker AP. Bought for 200 quid from a gallery, in the meantime he went pop star and the gallery realised they had something on their hands worth a lot more than 200 quid. Said they'd sent it, and it got lost in the post, but strangely enough could never give me the tracking number. After a while I gave up and cashed in for other prints.

They know who they are and they know they ripped me off.

Do I name and shame them. No, not at this time.. Unless people want to know. A very well respected gallery that I have bought plenty of stuff from.....

[dmandpenfold]

Jun 17, 2008 10:13:20 GMT 1 stjohn said:

Jun 17, 2008 7:55:37 GMT 1 @onemandown72 said:

Depends if you want to continue to collect art, if so use the galleries mistake to your advantage, politely explain your extreme disappointment and ask how else the gallery can make this up to you.

This is the best advice! You will find that if they are in your debt they will help. Who knows, something better will probably come along with them...

why would they give two hoots now if they didnt before?

[moleman]

stuff the gallery its your rights that are at stake and if they treat you different in the long run you can sue them again

[nacional]

How can you sue them...and to what end...that is what they rely on..that you are not going to go to all the hassle of getting a lawyer for something that will be near impossible to prove and near impossible to gain from. The only reason to do it would be if you were hugely angry and pissed off enough to dedicate many months, time, energy etc... to pursuing something that will have no tangible end result other than sweet sweet revenge

[pimp]

Jun 17, 2008 1:18:07 GMT 1 raiden said:

I'm hoping to resolve the issue with the gallery, but at first they were only offering to refund my money, when the after market is clearly multiples of this print -

this line made me laugh

yeah why just give you your money back when clearly by buying it you deserve to get more back huh?

LMFAO

[pastiepie]

Jun 17, 2008 13:11:18 GMT 1 nacional said:

Happens all the time.

I got stitched up the same with a Walker AP. Bought for 200 quid from a gallery, in the meantime he went pop star and the gallery realised they had something on their hands worth a lot more than 200 quid. Said they'd sent it, and it got lost in the post, but strangely enough could never give me the tracking number. After a while I gave up and cashed in for other prints.

They know who they are and they know they ripped me off.

Do I name and shame them. No, not at this time.. Unless people want to know. A very well respected gallery that I have bought plenty of stuff from.....

I vote name and shame. I was ripped off by a seller on ebay, who is also a member here jan-has-art. Flipped a print weeks after its initial release which I buy for 3X the initial cost. After many weeks waiting and many subsequent emails he assures me it is in the post, will send me tracking no etc. Then only after I put in the paypal claim I get an email basically saying "oops I actually decided to resell it for more money and decided to lie to you"

Sure you can decide to be an arsèhole and screw me over, but at least tell me that you're not going to send me the print rather than stringing me along.

[Guest]

I think you should be mindful of the fact that it's a new gallery, they put this edition together in a matter of a few days, and finally, what can they say?

They've fond themselves in a difficult position, and have offered to make it up to you in some way. I would take the gunmetal and stay in close contact with them so you have prioritiy on any upcoming releases. There will definitely be some good ones.

Oh, and considering you're out gallery hopping with The BaseMan, I'm sure they'll continue to be mindful of your considerations on this and future sales...

Good Luck. Bt, don't be too hard on 'em. They're good people running a straight-up great gallery.

[insite]

Jun 17, 2008 15:42:23 GMT 1 @lahoda said:

I think you should be mindful of the fact that it's a new gallery, they put this edition together in a matter of a few days, and finally, what can they say?

They've fond themselves in a difficult position, and have offered to make it up to you in some way. I would take the gunmetal and stay in close contact with them so you have prioritiy on any upcoming releases. There will definitely be some good ones.

Oh, and considering you're out gallery hopping with The BaseMan, I'm sure they'll continue to be mindful of your considerations on this and future sales...

Good Luck. Bt, don't be too hard on 'em. They're good people running a straight-up great gallery.

Yeah well you're bound too say that aren't you, the "art dealer" who's flogging one

[maadbeats]

I say get the refund but make sure they are aware they owe you one. For some future release.

[Guest]

Jun 17, 2008 16:34:14 GMT 1 @insite said:

Jun 17, 2008 15:42:23 GMT 1 @lahoda said:

I think you should be mindful of the fact that it's a new gallery, they put this edition together in a matter of a few days, and finally, what can they say?

They've fond themselves in a difficult position, and have offered to make it up to you in some way. I would take the gunmetal and stay in close contact with them so you have prioritiy on any upcoming releases. There will definitely be some good ones.

Oh, and considering you're out gallery hopping with The BaseMan, I'm sure they'll continue to be mindful of your considerations on this and future sales...

Good Luck. Bt, don't be too hard on 'em. They're good people running a straight-up great gallery.

Yeah well you're bound too say that aren't you, the "art dealer" who's flogging one

Actually, if I was working for my own interests on this thread, I would call up Subliminal, vouch for the guy, tell them to refund his money for the print, and then I would sell him mine. But, did I do that? No...

Why? Because I value my friendships in this community, and I would love to see subliminal do well with their efforts.

Please don't be so rude. I certainly didn't come on here for that.

