Intertropical Convergence: Gallerists Bridging the Americas


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Sotheby’s Institute of Art

570 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10022

Tuesday, April 29
6 – 8:30 PM


Sotheby’s Institute of Art and Stropheus Art Law are pleased to invite you to a timely panel discussion exploring the evolving landscape of art galleries operating across New York and Latin America.

Gallery directors will examine the cultural, economic, and logistical factors shaping their curatorial practices and market strategies. From cross-regional collaborations to the impact of global art fairs and digital platforms, this conversation will highlight the opportunities and challenges of bridging two vibrant art worlds.

Whether you’re an art professional, collector, or enthusiast, this panel offers unique insights into the transnational connections redefining the contemporary art scene.

The panel will be followed by a reception with curated wines.

Panelists

Elisabeth Johs JO-HS Gallery, New York and Mexico City

Malik Al-Mahrouky Kurimanzutto, New York and Mexico City

Giancarlo Scaglia Revolver Galeria, New York and Buenos Aires

Moderators

Judith B. Prowda, Esq., Faculty, MA Art Business, Sotheby’s Institute of Art-New York

Dr. Richard M. Lehun, Esq., attorney focused on artist-gallerist relations, agency obligations, and art transactions

Fiduciary Duties in the Artist-Gallerist Relationship



Intro

When most people think about the art world, they picture creativity, curation, and commerce. What they do not picture is liability. But if you are a gallerist working in New York, understanding your fiduciary duties is not just important, it is non-negotiable.

In legal terms, a fiduciary is someone entrusted to act in the best interest of another. This concept appears across professional sectors: doctors serve their patients, lawyers represent their clients, and trustees manage estates. However, many do not realize that gallerists are fiduciaries as well.

This duty is not optional. It is built into New York law. In fact, Section 12.01 of the New York Arts and Cultural Affairs Law explicitly states that “whenever an artist delivers… a work of fine art to an art merchant for the purpose of sale, the art merchant shall thereafter be deemed to be the agent of the artist.” Once you take physical possession of an artwork for sale, you become a fiduciary by law. No handshake deal or verbal agreement can override this.

This blog post explains what fiduciary duties mean for gallerists, why contracts alone do not protect you, and how to avoid personal liability in your relationship with artists.

Agency and Fiduciary Duties

When you hear the word fiduciary, you should also hear agent. In the eyes of the law, these two go hand in hand. If you are a gallerist taking artwork on consignment in New York, you are not just selling paintings. You are acting as an agent on behalf of the artist.

This distinction matters. Most people think of business partnerships as equal: two parties signing a contract, setting terms, and protecting their own interests. But a fiduciary relationship flips that balance. The law treats the artist as the vulnerable party, and the gallerist as the one with power and responsibility.

This difference is rooted in two legal frameworks: law and equity. The law emphasizes clear rules and penalties. Equity, on the other hand, exists to handle exceptions, especially when one party holds more power over another. That is precisely what fiduciary duties are: a set of equitable obligations meant to protect the artist from abuse or neglect by someone with more control over their career and their property.

So, when the law recognizes a gallerist as a fiduciary, it is not just acknowledging a business transaction. It is imposing an ethical and legal responsibility to act in the artist’s best interest, even when no contract says so.

The takeaway? If you take an artwork on consignment in New York, you are an agent, and fiduciary duties automatically attach. You cannot contract your way out of them. You can only learn how to handle them properly or face legal and financial consequences.

The Artist-Gallerist Relationship

Many gallerists view themselves and the artists they work with as equals—creative professionals collaborating to create and sell art. But under New York law, that assumption can be dangerous. When it comes to fiduciary duties, the relationship is not equal. The law assigns each party a specific role: the artist is the beneficiary, and the gallerist is the fiduciary agent.

This imbalance is not just theoretical. It is baked into the New York Arts and Cultural Affairs Law § 12.01, which says that the moment an artist consigns a work to a gallerist for sale, the gallerist holds that work “in trust” for the benefit of the artist. The gallerist becomes responsible for protecting the artist’s property, accounting for all proceeds from sales, and avoiding conflicts of interest at all costs.

Even more important: fiduciary duties override any contract between the artist and the gallery. If there is a conflict between what the contract says and what fiduciary law requires, the fiduciary obligation wins. That means even if your written agreement says one thing, a court can (and will) enforce fiduciary duties if a dispute arises.

Gallerists must understand that the law holds them to a higher standard than ordinary businesspeople. They must act with loyalty, care, and honesty. This is not just to avoid lawsuits, but because the law requires it. If a gallery takes possession of artwork or handles sales funds without fully fulfilling its fiduciary responsibility, it risks not only civil liability but also potentially personal liability.

Trust and Trustee Model

To understand the weight of a gallerist’s fiduciary duty, think of the relationship as a legal trust. The gallerist acts like a trustee. The artist is the beneficiary. The gallerist may hold the artwork, transport it, frame it, and even sell it. But the benefits of those actions, like proceeds from a sale, belong to the artist unless otherwise agreed in a valid written contract.

This structure comes directly from trust law. In this arrangement, the gallerist holds legal title solely to fulfill specific responsibilities on behalf of the artist. The artist retains what is called the “beneficial interest.” That means they are entitled to every dollar earned from their work, minus only the gallery’s clearly defined commission or costs, if those terms are in writing.

Importantly, fiduciary law can override business structures. If a gallerist operates as a limited liability company or corporation, that structure will not shield them from personal liability. When fiduciary duties are breached, New York courts can “pierce the corporate veil” and go after the individual gallerist’s personal assets.

So even if a gallery goes bankrupt or claims to be operating through a separate legal entity, the artist may still pursue the individual gallery owner for unpaid proceeds, missing artwork, or fiduciary breaches. That level of risk underscores the profound power and binding nature of fiduciary obligations under New York law.

Fiduciary Exposure: Factors That Increase Liability

Fiduciary liability does not come with fixed limits. Instead, it expands or contracts based on the details of the artist-gallerist relationship. Courts look at the totality of the circumstances to decide whether a gallerist has breached their duty, and how severe the consequences should be.

Control

One major factor is control. If a gallery controls a large volume of an artist’s work or holds significant sales proceeds, the exposure increases. The more physical or financial control a gallerist has over the artist’s assets, the more responsibility the law assigns to them.

Inequality

Another key factor is inequality. Is the artist represented by an attorney? Are they experienced in the market or financially secure? Or are they just starting out, working alone, or struggling with financial or health issues? The more vulnerable the artist, the more fiduciary weight the gallerist must carry.

Market Power

The law also considers market power. If the gallery is one of the few players handling a particular kind of art, or if the artist has no viable alternatives for exposure and sales, then the gallerist may be seen as holding monopoly-like influence. That influence increases the legal expectation for ethical and transparent behavior.

Every promise, every delay in payment, and every lack of transparency can trigger scrutiny. If a dispute ends up in court, judges will examine the gallerist’s behavior through the lens of fiduciary law, rather than standard business practices.

Case Example: Open Call and Damaged Artwork

A recent case in New York shows how quickly fiduciary duties can turn into legal trouble. A gallerist issued an open call for submissions. An artist mailed in their work via the U.S. Postal Service. The package arrived in poor weather, got wet, and the artwork was damaged. The gallery had clearly stated in its submission terms that it would not be liable for damage during transit.

But that did not matter. Once the artwork arrived and came under the gallery’s control, fiduciary duties attached. Under New York Arts and Cultural Affairs Law § 12.01, the gallery became the agent of the artist the moment the work entered its possession. The gallery is now involved in litigation over a piece of art with a nominal appraisal value. Why? Because fiduciary duty is not about market price—it is about legal responsibility. And that responsibility kicks in fast, simply from physical possession.

This example highlights the danger of underestimating how strict these obligations can be. Even if the gallery did nothing wrong, even if the artist’s packaging was to blame, the law may still impose liability.

Practical Strategies for Gallerists

To mitigate risk, gallerists must reassess their approach to handling consignment relationships. The most effective way to protect yourself is to minimize your fiduciary exposure from the beginning.

Start by limiting physical and financial control over the artist’s assets. If possible, avoid holding large quantities of artwork. Instead, arrange to bring the pieces in only when needed for a show, then return them immediately after. Doing so lowers your exposure by reducing the time you hold the artist’s property.

The same applies to money. Delay in paying the artist increases your liability. It may feel like standard practice to wait for buyer payments to clear, but the longer you hold the artist’s proceeds, the greater your fiduciary risk. Courts may view those delays as a breach of duty, particularly if the artist is in a vulnerable position.

