Artyczar
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There's a really long story to this one. Katie asked for it, so...
Forgive, 2007. Oil, paper, and thread stitched on canvas. 48 x 65 inches.
This painting was a highly personal and pivotal painting I did in 2007. It was practically a heavy therapy session that I did not really know was going to happen. I did begin it with a planned composition, which were the garment patterns arranged to spell out slch (to forgive in Hebrew). From there, I had no idea what was going to come out: everyone asking me for forgiveness. This was after I'd been painting pretty straightforward abstract pieces with patterns. After this, my work began to change and I incorporated my very old work (like the cartoons of my family members) with the abstract stuff.
My gallery director said they'd never be able to sell it because it was way too personal, but we stuck it in the show anyway, and many people liked it.
Soon, I gained a big collector--the one I mentioned in this thread. The day he bought this painting, he also bought Spunkie in the Sky. Right before it, he'd come to my studio and bought some 25 pieces of work. I nearly died. Before that, he bought two very expensive artists books, which I'd shipped to him, so I hadn't met him before he'd come to my studio and bought a ton more work. The day he bought these two pieces was the second time I'd ever met with him and he wept in front of this painting saying how incredibly moved he was and had to have it.
Every time I met with him, he bought art.
The fifth time, he told me all kinds of stuff: he wanted me to be a consultant on a documentary he was working on about artists and crafters who do handmade things, he wanted me to be on the board of his new artist's foundation that granted artists funding, he wanted me to design the logo for a record company he owned, and he wanted to pay for a new studio for me because I'd just lost mine in a move. He also wanted this studio thing with some strings attached because he wanted to use it for a back office for himself once a month.
At that point, I was like...Hmmm. I asked him what he really wanted from me that he wanted to do so much for me and insert himself in my life. He finally admitted to me he wanted me to "run away" with him. I was not exactly thrilled that he'd purchased all that work now. I wondered/worried about his reasons. I know some of it was before he knew me, but still. I felt like I could not take another dime and stopped selling to him.
Then there was a misunderstanding between him and my gallery during the time my father was dying. I came back into town and he'd written me some nasty letter about how I scammed him through the gallery. He'd forgotten to pay for a piece. I told my gallery to just let it go and I'd make up the damage because he was so problematic.
Months after that was when he started liquidating his assets, as I stated in the other thread. I even tried to help him make some money back from my art because he was going bankrupt. I felt bad. I hooked him up with some of my other collectors to buy MY work from him.
Eventually, he put this painting and Spunkie on eBay during my 2010 show when I asked him not to (he'd had even withheld Forgive during an important show at UCLA Hillel--he'd promised to lend it, then wouldn't!), and that was the key work for the show. He acted like a lunatic and demanded that Hillel insure it (specifically) for $20K first. He was a nut.
Anyway, I didn't want those paintings on eBay, so alerted another collector about it and they bought them, but the big one wouldn't fit on their wall so they traded me other paintings for it. Now I have Forgive back. The guy found out and emailed me saying I was a con artist and was worthless because he couldn't get the retail back on those pieces he resold.
Long, but true story.
Forgive, 2007. Oil, paper, and thread stitched on canvas. 48 x 65 inches.
This painting was a highly personal and pivotal painting I did in 2007. It was practically a heavy therapy session that I did not really know was going to happen. I did begin it with a planned composition, which were the garment patterns arranged to spell out slch (to forgive in Hebrew). From there, I had no idea what was going to come out: everyone asking me for forgiveness. This was after I'd been painting pretty straightforward abstract pieces with patterns. After this, my work began to change and I incorporated my very old work (like the cartoons of my family members) with the abstract stuff.
My gallery director said they'd never be able to sell it because it was way too personal, but we stuck it in the show anyway, and many people liked it.
Soon, I gained a big collector--the one I mentioned in this thread. The day he bought this painting, he also bought Spunkie in the Sky. Right before it, he'd come to my studio and bought some 25 pieces of work. I nearly died. Before that, he bought two very expensive artists books, which I'd shipped to him, so I hadn't met him before he'd come to my studio and bought a ton more work. The day he bought these two pieces was the second time I'd ever met with him and he wept in front of this painting saying how incredibly moved he was and had to have it.
Every time I met with him, he bought art.
The fifth time, he told me all kinds of stuff: he wanted me to be a consultant on a documentary he was working on about artists and crafters who do handmade things, he wanted me to be on the board of his new artist's foundation that granted artists funding, he wanted me to design the logo for a record company he owned, and he wanted to pay for a new studio for me because I'd just lost mine in a move. He also wanted this studio thing with some strings attached because he wanted to use it for a back office for himself once a month.
At that point, I was like...Hmmm. I asked him what he really wanted from me that he wanted to do so much for me and insert himself in my life. He finally admitted to me he wanted me to "run away" with him. I was not exactly thrilled that he'd purchased all that work now. I wondered/worried about his reasons. I know some of it was before he knew me, but still. I felt like I could not take another dime and stopped selling to him.
Then there was a misunderstanding between him and my gallery during the time my father was dying. I came back into town and he'd written me some nasty letter about how I scammed him through the gallery. He'd forgotten to pay for a piece. I told my gallery to just let it go and I'd make up the damage because he was so problematic.
Months after that was when he started liquidating his assets, as I stated in the other thread. I even tried to help him make some money back from my art because he was going bankrupt. I felt bad. I hooked him up with some of my other collectors to buy MY work from him.
Eventually, he put this painting and Spunkie on eBay during my 2010 show when I asked him not to (he'd had even withheld Forgive during an important show at UCLA Hillel--he'd promised to lend it, then wouldn't!), and that was the key work for the show. He acted like a lunatic and demanded that Hillel insure it (specifically) for $20K first. He was a nut.
Anyway, I didn't want those paintings on eBay, so alerted another collector about it and they bought them, but the big one wouldn't fit on their wall so they traded me other paintings for it. Now I have Forgive back. The guy found out and emailed me saying I was a con artist and was worthless because he couldn't get the retail back on those pieces he resold.
Long, but true story.