Good Luck.

[insite]

Jun 17, 2008 17:11:56 GMT 1 @lahoda said:

Jun 17, 2008 16:34:14 GMT 1 @insite said:

Yeah well you're bound too say that aren't you, the "art dealer" who's flogging one

Actually, if I was working in my own interest, I would call up Subliminal, vouch for the guy, tell them to refund his money for the print, and then I would sell him mine. But, did I do that? No...

Why? Because I value my friendships in this community, and I would love to see subliminal do well with their efforts.

Please don't be so rude. I certainly didn't come on here for that.

Good Luck.

No you're in no position to offer advice.

The gallery lied to a customer whilst selling you a print that you then tried to sell to us kids.

And that's not rude but your recent post in another thread telling someone to take their bs elsewhere was so don't give it all that.

[robotoil]

Do not settle for a print that you don't like. You will only end up looking at it with disappointment. Get your money back. It sucks. Tell the gallery to put you at the top of the buyers list next time there is something you really want.

[burghlar]

Jun 17, 2008 12:43:28 GMT 1 raiden said:

It is a situation where I don't want to particularly offend, as its Subliminal Projects Gallery, Shepard Fairey's new Gallery. He's super cool and a good chap, so I don't want to give him headache, but I would be surprised if he knows about it all. To their defense, they are brand new and this was one of their first big shows.

At this point, I'm in talks with them, they're being helpful now that I was like... "Hey, I'm not settling for a lesser print, lets talk about an Artist Proof."

But Wizbong, I will take your advice and get in contact with Mike from BRP. Thanks for that.

As for legal avenues, since this is under $5K, it can be put through the US small claims court at minimal cost and not a huge time commitment (we sue happy Americans), but that's still option of last resort as I'm hoping that they're just cool about it and we resolve it in a copacetic manner.

Any other thoughts are appreciated. Though I'm not entirely against going nuclear with this one, because 1) I really am obsessed about this piece in this colour 2) Subliminal projects next couple shows I'm iffy about anyways - nothing particularly notable is coming up there till Shep does a fall or winter show.

First off, I'm not sure why you should give them a pass because Shepard Fairey owns the gallery. If anything, an artist with that big of a name should take special care to make sure that his gallery operates with the highest level of professionalism and care. Overselling a print and then offering one that is not an adequate substitute does not meet those standards.

Second, if you are not satisfied with the print, I would definitely not buy the gun metal one. The guy above is right, you will just look at it in disappointment.

Third, if you do decide to "go nuclear" and this is selling at a three times multiple, you could probably have a claim for the fair market value. Would that take you above 5k? If so, having a real suit on their hands could really scare them (advice from another litigious American ;D. Additionally, for a contract for unique goods, such as a piece of art, you can often sue for specific performance, i.e. the goods contracted for).

Good luck man, I would definitely not settle for anything less than full satisfaction on your part, whatever that may be. And it seems like they would probably do almost whatever it takes since they will not want their name tarnished, especially at this early stage of business.

[Guest]

Jun 17, 2008 18:50:44 GMT 1 @insite said:

Jun 17, 2008 17:11:56 GMT 1 @lahoda said:

Actually, if I was working in my own interest, I would call up Subliminal, vouch for the guy, tell them to refund his money for the print, and then I would sell him mine. But, did I do that? No...

Why? Because I value my friendships in this community, and I would love to see subliminal do well with their efforts.

Please don't be so rude. I certainly didn't come on here for that.

Good Luck.

No you're in no position to offer advice.

The gallery lied to a customer whilst selling you a print that you then tried to sell to us kids.

And that's not rude but your recent post in another thread telling someone to take their bs elsewhere was so don't give it all that.

I'll decide what advice I can give or not, thank you very much.

Also, for the record, I didn't buy my Blek LA prints from the gallery. I bought them from the printer, who is a good friend of mine.

The comment on the other thread; was purely in reference to someone coming on my forsale thread to flog their own stuff. I told him to take that BS elsewhere, and make his own thread.

Don't be such a dick. I'm not being that way towards you...

[quicksnap]

Unfortunately, they were terribly strict when printing this edition. They didn't save any for replacements if damaged in the post. Blek is a stand-up guy. Very nice and easy to deal with. This wasn't his mistake, so it would be asking a lot for him to switch copies with you, not that you shouldn't ask if you want to. I'm sorry to hear that, its a tough situation. Everyone at Subliminal Projects is really nice and great to deal with (so far in my experience). If you were given a receipt at time of purchase with the color of the print in the description, it would be the only way you would have a claim. If no color is noted, there is no way for you to prove that you purchased that color.

I highly doubt that you were put to the side for higher/wealthier collectors. I am sure that it was a pure mistake. The fact is that people make mistakes, its human nature. I know I would be as upset or more if it happened to me. Keep in mind that there might be something next year that you want to be on the top of the list for, or a print you really want. Talk to them and just make it clear that you would like a hook-up. Be nice like so many others have said. Chances are they feel bad about it, they are human.

I would save emailing Blek for your last resort, but definately keep talking to Subliminal Projects and check with BRP. Good luck.