You also need to assess the level of inequality in the relationship. Ask yourself whether the artist has legal representation. Consider whether the artist relies entirely on your gallery for sales, exposure, or their livelihood. These power imbalances will weigh heavily in court if a conflict arises.

Think carefully before promising to take an artist to a major fair or represent them exclusively. Once you hold out those promises, the law expects you to follow through. If you fall short, even for reasons beyond your control, the artist may claim breach of fiduciary duty.

In every interaction, assume that a court may later review your behavior under a microscope. That mindset can help you avoid actions that increase your legal vulnerability.

Core Fiduciary Duties

Fiduciary duties fall into two main categories: prohibitions and obligations. Courts often refer to these as proscriptive and prescriptive duties. Both sets of rules carry serious consequences if broken.

Proscriptive Duties

Proscriptive duties refer to actions that are forbidden under any circumstances. Gallerists cannot destroy or mishandle the artist’s work. They cannot spend or withhold the artist’s money without authorization. They cannot delay returning unsold pieces. These duties take effect immediately once the gallery has possession, and failure to comply may result in personal liability.

For example, if a gallerist sells a painting but fails to send the artist their share within a reasonable time, that is a breach. Even if there is no malicious intent, the law still considers the delay a breach of the trust relationship.

Prescriptive Duties

Prescriptive duties require the gallerist to act in a way that promotes the artist’s interests. These include providing clear communication, keeping accurate records, and acting with care in all dealings. If a gallerist promises representation or fair participation, they must follow through in good faith.

Importantly, the artist’s reliance on these promises can turn expectations into obligations. If a gallerist holds out the idea that they will build an artist’s career, and the artist reasonably relies on that promise, the failure to perform may amount to a legal breach.

A well-drafted contract helps define the boundaries of these duties. Without one, courts will assume the gallerist owes the artist the full extent of fiduciary care under the law.

Consignment vs. Representation

In New York, fiduciary duties arise in two common gallery relationships: consignment and representation. While both trigger legal obligations, they do so in different ways.

Consignment

Consignment occurs when an artist delivers artwork to a gallery for sale. Under New York Arts and Cultural Affairs Law § 12.01, once the gallery accepts the work, it becomes trust property. The gallery holds it for the artist’s benefit. Title remains with the artist until the piece is sold, and proceeds from that sale must also be held in trust until the artist receives payment.

This relationship creates immediate fiduciary duties. The gallery must care for the artwork, keep accurate records, and ensure that proceeds reach the artist without unreasonable delay. If any part of this process breaks down, the gallery may face claims of breach, even if no contract exists.

Representation

Representation takes things further. It involves an ongoing relationship where the gallery agrees to promote the artist’s career. This might include securing shows, managing press, or guiding pricing strategies. With representation, the gallery exercises even more control over the artist’s visibility and income.

That added control comes with heightened responsibility. If a gallery fails to follow through on its commitments—or favors other artists at the expense of the one it represents—it can be held liable. The law expects the gallery to act solely in the represented artist’s best interest.

Both types of relationships involve agency and trigger fiduciary duties. However, representation increases exposure because of the long-term trust the artist places in the gallery’s actions.

Transparency and Disclosure Obligations

Transparency sits at the heart of fiduciary law. In New York, gallerists must fully inform artists about all aspects of a transaction involving their work. That includes the identity of the buyer, the amount paid, the timeline for payment, and the location of the artwork.

This duty is not optional. Once a gallerist accepts a consigned piece, they must operate with complete openness. If they withhold information or keep the artist in the dark about critical details, they risk breaching their fiduciary obligations.

One of the most common areas of tension involves buyer information. Many gallerists prefer not to disclose buyer names, fearing that artists may bypass the gallery in future sales. However, under New York law, the artist has the right to know who bought their work. Even if a gallery chooses to withhold full contact details, it must share enough information to satisfy the duty of disclosure.

The law also expects periodic accounting. That means the gallery should provide regular, accurate statements about sales, payments, and inventory. If the artist asks for an update, the gallery must comply within a reasonable timeframe. Failure to do so may result in legal action.

In short, the gallery cannot operate in secrecy. Every action involving the artist’s property or money must be documented and disclosed. The more transparent the gallerist, the lower the risk of legal exposure.

Common Conflicts of Interest

A fiduciary must act with undivided loyalty. That means avoiding any situation where personal interests conflict with the duty to the artist. Even small lapses can trigger serious legal consequences.

One common conflict arises when a gallerist benefits financially from a transaction without disclosing it to the artist. For example, if a wealthy collector offers a gallerist a gift, such as a luxury watch, in exchange for facilitating a sale, that benefit must be disclosed. If it is not, the law may treat it as a hidden profit that belongs to the artist.

Another example involves selling the artist’s work at a discount to benefit a buyer. If the gallerist encourages an artist to lower their price to please an important collector, but fails to explain how that benefits the artist, it may be a breach. The law will examine whether the gallerist acted in the artist’s best interest or served someone else’s agenda.

Gallerists also face exposure when buying artwork directly from an artist. If they are aware that certain works are more valuable and purchase them at a low price, the artist can later challenge the transaction, arguing that the gallerist used their position of trust to take unfair advantage.

To avoid these problems, gallerists must disclose any potential conflicts of interest before acting. If a financial benefit is involved, the artist must agree to it in writing. Without that agreement, the courts may view the transaction as improper, even years later.

Legal Remedies and Consequences

When a gallerist breaches a fiduciary duty, the legal consequences can be severe. The artist may sue not only the gallery entity but also the individual who controls it. Courts in New York have the power to pierce the corporate veil and hold the gallery owner personally responsible.

In a typical contract dispute, a party might recover the value of the agreement. However, in a fiduciary breach, the court can go further. The artist may claim damages, demand the return of all profits, and seek reimbursement for legal fees. Under the New York Arts and Cultural Affairs Law, the artist is also entitled to a full accounting and may recover court costs and attorney’s fees if they prevail.

There is also the risk of criminal liability. Under the revised law passed in 2012, gallerists who misappropriate or wrongfully withhold trust property can face criminal charges. That includes failing to return artwork, pocketing sales proceeds, or using the artist’s funds for unrelated expenses.

Even more damaging is the uncertainty of fiduciary litigation. These cases often take years to resolve and can cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. Judges interpret fiduciary exposure differently. Some may rule in favor of the artist without giving much weight to the gallerist’s position. Others may require a detailed analysis of every transaction.

Because fiduciary duties arise by law, not contract, there is no clear limit on what a court might decide. That level of unpredictability is reason enough for gallerists to handle every artist relationship with care, clarity, and strong documentation.

The 2012 New York Fiduciary Law

The current legal framework for fiduciary duties in New York galleries took shape after a major scandal rocked the art world. In the case of Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, millions of dollars in artist proceeds were misused. The gallery went bankrupt, and artists, estates, and collectors lost access to their works and their money.

In response, New York passed amendments to the Arts and Cultural Affairs Law § 12.01, creating strict rules for gallerists. Under the revised law, any time an artist delivers a work of fine art to an art merchant for the purpose of sale, the merchant is immediately deemed the artist’s agent. The artwork becomes trust property. So do the proceeds from its sale.

The law overrides any contrary terms in a contract, custom, or trade practice. It states that no lien, security interest, or claim by a creditor can touch the artist’s consigned work or the money it generates. Even if the gallery files for bankruptcy, the artist’s rights remain intact.

The statute also clarifies enforcement. Gallerists are both civilly and criminally liable for misappropriation. Artists can demand an accounting at reasonable intervals. If a court finds a breach, the gallerist may be required to return the artwork, pay damages, and cover the artist’s legal costs.

The law applies broadly. It does not matter where the artist lives. If the gallery operates in New York, or if the artwork passes through New York on its way to sale, the fiduciary duties apply. This includes online galleries and cooperative galleries. The structure or business model does not affect the legal obligations.

These rules have transformed how galleries must handle artist relationships. Ignorance of the law is not a defense. Once the artwork is in the gallery’s possession, the fiduciary burden is in place.

The Importance of Contracts in the Artist-Gallerist Relationship

While fiduciary duties arise automatically, a written contract is still essential. Without one, the gallerist has no clear protection and no way to define the terms of the relationship. Courts will impose fiduciary standards based on law, not intent, leaving the gallerist fully exposed.

A contract cannot eliminate fiduciary duties, but it can establish how the gallery is compensated, when payments are due, and what responsibilities each party accepts. For example, a contract can state that proceeds will be paid within sixty days. Without that clause, a court might require immediate payment. The written agreement is your only defense against assumptions that favor the artist.

