The Moscow art dealer Gary Tatintsian has sued the Luhring Augustine gallery for a breach of agreement of $3 million with regards to art by artists George Condo and Richard Prince:
April 2008- 12 new Condo paintings for a total of $2.7 million were put on reserve to Gary Tatintsian by the Luhring Gallery (representing George Condo)
July 2008- Tatintsian pays $1 million in advance and expects the paintings to come in bit by bit a year from now. The contract states two Condo paintings are to be delivered every month and Tatintsian will pay for the paintings as they are delivered.
August 11 2009- Tatintsian files a lawsuit against Luhring Augustine
" 'We paid a year ago and haven’t seen the paintings,' Tatintsian said in a telephone interview. 'During this time, I saw eight works Condo did for other collectors. I won’t let anyone treat me like this.' " - From a Bloomberg article reporting on the filed lawsuit against Luhring Augustine
The story continues:
"This summer, Luhring Augustine offered the dealer five Condo paintings valued at $1.04 million and matching the specifications outlined in the agreement, according to Netzer.
'Tatintsian has steadfastly refused to accept delivery of the paintings or even to look at them,' Netzer said in an e- mailed statement.
Tatintsian said the gallery offered the paintings too late and that they weren’t the ones he wanted. "
When things don't go according to plan, lawsuits always seem to get brought up. However, in the lack of transparency in the art world this is still a difficult field to grasp or to settle in a court room because who is to say that the Condo paintings weren't the ones he wanted if they haven't even been created, but simply consigned as 'new contemporary artwork.' When is the artist going to have a say in where the artworks actually belong?
To read more on issues of art appropriation and art law see my article entitled Who Does Art Belong To?
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