For artists, this is a moment of opportunity. The current legal environment gives them greater leverage than ever before to ask for clarity. A clear and fair contract benefits both sides. It prevents miscommunication, sets realistic expectations, and reduces the chances of conflict.

Some gallerists avoid formal agreements, fearing that paperwork will damage trust. But the opposite is true. When disputes arise, trust quickly erodes. Without a contract, the gallerist may discover too late that they have no legal ground to stand on. Their assumptions about the relationship vanish, and the artist may hold the stronger legal position.

New York law recognizes the artist as the vulnerable party and the gallerist as the one in power. The only way to balance that reality is through documentation. A contract will not remove fiduciary duties, but it will give both parties the clarity they need to avoid unnecessary risk and preserve a working relationship built on mutual respect.

Contact STROPHEUS LLC for More Information

The artist-gallerist relationship in New York is not just a business arrangement. It is a legally recognized fiduciary relationship, with duties that arise the moment a gallery takes possession of artwork. These duties are strict, non-negotiable, and enforceable, even in the absence of a written agreement. Gallerists must understand their responsibilities, artists must know their rights, and both sides should commit to clear, written contracts to protect their interests.

To learn more or to schedule a consultation, contact STROPHEUS LLC.

 

Artist Visas: A Comprehensive Guide for Artists and Gallerists


Immigration attorney Rebecca Lenetsky covers everything that artists and gallerists need to know about artist visas to the US.


Intro

My name is Rebecca Lenetsky. I’m a New York-based immigration lawyer who works with creatives in the fine arts, film, music, journalism, digital arts, and other related fields.

If your intent is to grow your art practice, or creative profession by spending time in the US, I can be a key player with regard to your work visa, green card, or even citizenship.

This presentation will focus mainly on the O-1B Visa. An O-1B visa is necessary for many visits to the United States that are related to your artistic practice. This is also the visa you need in order to work in the US as an artist. Before turning to the details of the O-1B visa I’ll talk a little bit about the current immigration law situation in the United States.

Immigration law is currently changing more rapidly than almost any point in recent history. Many would say that immigration questions and especially restrictions are central to the current government’s policy. These changes have also affected those coming to the US on work visas such as the O-1B.

Immigration law is based on two things. It is first and foremost the formal rules, also known as laws and regulations, which tell immigration and border officials what you to do in order to be legally in the US. Secondly, it is the discretionary power of immigration officers.

This includes officers at US consulates abroad, and of CBP officers at the physical border when you enter the country. Generally speaking, in order to safely travel to and stay in the US you must: (1) first fit into a visa category that is within the regulations, and (2) apply and be approved by the immigration agency in the US. (3) You must then present yourself at the consulate for a visa stamp.

When you arrive at the border, you need to have the right documents and profile for Customs and Border Protection to be comfortable with allowing you to enter the country. As an immigration lawyer, I bring value to my clients because I know exactly what the current regulations are and how they are changing.

In the current climate, it’s very important to work with someone who has firsthand experience with how to present the facts so that they work smoothly with the official requirements. An important part of my role is also to dialogue with you regarding the requirements that are imposed at the consulate or the physical border. This is critical because any irregularities or inconsistencies in the information you provide to the Department of Homeland Security or with Customs and Border Protection can lead to being refused entry or even being barred from entry for very long periods of time.

In summary, in order to successfully navigate immigration law, you need an up-to-date and thorough working knowledge of the rules. It also requires understanding how exactly these regulations can be satisfied at different points of the visa process. The good news is that with the right support and perseverance even the most daunting bureaucracy can be handled effectively and predictably.

Visas

A visa stamp is a document, usually issued by the consulate in your home country, that permits you to enter the US. The US requires citizens of most countries to secure a visa before entering. However, a visa is not a guarantee that you will actually be allowed to enter once you arrive. CBP border officers are now looking even more closely at the reason for a trip, any prior visits to the US, and even sometimes at the underlying qualifications for a visa.

When we talk about visas, it will sometimes also refer to a type of legal short-term status in the US—for example, the O-1B visa category. There are typically two ways of getting permission to be in the US as a creative—either as a temporary visitor, or on a work visa. If you are coming for certain specific purposes—for example for short-term residency programs or speaking engagements—you may be allowed to enter the US as a short-term visitor/tourist. Artists entering as short-term visitors are also allowed to create and work on art, as long as it will not be regularly sold in the US. If you are intending to work or stay for longer periods you must have a special visa for this.

Working in the US without the appropriate visa means that you can be barred from entering the country for many years. Immigration law is very strict when it comes to following the rules. You cannot bend, ignore or avoid these rules without creating the risk of serious consequences that can stick with you for years to come. Let’s first look at what you need to know about visiting the US without the intent of working there.

ESTA Visa Waiver and B1/B2 Visa

Creatives visiting the US from specific countries can take advantage of the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). This includes most European countries, Australia, Japan, and a few others. The Visa Waiver is applied for through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) and the related visitors on ESTA can stay for up to three months at a time. Citizens from non-ESTA countries require a B1/B2 visa to travel to the US as short-term visitors.

The B1 visa is for business visits while the B2 visa is for pleasure and tourism. Visitors on B1/B2 can usually stay for up to six months at a time. You are not authorized to work in the US on the basis of an ESTA visa waiver or on a B1/B2 visa, but certain activities related to your artistic practice may be covered. You need to apply for the B1/B2 visa in advance of your travel at a US consulate abroad, usually in your home country.

It is important to check with an immigration professional before traveling to the US to ensure your ESTA or B1/B2 covers the activities you are planning to engage in.

Non-Immigrant Work Visas

If you want to work or stay for extended periods of time in the US to develop your artistic practice you will need a temporary, non-immigrant work visa. There is no all-purpose, one-size-fits-all work visa in US law. Different types of work visas have different requirements.

For some visa categories, you need to already possess specific work experience or academic degrees in order to qualify. Some visas, like TN Visas for Canadians and Mexicans, are only for citizens of specific countries. Work visa categories are like boxes with different shapes. You need to figure out which box is the right shape for you, and then show the US government that you fit into it. You must get experienced guidance to know what you qualify for and how to navigate the application process.

For the rest of this presentation I will focus on the O-1B visas. The O-1B is the most commonly used work visa for artists.

O-1B Visas Overview

In the following I’ll cover the following:

  • What are the O-1B Visa criteria and how do you qualify for an O-1B visa?
  • What documentation do you need to provide to USCIS to show that you qualify?
  • What if you are not quite ‘extraordinary’ yet?

I will discuss how you can think about your current activities and projects to prepare for the O-1.

I’ll also cover questions about O-1 procedure:

  • What kinds of projects and other work you need to prepare before you apply
  • Who is allowed to file the papers with the government
  • What are the limitations and steps needed to prepare the application?

I’ll also address issues of timing:

  • How long does it take to prepare an O-1B before applying?
  • How long does it take to get an approval from the government?
  • How long can you stay in the US on an O-1B visa?

General Notes

The O-1B is called the “extraordinary ability” visa. It is meant for artists who have already shown that they have extraordinary ability in their field. The O-1B is meant for artists at all different stages of their careers. Emerging and established artists can both get O-1B visas – it is not just for the very top successful artists in the world. You certainly shouldn’t be discouraged by the term “extraordinary.” The key to getting an O-1B as an emerging artist is to present the experience you have in a way that matches the format of the regulations.

You also need to present these in a way that meets the expectations of the officer reviewing your documents. Before we go into detail it is important to remember in general: To get an O-1B you in fact do NOT need a full-time job lined up in the US, but you DO need to show you are coming for pre-arranged projects, shows or other work related to your practice. However, unlike other work visas, the O-1B allows you to be flexible and change what work is covered as needed.

The O-1B, like most work visas, requires an application (technically called a “petition”) which is submitted to the US Citizenship and Immigration Service, which is located in the US. Once approved, you then apply in a second step for a visa stamp at a consulate abroad. As is the case with most US work visas, you cannot file an O-1 by yourself.

You need someone in the US to petition on your behalf. This can be a US company, organization, or individual. The petitioner is a US domestic actor that makes a formal request for you to be granted a non-immigrant work visa. The petitioner is not the same person as a lawyer who is helping to prepare and submit the O-1B.

In summary, the O-1B is a:

  • (i) non-immigrant work visa linked to projects or engagements you have lined up in the US
  • (ii) is flexible enough to account for changes to your projects
  • (iii) must be applied for outside the US before you enter
  • (iv) a person or an organization in the US must apply on your behalf

Now let’s look at the prerequisites for an O-1B visa applicant.

O-1B = Distinction in one’s Field

The O-1B visa is for individuals with extraordinary ability – specifically, this means that an artist has to reach “distinction in their field.” Distinction means that you have gotten attention and been recognized for your work. You do not need to prove that you are the absolute best at what you do.

I have a lot of experience with evaluating O-1B candidates, having represented artists at all different points of their careers. Many clients come to me after being told that they are not ready for an O-1, only for us to successfully obtain an O-1B for them. While I don’t want to underestimate how difficult this visa is to get, the O-1B is nevertheless meant for artists who can prove distinction, no matter how far along their practice is.

Qualifying for the O-1B

To qualify for an O-1B you need to show the following:

  • One-Time Award
  • Or you need to show that you have met at least (3) three of the six possible O-1 categories

One-Time Award:

If you received or were nominated for a significant national or international award or prize in your field, you don’t need to show any other proof of your qualifications. This means an award on the level of an Emmy, Oscar, Grammy, or equivalent in another country. Many awards will not qualify for this category.

If you don’t meet the one-time award criteria, you have to show that you have met at least three of the six possible following criteria:

3 out of 6 Criteria:

1. You have been the Lead or starring participant in productions or events with a distinguished reputation
This covers any show, exhibition, event, installation, recording, or any other public presentation of your work. You need to show that your work was an important part of a production. If your work is being displayed in a gallery, it should ideally be a solo show. Distinguished reputation means that there is public recognition for the event or venue; for example, were articles written about it, or did it get an award? If your installation is part of a high-profile arts event, sometimes even social media feedback can be used to show the reputation of the project.

2. Published materials by or about you and your work in major newspapers, trade journals, magazines, or other publications
This category includes any material in newspapers, magazines, journals or blogs that is written by you or about you and your artistic practice. This includes print and online sources. For this category, I ask my clients to put together a list of articles about their work. I also extensively research my clients and find articles that mention them or their work. The strongest articles are ones that discuss the artist’s work in detail.

We then choose which are in the most prominent publications – either national media, or outlets that are important in the industry – for example, for visual artists this will be sites like Hyperallergic, Artforum, etc. Articles from foreign countries also qualify – you do not need US or English language articles.

3. You have played a lead, starring, or critical role for organizations and establishments with distinguished reputation
Have you had a prominent position or worked on an important project with a prestigious institution?

This category is really extensive; it can include anything from a solo show with a prominent gallery to being employed as full-time curator with a museum. We prove this category by getting letters from relevant institutions explaining what you did and why your role was important.

4. You have a record of major commercial or critically acclaimed successes
Here we show that you received critical praise for your work – this includes reviews, awards, or sometimes even measurements like views on social or media platforms. Commercial success is proven through sales figures, whether of art, albums, tickets, or other quantifiable metrics.

5. Received significant recognition for achievements from organizations, critics, or other recognized experts in the field
In my experience, this is one of the easiest categories to prove. This is usually substantiated through reference letters we help put together from experts in your field. This should include a combination of people you have worked with and others who you haven’t worked with directly, but who know about your career and practice. It’s very important for these letters to have specific examples of your accomplishments and explain how your work stands out from others.

6. You have received a high salary or other substantial remuneration for services in relation to others in the field
We prove this by showing that for your country, and for your type of work, your work sold for higher prices compared to others in your geographical location. If you are working as an art professional and have been paid for services such as art advising or curation, we can try to prove that you received a high salary or other compensation, compared to others.

7. Comparable Evidence
If you work in a very niche discipline, the above categories may not apply. There may be other types of evidence that will be better suited to proving that you have distinguished yourself. However, I have found for most visual artists, the first 6 categories usually work well.

O-1 Visa Petitioners

Having discussed how you qualify as an O-1B artist, let us turn to the process of applying. You are not allowed to sign and submit the O-1B forms on your own. A US citizen, company or institution that is representing you as the “Petitioner” must sign and submit the application to USCIS, the agency that reviews and approves almost all work visas.

An O-1B petition can be filed by the company or even person who is your direct employer, so that you can perform services for them – for example, creative direction, teaching, art advising, etc. The O-1 visa is unique among US work visas, because you can have one single “Petitioner” even if you are going to be doing work, projects, or shows for several different organizations. This special regulation gives much more flexibility to artists.

When your petitioner files paperwork for the O-1B and you work for different projects and organizations, your petitioner is called your Agent. This is the arrangement I use most frequently for visual artists.

Who can be an O-1B Agent

Any U.S. citizen, organization, or company can be an agent/petitioner for the O-1B. This can even be a friend or colleague who has no involvement in your work. The O-1 agent/petitioner does not need to represent you in any other way – they don’t have to be involved in negotiating, procuring or managing your work. They are only an agent within the framework of the immigration law.

You do not have to compensate the agent/petitioner in exchange for this service, so there should be no extra financial burden for this part of the process. I use a very simple written agreement that the artist and the agent/petitioner sign. This agreement limits the obligations between the agent/petitioner and the artist. Any other dealings that the agent/petitioner and the artist have should be controlled by a separate, appropriate contract.

Benefits of using Agent

There are two major benefits to using an agent filing, as opposed to just having a petitioner. First, this allows you to file one single O-1B application for all of the creative work you will be doing in the US. You don’t need to file a different O-1B for each project or show.

Second, you’re allowed to add or change projects, shows, and employers while in the US, without having to file any additional paperwork. This system can save a lot of money, time and stress. You don’t have to pay filing fees for every project. You do not have to convince employers or collaborators to commit to binding agreements, and you don’t have to wait for any paperwork to be processed before starting a new engagement.

Itineraries and Employment Agreements

Filing the O-1B with an agent gives tremendous flexibility, but you must still plan and document your work before you can file. USCIS wants to see that you will actually be coming to the US to continue your artistic work. You also have to show that you have enough pre-arranged plans to cover the full time you will be here. These plans are however allowed to change, be cancelled or added to once you are approved.

As a result, we must submit an Itinerary of planned engagements in the US along with the agent agreement. The itinerary includes projects, shows, performances, promotional events, fairs, lectures, or any other services related to your artistic practice. There must be a contract, deal memo, or letter of intent for each item on the itinerary from a gallery, organization, venue, exhibition space, or from a creative collaborator with whom you will be working.

The more prestigious and more high-profile your projects are, the better they are for your itinerary. Also, everything in the itinerary must be related to your extraordinary ability, but this can also include related work like teaching or curating a show.

An O-1 visa can be valid for up to 3 years. The events on the itinerary should cover the entire length of the period that you want to stay. For example, let’s say you want to move to the US for the full 3-year period. A gallery needs to provide a list with dates of shows, fairs, talks, and any other events that you will participate in. If you are going to be working on a series of commissions, these need to have deliverable dates over the course of the three years, not only within the first year.

Preparation & Processing

In this section I will look at how long it takes to prepare and process an O-1 visa, what happens when USCIS makes a request for additional information, how much are filing fees, and other general questions.

(i) How long does it take to make an O-1B application?
The application process will depend at first on you and your petitioner/agent, as you need to assemble all the supporting materials and letters I discussed. Then you have to choose between premium and regular processing by USCIS. Regular processing currently costs $460 USD and has no set processing time. It usually takes about 2–4 months. Premium processing currently costs almost $1500 additional, but has guaranteed maximum 15-day processing.

(ii) Requests for Evidence
Even with Premium Processing, there is always the possibility of delay if USCIS has questions about whether the material provided is enough to qualify for an O-1B. This is called a “Request for Evidence” or RFE. An RFE is not cause for panic – sometimes an RFE is issued only because documentation has been overlooked or needs some supplementation.

USCIS usually gives a 3-month maximum deadline to respond to an RFE. Many RFEs are caused by lack of background information or detail about a production or publication. Sometimes an RFE is issued by an officer who simply has not done a good review of the documents. Part of the most important work that I do is making sure that everything is very clearly presented and backed up with credible information. I also make sure that no key details are missing that would lead to an automatic RFE.

After the O-1B is approved, if you are outside the US, you will need to attend a visa interview at a consulate. This interview is usually routine but with the current immigration climate you should be prepared to answer questions about your petition. Some consular officers will decide to challenge whether you are really “extraordinary.” You may also be asked about past visits to the US or previous visa applications.

Changing, Extending & Amending

For most O-1B visas, you do not need to file a new O-1B when you change work and projects on your itinerary. However, if you filed with a single employer instead of an agent, you will need to submit a new or amended O-1B if anything significant about your employment changes. Significant or material changes include changing from full-time to part-time or changing the type of work you will be doing.

If you wish to extend your O-1, you must file a new petition before expiry of your current approval.

Changing status – Filing in the US vs outside the US:
If you are in legal status, you may be able to request to change your status within the US. If you entered on ESTA, you will have to leave and get an O-1B visa. If you change to O-1B status in the US, next time you travel you need to apply for a visa at a consulate before your travel back. Only Canadians are exempt from getting a visa to return to the US.

Validity Periods

You can obtain an O-1 visa for up to three years. USCIS will only issue the O-1 for the length of events, engagements, or performances. When it is time to apply for an extension, you can file up to 6 months in advance of the expiry date. For the extension, you need to show new projects covering the next 3 years. If you are working on the exact same projects, or in the same position, the visa will only be approved for one additional year. New work & shows with the same gallery or organization is usually considered “new work.”

So what do you need to start doing now to prepare for your O-1B?
What do you do if you are an emerging artist, or new to a particular field? How do you show that you are “extraordinary?”

There is no one specific way to build an O-1B-worthy resume. However, my experience shows that there are some key points to remember:

  • Keep records of all your shows, engagements, performances – including copies of any promotional material and press releases.
  • When it comes to projects and shows, bigger is not always better. USCIS will look at your role in a production or exhibition. A solo show with a smaller organization can be better than a group show with a high-end gallery.
  • Get your name in press pieces. Never say no to an article or interview, even with small online publications. If you are in a group show, try to get your work mentioned in press coverage of the show. This will help show that you play a “leading role.”
  • Build relationships. This is good for your career and for your immigration status. Keep regularly in touch with professors and mentors – this makes it easier to ask for testimonial letters down the road.

Summary

Coming to the US is only possible as part of the ESTA visa waiver program or on a Visa. It is very important to plan your trip well in advance and to have the right local partners. If you want to work in the US or stay for longer periods, you need a non-immigrant work visa.

Do not come to the US with the wrong visa, or fail to adjust your status if your plans change. The consequences can be very severe. For artists, the most commonly used non-immigrant work visa is the O-1B “extraordinary ability” visa. To qualify for the O-1B, you need to show that you have set yourself apart from others in your field. You show this with documents such as articles about your practice, reference letters, and information about displays of your work.

The O-1B paperwork must be signed and filed by a person or legal entity in the US that is acting as your O-1B representative or “agent.” You must submit proof of the work you will be doing in the US, but you can add and remove projects once approved.

Despite all of the complexity, US immigration law still wants talented creatives to visit and even work in the US. Nevertheless, because immigration law is very rule-driven, you must take the time to understand what is required, and to work from the beginning with experienced and specialized legal counsel.

Please contact me at artistvisa@stropheus.com if you have any questions, and I look forward to helping you realize your professional goals.

 

Developing New Markets: Africa, China, India, and Latin America


Sotheby’s Institute of Art

570 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10022

Thursday, May 9th
6 – 8 pm

Sotheby’s Institute of Art in collaboration with Stropheus Art Law invite you to a panel discussion on the challenges for gallerists developing new markets with focuses on Africa, China, India, and Latin America.

Globalization and market diversification have become key elements of a gallerist’s economic and curatorial success.

The speed and international scope of business opportunities create an almost unlimited potential for business development, while at the same time significantly increasing risks. This panel focuses on understanding business development and sustainability in these key markets.

The event will be followed by a reception with a selection of curated wines.

Panelists

Ethan Cohen founded Ethan Cohen Gallery in 1987 as Art Waves/Ethan Cohen in SoHo, New York City. It was the first gallery to present the Chinese Avant Garde of the ’80s to the United States. He has represented artists including Ai Weiwei, Xu Bing, Gu Wenda, Zhao Bandi, Wang Keping and Qiu Zhijie. Ethan Cohen Fine Arts today represents a diverse global mix of art, including contemporary American, African, Iranian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Russian, Pakistani and Thai, from emerging and established artists.

Projjal Dutta has shown the work of established artists such as M. F. Husain, F. N. Souza, and S. H. Raza. The gallery has also presented ambitious solo shows of younger artists, such as Abdullah Syed, Abir Karmakar, Salman Toor, Adeela Suleman, and G. R. Iranna. The gallery has collaborated with museums such as the Kiran Nadar Museum, New Delhi and the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco. Exhibitions have been reviewed and the gallery has been profiled by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Times of London, Art Asia Pacific, ArtForum and the Financial Times.

Alberto Magnan is a Cuban born art dealer based in NY. He founded MagnanProjects and Magnan Metz in Chelsea. Has worked closely with Cuban artist Alexandre Arrechea and Roberto Diago and others in representing and developing their international careers. Travels extensively in Cuba and South America, developing projects such as Chelsea Visits Havana, Projecto Paladar, Trading With The Enemy. He has currently produced a Cuban Art exhibition in Morocco at Mohamed VI Museum showcasing the works of Wifredo Lam.

Moderators

Judith B. Prowda, Esq., Faculty, MA Art Business, Sotheby’s Institute of Art-New York

Dr. Richard M. Lehun, Esq., attorney focused on artist-gallerist relations, agency obligations, and art transactions

US Copyright Hall of Mirrors: Cariou v. Prince

US copyright law can only be understood together with a web of interconnected and conflicting laws, including unique American doctrines like fair use , an almost unlimited right to free speech, as well as the US’s limited adoption of moral rights. This article will use the case of Cariou v. Prince to illustrate how challenging it is for courts applying these competing laws to generate a consistent and predictable stance on copyright infringement.

Break on Through (From the Outside) Part I


In Part I of this panel discussion on the rise of Outsider Art held at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, Andrew Edlin, CEO of the Outsider Art Fair, provides historical context, after which Edward Gómez, senior editor of Raw Vision, will present on the meaning and taxonomy of the genre. Part II will feature Scott Ogden, principal at Shrine Gallery, and Outsider Artist, Daniel Swanigan Snow.



Okay, I’m going to give you a little travelogue in sort of the Hunter S. Thompson mode. Heading down to Washington D.C. on the Acela, I can see the Manhattan skyline in the distance as the train cuts through the industrial wastelands of New Jersey’s Meadowlands. I’m finally on my way to see the much ballyhooed exhibition, “Outliers and baixar office 2013American Vanguard Art” at the National Gallery, the most recent in a succession of periodic shows where major institutions feature the art of the self-taught, those whose visions weren’t shaped by academia or the machinery of the art world superstructure. I had read several reviews and had leafed through the thick exhibitiofarejador de plágio plagiusn catalogue. Naturally, I was immediately struckmicrosoft office download crackeado by the term, outliers. Which is obviously a deliberate attempt to avoid the more commonly used term outsider. The distinction couldn’t help but remind me of the hilarious Mel Brook’s film Young Frankenstein. The clip of which i hope you’ll enjoy.

 

Igor: Dr. Frankenstein…
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: “Fronkensteen.”
Igor: You’re putting me on.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: No, it’s pronounced “Fronkensteen.”
Igor: Do you also say “Froaderick”?
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: No… “Frederick.”
Igor: Well, why isn’t it “Froaderick Fronkensteen”?
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: It isn’t; it’s “Frederick Fronkensteen.”
Igor: I see.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: You must be Igor.
[He pronounces it ee-gor]
Igor: No, it’s pronounced “eye-gor.”
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: But they told me it was “ee-gor.”
Igor: Well, they were wrong then, weren’t they?

 

For the last 20 years or so I’ve been makingfl studio crackeado my way through the art world as the owner of a gallery in Manhattan and more recently an art fair. Both of which specialize in outsider art. Addressing you tonight has proven a good opportunity for a little reflection, both on this field and my place in it. In the words of the great David Byrne, well, how did I get here? By the mid 1990’s I’d pretty much taken over the reins of my father’s food business, brokering groceries staples like peanut butter and mayonnaise. Selling them by the truckload to big supermarket chains, while still managing to moonlight as a rock musician. It had been a very lucrative business for decades, not the rock musician part. My late uncle Paul was an artist who made collages out of tiny slivers of postage stamps. He worked in isolation, partly because he had been born almodownload office 2013 ativadorst completely deaf. Very few knew his work. Perhapsativador office 2013 permanente he’d been included in a few group shows, but certainly never sold a thing. After I showed his work to some dealers, he was niched as an outsider artist, and in fairly short order at the age of 66 achieved some commercial and critical success before he passed away in 2008. He was elated by the level of attention he received, but continued to live a quiet dignified life devoted to his art.

 

Being a conduit for Uncle Paul was my first step. His work genuinely moved me. I found it elegant and mysterious, sophisticated, but at the same time, tapping into something primordial. I remember that during one of the early exhibitions of his work at my new gallery a visitor came in from a small country in Eastern Europe. What he said about the show stayed with me. Something to the effect that anyone from anywhere in the world could relate to Uncle Paul’s work, that there was a way in. This struck me as almost the highest kind of praise imaginable. To me the best art was almost always the most universal, where I was able to find common ground with the artist through our shared humanity. I’d been developing my aesthetic values steadily since I was a kid, but through the medium of rock music not visual art. In 1969, as a third grader I performed Let it Be and Proud Mary in front of the school. I was transported by the lyrics and the story these songs related, even if I didn’t fully understand them. I had a hippy music teacher from The Village who explained to me that the songs in my Tommy Songbook were all connected as part of one story about a deaf, dumb and blind boy. This was amazing. When I got older, Dylan’s Blood On The Tracks took me on a journey that to this day feels like one of the most visionary American adventures ever.

 

What I saw at my first Outsider Art Fair in 1995 gave me a similar feeling. Seeing James Castle drawings being pulled out of a cardboard folder for the first time, these huge double-sided Henry Darger scrolls, Ramirez, Wölfli, these worlds that these artists invented sucked me right in. Almost the ways Tangled up in Blue did. In an effort to further my art education, I’d been trying to visit as many galleries and museums as possible. But I wasn’t initiated into the world of contemporary art, and none of the people working at the galleries took much interest in helping me understand what an artist was trying to communicate through an installation or with an abstract painting. I was educated enough, had a college degree in English literature but still I had little inkling about much of what I was seeing. By contrast the dealers at the Outsider Art Fair were happy to tell me the incredible story of these artists which furthered my appreciation for the work.

 

As I began to get hooked on outsider art, I also noticed the level of attention it was receiving in the artworld was microscopic. As a nascent dealer I was energized to spread the word. After being open for about 4 years I was incredibly fortunate to land an exclusive representing the Henry Darger estate. Darger was already a legend, but had only penetrated the consciousness of the artworld to a modest degree. Now that I was in charge that was of course gonna all change. I can recall meticulously filling out the application for Art Basel, proposing a solo booth of Darger masterpieces. The star curator at MOMA, Klaus Biesenback had just written the essay for the new Darger monograph, so even politically all the stars were aligned, for the most renowned aficionados of art to finally see and hopefully buy these great works. My application was rejected outright. How could this be? Well, it be. And it was on me to figure out what the obstacles were and how I could get around them. What I needed to do according to those in the know, was to demonstrate the relevance of outsider art to contemporary art.

 

I began to stage hybrid shows at my gallery, inviting thoughtful and youngish Brooklyn artists to curate. The results were tremendous. I drew crowds, and the press responded enthusiastically with glowing reviews. Truthfully, some of the work brought in wasn’t exactly up my alley, but I saw the importance of working outside my comfort zone and I learned a lot about the contemporary art world, a culture that I’ve come to respect and one I absolutely needed to win over to be successful. I suppose for critics and curators there’s often an inclination to compare self-taught artists with their trained counterparts after all they are in search of something interesting to write or talk about and it is interesting. But how relevant is it? Many times have I seen artworlders who wear their encyclopedic knowledge like a badge pinned to their chests opine about some self-taught artist’s work they’ve seen. To use a musical analogy, it can sound like an expert on Rachmaninoff being assigned to review a John Lee Hooker album. Tonight we’re lucky to have one of our generation’s greatest art journalistic luminaries with us, Edward Gomez, who has mastered the ability to speak about all the technical and formal aspects of self-taught art, without overlooking its essence, spirit or meaning.

 

Another well-known voice in the art world belongs to Jerry Saltz. In 2016 he wrote this in his review of the Keeper Exhibition at the New Museum. “These days our definition of art is mainly art informed by other art and art history. Especially in the last 2 centuries and tenaciously of late. Art is examined in its own essences, ordinances, techniques, tools, materials, presentational modes and forms. To be thought of as an artist someone must self-identify as one and make what they think of as art. This center cannot hold. Why? It’s far too tight to let real art breathe. It’s beyond time for a new generation of art historians, not only to open up the system and let art be the garden that it is; home to exotic blooms of known and unknown phenomena. It’s time to work against this system. The idea that art has an overall goal of advancing or perfecting its terms and techniques is made up, imagined, idiotic, except for those benefiting from this intellectual fundamentalism. Someday people will look back at this phase of art history the way we look back at Manifest Destiny and colonialism.”

 

I’m rereading this review just as the train pulls into Union Station. I’m looking forward to this show. The edifice of the National Gallery looks majestic as I get out of the taxi and the giant banner advertising outliers is twice the height of the facade of our beloved Folk Art Museum. Walking through the atrium with the sunlight streaming through I get an uplifting feeling of optimism about the show. And there’s also some pride that the art I’ve been championing is continuing to make headway. And then I head down a wide flight of stairs and then another set, and I realize that the show’s underground in the basement of the National Gallery. The first room offers two walls with an installation of sculpture in the center of the floor, all by female artists. One wall holds a large quilt by Rosie Lee Tompkins. Diagonally across a wall-hung piece by the contemporary artist, Jessica Stockholder. On the platform are 5 sculptures. Three by Judith Scott and two by Nancy Shaver. The difference between the works by the outsiders and insiders seems plain enough: Judith Scott wrapping her objects with virtually no art historical awareness and it wonderfully shows. The Shaver sculptures seem more deliberate with careful thought and strategy devoted to the placement of her objects. For me, the same is true of Stockholder’s work. Her assemblage reminds me of the kid’s game Mousetrap with all kinds of disparate materials connected together. It’s the art of the self-conscious next to the art of the unselfconscious, which to me pretty much summarizes the show.

 

Pairing Henry Darger with Matt Millikin or Cindy Sherman with Lee Godie and Eugene Von Bruenchenhiem. Now this is not to disparage these artists. Seeing and understanding an artist’s complex strategy and composition choices can be hugely exciting. But why are these works in a room and a show together? Lynne Cooke the esteemed curator, has already done important work with artists like James Castle and Martin Ramirez, and she’s clearly demonstrating an affinity between the artworks of the trained and untrained. And pointing out in many cases the schooled artists were influenced by the self-taught ones. This is certainly compelling if not altogether new observation. But there’s also an implication of a dialogue among these artists which cannot be true. Because any influence can only flow one way in this scenario. Did Judith Scott have exchanges with other professional artists, critics and professors. Did she read up on art history or read the reviews of her exhibitions. So while the works of outsiders are granted equal stature in Outliers, it still appears that outsider art is being seen and used as a comparative tool for defining the work by artists who are aware of the canon.

 

Cooke endorses the notion that the field of outsider art should dissolve into the mainstream, becoming just another dimension of modern art history and she’s not alone. But one of the footnotes Doctor Cooke’s essay does state is troubling to me. It reads, “the focus of the current project necessarily leaves aside reference to the activity of these specialized institutions above all the American Folk Art Museum founded in 1961 and of department devoted to folk and outsider art in museums such as the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the High Museum of Art”. So with that explanation, Cooke is dismissing out of hand decades of research and scholarship by experts at museums wholly dedicated to these artists. In fact, the first phase of Outliers treads on very similar ground as Stacy Hollander’s 2015 exhibition, Folk Art and American Modernism. at the Folk Art Museum with many of the same artists being represented. Is it possible for institutions to embrace the field of self-taught and outsider art without cannibalizing it?

 

There hasn’t been much pushback either against those who contend that there’s little or no distinction between the fields of outsider and contemporary art. It’s almost a reflex for those of us in the business of outsider art to cite each instance when big movers and shakers in the art world bless the work we handle every day. We bask in their approval and hope that their accolades will morph into something that might even trickle into our bank accounts someday. From the Venice Beinnale to the Metropolitan Museum we feel validated when our underdog community is acknowledged for its outsized cultural influence, less we forget that virtually none of the artists like Darger, Ramirez or Dyal – they didn’t give a damn what the artworld thought about them. In most cases, they didn’t even know what the art world was. So, when we define outsider art or assess its worth only through its relationship with mainstream art, we’re not serving it well or doing it justice. In the current exhibition at the Folk Art Museum: Vestiges in Verse, Notes from the New Fangled Epic, Henry Darger’s original 14 volumes, 15,000+ pages are on display, Illustrating his depth of his commitment, his total immersino in his art. In fact, I would even say, you can’t fully appreciate Darger without seeing these books. To experience the Dellshau, the 46 foot long scroll of Aloise Corbaz and incredible story boards of Adolph lfl, is to witness art that is timeless.

 

Artists like Darger and Wölfli need to be looked at more like the Homers and Miltons of our time and less as reference points for other artists, critics and media figures. Maybe what I love most of outsider art, is this close connection to the great human tradition of storytelling. Reading or hearing a great story can move us transform us, change how we think. The stories my dad told me about his childhood affected my profoundly. He was a classic joke teller. One of my favorites was where the Baron Von Rothschild the famous British financier is picked up at Victoria Station by his horse and carriage and driving him out to his countryside estate. He hands the driver a one pound note who says “thank you but even your son gives me two pounds”. He goes “sure, he has a rich father”. The young- it’s a funny joke, but it’s also true about the nature of entitlement. The young Rothschild is cavalier with his money precisely because he didn’t earn it himself.

 

Having expertise in one domain doesn’t make that knowledge instantly transferable, so can be with those making pronouncements in generalizations about outsider art. Even though they might not have looked at or studied the work on its own terms away from the lens of professionalized art. In closing I want to thank Richard Lehun, Stropheus and Sotheby’s for inviting me here tonight. As we ponder these issues we can’t help but acknowledge that these are indeed exciting times for our field, and it’s a good thing that so many new eyes will fall on this work in large scale museums like the National Gallery. We owe a debt of gratitude to curators like Lynne Cooke, Massimiliano Gioni and Matthew Higgs, who have helped with their distinct curatorial positions to expand the audience and appreciation for outsider and self-taught art over the years. But let’s also not forget the legions of art dealers, collectors, museum directors, writers and curators who have already been beating the drum for self-taught artists for generations. Outsider art is indeed art with a capital A, but it’s also kind of its own thing. If you’ve ever been to the Outsider Art Fair, then you know what I’m talking about. And if I might suggest, the next time you’re about to check the temperature on your iPhone open the door instead and step outside. You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

 




Very briefly I want to give you the sense of the collective history and implicitly a sense of the broader global view of activity in the related overlapping fields of Art Brut, Outsider Art and so-called Self-Taught Art. And I’m sharing this group of observations obviously from my vantage point as a researcher, critic, reporter, and educator who has been deeply involved with these related fields for many, many years.

First, I’d like to talk to you about the terminology. Art Brut, Outsider Art, Self-Taught art, Visionary Art, Intuitive Art, Naïf Art. Various labels have been kicked around for many decades to describe and identify the kind of artworks that we’re discussing tonight. No one label sits comfortably and accurately and completely identifies the kind of artwork we’re talking about. So, as a result, collectively we tend to refer to all of these nuanced forms as Outsider Art, hence the name of the fair: The Outsider Art Fair. There are nitpickers but let them pick.

Naïf Art, however, is one term that bit the dust some time ago. And we can thank our confrères and consœurs in the postmodernist critical camp for helping us dispense with that one. The assumption coming from postmodernist critical thinking is: Naïf? Naïf to whom? Who’re you calling naïf?

We speak about the field, those of us who are researchers, art dealers, collectors, promoters in it. And it’s just a handy nickname – shorthand – for this material we’re investigating and celebrating. This field emerges out of, is related to, what is not necessarily dependent on the development of the field of psychiatry, especially as this medical field was evolving in Europe during the late 19th century and early decades of the 20th century. By the early decades of the 1900s, doctors at some psychiatric hospitals in Europe at what used to be called mental asylums, another term which is poo-pooed, were paying attention to what could be described as artistic creations made by certain resident patients in their institutions. These creations might have been drawings or handcrafted objects made with found materials. Nowadays, many psychiatric hospitals have so-called in-house art therapy or occupational therapy programs for their patients. And in many of their institutions, participation of those patients in such programs is regarded as not merely a way of filling up their time, but rather as a worthwhile activity that may actually contribute to the healing process.

Often patients in such institutions were diagnosed with psychosis, especially schizophrenia. But keep in mind that psychiatrists a century ago did not have the more nuanced understanding of mental illness, particularly schizophrenia and psychosis, that their successors in the 20th century and today possessed and possess, and by which they guided in making their diagnoses and treatment programs. Also, keep in mind, a century ago, there were no drugs of the kind we have today for mental patients.

Some of the most important people associated with psychiatric hospitals in Western Europe in the early 20th century who were paying attention to the creations of these resident patients were people like, Doctor Hans Prinzhorn at the University of Heidelberg Psychiatric Clinic, who in the early 1920s was collecting work. Doctor Walter Morgenthaler near Bern, Switzerland, who was the physician overseeing the artist Adolph Wölfli and recognized his artistic genius and in the early 1920s, published a book about Wölfli called Ein Geisteskranker als Künstler in which he recognizes this mentally ill patient as an artist. So, this was somewhat radical, this kind of thinking about what these people were making.

Fast forward to the 1940s, the modern artist, Jean Dubuffet and a group of his pals, like the surrealist leader André Breton, became very interested in the work of not only mentally ill persons, but people working, making art in prisons, distinctive carvers, self-taught painters who were not working in traditional folk art styles, and other unschooled makers of what they considered rather unusual, exceptional works of art. Common to what these people were making was the fact that they had not studied art making or art history in schools. They usually found themselves on the margins of mainstream culture and society, either by choice or by the force of circumstances, often using found materials.

Dubuffet and his colleagues recognized that such self-taught artist creations could be regarded as works of art, and this is very interesting, because in doing so they were implicitly beginning to evaluate these creations with aesthetic criteria in mind. And very important was that they recognized that the kinds of so-called artworks that these people were creating were unique in themselves. This became a very important criterion for Dubuffet’s in recognizing and identifying, and ultimately labeling, a work as Art Brut, which in French literally means Raw Art. There are some historians who also think he was pulling our legs. Why? Because Dubuffet came from a family that sold wine on the Atlantic coast of France. And as you know, there is a champagne that is brut. And so, some people think he was playing around with this. These works also, Dubuffet pointed out, all convey and represent a deeply unique personal vision on the part of their creators. That vision might be artistic, spiritual, political, social, historical or a combination thereof. Wölfli’s work is a very good example. He was in the very early publications of Dubuffet’s association, which he had established in France with some fellow critics and writers and artists in the 1940s.

Fast forward to the 1970s, early 1970s, there was a historical, for us in our field rather, historical exhibition in England, put together by Roger Cardinal, the book that accompanied it was called Outsider Art. Professor Cardinal’s publishers said “Roger, that will never do. Art Brut will never be understood by the British visitor to the museum, and nor will make sense in a bookstore, so we have to fish around for something else.” And they came up with Outsider Art to sum up and reflect Dubuffet’s description of art of this unusual kind. And the term stuck. However, it also suggested a more expansive meaning, and helped shift the tension in this field to the status of creators as so-called outsiders.

Dubuffet had referred to these art makers in French also as Créateur or Auteur. If Dubuffet had highlighted both the conditions of the art maker’s life in society and the character of his or her creations, Roger Cardinal’s new label helped steer attention more to the unschooled art makers’ situation outside mainstream society, but not necessary completely removed from mainstream culture. You’d have to be brought up as an enfant sauvage, out in the forest with no contact with a radio or television or newspaper, to be completely removed from culture.

So, the term self-taught art is something much more recent. In recent decades, especially in the United States, this term has come into use in the art market and the media to refer in an even broader way to the creations of Art Brut and outsider artists. But as you can see, this term explicitly cast the net very wide. As a result, many creations by persons who can be called or do call themselves self-taught have emerged in the art market. But can or should all such works properly be labeled Outsider Art or Art Brut as well? Technically, all works of Art Brut can be properly placed in the broad field of Outsider Art. But can all Outsider Art be considered to be works of Art Brut? Conversely, from the even broader vantage point of so-called Self-Taught Art, and note that it’s not the art that’s self-taught, it’s the maker who is self-taught, so these terms are sometimes rather dubious. All Art Brut or Outsider Artworks are by definition produced by self-taught artists, but not all specimens of Self-Taught art can be properly be classified as works of Art Brut or Outsider Art. Are your heads spinning? I’m not quibbling about the co-existence or the respected specificity of each of these terms. There was a woman involved in this about 30 years ago who once said, “we’ve got to stop the term warfare.” But in my opinion, the time for arguing about which one label to use to universally categorically identify or refer to all of these different but often related kinds of artworks that can or are designated by these different terms, that’s over. As I said, collectively, the umbrella term we can appropriately use is Outsider Art.

That is not to say that these terms can or should be used synonymously or interchangeably. They should not. Each one has a specific and nuanced meaning. They can and should all be used in an informed manner, especially by art dealers, teachers, curators and the media, all of whom perform roles as educators about this kind of art whenever they examine or present it. In practice, as I said, Outsider Art has become the common label.

Now this is something that’s interesting. I want to just tell you two critical vibes that are emerging. One is that of the rejection of the term “outsider.” The rejection of the term “outsider” by those who believe that this sounds pejorative and assumes that whoever or whatever is being placed outside is being categorized or placed there by those on the so-called privileged “inside.” This point of view comes straight out of doctrinaire post-modern critical theories’ textbooks. Normally, the “inside” would seem to refer to various places of positions within the so-called mainstream art establishment and its supporting institutions and infrastructure, such as the specialized art media or the mass media. Some people question if these outsiders are really “outside.” At the same time, we are seeing the embrace of the label “outsider,” by art makers and others, some musicians who might not be self-taught at all, who might be quite well-schooled and aware of art history and the art mainstream, and even tapped into it, but for whom “outsider.” with a nod to cultural politics, has become a declaration of a kind of social, cultural, political position or even of a stylistic fashionable pose. Les Poseurs.

Dilemma: if anyone can be a self-declared “outsider,” then who or what is a genuine “outsider”? Now, I’m going to leave you with a few critical issues, that are also on the radar screen. Andrew [Edlin] hinted at this. I’m just going to let out the full arsenal. Let’s put to rest right now the notion that however, whenever, or wherever it may be implicitly or explicitly expressed, that Outsider Art can or must be, or somehow is, legitimized, or validated, if or when it is presented alongside art made by academically trained so-called professional artists who are knowledgeable of mainstream art history, and make their works in dialogue with it. That is, art products made primarily for sale in the mainstream art market and presented in mainstream art establishment institutions. To assume, never mind state, that outsider art is somehow validated or legitimized by its real or imagined proximity to mainstream art product, or its supported institution is to misunderstand the essential nature of this art.

Just lowered the boom. Now I’m going to zip ahead to Judith Scott, whom Scott Ogden just mentioned. This kind of art by definition is unique unto itself. Certainly, as any other art form, it can be compared to and contrasted with countless other art forms examined and appreciated vis-à-vis a myriad of concerns and characteristics. But it does not need to be validated by anything other than itself. That’s the main point I want to make. And that is coming from Dubuffet’s theory about its uniqueness. Like the best forms of artistic expression of any kind, in any discipline, outsider art embodies and communicates its own inherent truths. And it is our jobs as observers, as art appreciators, as critics certainly, to find those truths and articulate them.

Now, having said all that, at the end of 2013, a New York Times report on the year’s events and trends in the international art world, of which the art market is a large part, stated breathlessly, “this was the year that outsider art came in from the cold.” Now I ask, as an informed observer, and I saw the exhibition at the 2013 Venice Biennale, exactly what did that remark, which was packed with assumptions mean? From exactly which supposedly cold precincts did outsider art finally emerge? Cold in relation to what? What might have been the hot?

The Times offered as a rationale for its assertion that outsider art had been featured “most prominently in the centerpiece exhibition of the Venice Biennale.” That big exhibition was called The Encyclopedic Palace. It was organized by Massimiliano Gioni, a curator here in New York. That exhibition took its name from that of a sculpture by an Italian-American self-taught artist Marino Auriti who in the 1950s imagined a museum which he called Enciclopedico Palazzo del Mondo, which was to house all the knowledge in the world. His sculpture was a model of his proposed museum building. And that lovely sculpture is housed at the American Folk Art Museum here in New York.

That exhibition at the 2013 Venice Biennale placed outsider art alongside the creations of academically trained artists, including some big-name stars in the mainstream such as Bruce Nauman, Charles Ray, Cindy Sherman, and others. In fact, by the time the time the New York Times article was published in December 2013, the market for the works and the market for the best self-taught artists, which had been around for several decades, had long been quite high. Such works had been increasingly visible in the mainstream media. They had become more and more popular among general interest audiences.

Just look at the attendance figures of the annual Outsider Art Fair. Kudos, Andrew! They had become ever costlier in gallery art fair and auction sales. Around the time of the [2013] Venice Biennale, a British writer [Sam Thorne] wrote an article about it and quoted Gioni who said that “he hope[d] that his exhibition will ‘blur the line’ between the insider and the outside.” Here we go again with this hackneyed, cliché, binary thinking. However, the writer of this article in Frieze magazine went on to write, referring to works of art by self-taught outsider artists, “[D]oes the inclusion of such works really question the mainstream, as Gioni has suggested, or is it just further proof that – in order to maintain its primacy – the mainstream always needs to designate exceptions?”

Okay, I’ll leave you with these two points. A few months later, around the time of the Outsider Art Fair 2014 in New York, a few months after the Venice Biennale closed, my colleague at Raw Vision Magazine, John Maizels, its founder, spoke with me about this trend of bringing together works of academically trained artists and those of remarkable autodidacts. Maizels noted, “it is definitely happening. Is it because the contemporary art world has open up to the fact that outsider art is quite popular now, or is it because outsider art prices have risen and therefore this kind of work seems more worthwhile to people in the market that is?” I think it’s a bit of both. So, if that’s the case, here are questions for the jury to consider. Is it worthwhile, desirable, or necessary to “blur the line,” as Gioni said in his 2013 interview, between artistic creations that are identified as those of outsider artists and those who are made by academically trained so called professional artists? Or not? Or is it possible and could it be more satisfying or perhaps illuminating to allow works of art that are classified and labeled one way and those that are classified and labeled another way to co-exist; to appreciate them for their respective, and yes sometimes shared or common characteristics or affinities, without wanting needing or expecting one kind of art to somehow validate or legitimize another, or to be regarded as possessing some kind of greater aesthetic historical or other value than another? In his article in Frieze magazine, the British writer Sam Thorne, who happens to be a museum director in England at the Nottingham Contemporary, also cited the curator Lynne Cooke, whom Andrew mentioned today, a curator who has long worked in this field, is now on staff at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. Thorne quotes Lynne Cook, who observed that “outsider art has come to be viewed as a parallel field, separate but equal to contemporary art.” He noted that Cooke had pointed out that “parallel lines can never converge.”

Now, I can leave you there. But I just want to show you one slide that’s very important. Art Brut and Outsider Art’s historical root territories are Europe and the Americas. Traditionally, these related fields have been driven by the activities of self-motivated researchers and collectors whose research pursuits and collecting have gone hand in hand. This cannot be emphasized enough. This is a field that grew out of the activities of researcher collectors, and to this day is still dependent on some of the energy and passion of collectors who are very good researchers, and the best dealers also function, particularly in this field, not just as promoters, sellers, but as researcher educators. This is very unique to this field, somewhat in the way that any specialized field of antiques or decorative objects might appear to you. I can tell you from my vantage point, as a curator working at the Collection de l’Art Brut in Lausanne, Switzerland, which Dubuffet founded 40 years ago, that indeed specialized institutions of this kind, which there are very few of, and the marketplace in general (Scott Ogden alluded to this), are all hungry for discoveries, and so the researchers in this field are branching out beyond the familiar territories of Western Europe and the Americas, and we are now seeing exciting finds coming from Asia, Africa and other parts of the world, so that’s where the research stands.

The Rise of Outsider Art

Break on Through (from the Outside):

The Rise of Outsider Art

Sotheby’s Institute of Art and Stropheus present an evening with insiders and experts on the flourishing of Outsider Art and the specific challenges of outsider artists and their immediate support circle.

Sotheby’s Institute of Art, 570 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10022

Panelists

Andrew Edlin, CEO of the Outsider Art Fair; founder and president, Andrew Edlin Gallery
Edward M. Gómez, senior editor, Raw Vision; art critic, historian & curator of outsider art
Scott Ogden, founder and director of Shrine, a Lower East Side gallery focused on outsider art
Daniel Swanigan Snow, Brooklyn-based self-taught artist
• Dr. Richard M. Lehun, Esq., attorney focused on artist-gallerist relations, agency, and art transactions

Moderator

Judith B. Prowda, Esq., Faculty, MA Art Business, Sotheby’s Institute of Art-New York

Topics explored will include cultural relevance, critical recognition, representing outsider art/outsider artists, as well as copyright, collections management, catalogue raisonné, agency relationships, and legacy planning.

Tune into Sotheby’s Institute of Art Facebook live stream here

About Outsider Art

The term “outsider art,” which was coined in 1972 by the British art historian Roger Cardinal, is used to label a range of unusual art forms produced by self-taught art-makers who tend to be situated, either by choice or as a result of varied circumstances, on the margins of mainstream society and culture.

As a general catchall term, nowadays “outsider art” is used to refer to the related and sometimes overlapping genre categories of art brut (unique art forms created outside the academic tradition and without reference to established art history), outsider art and self-taught art (a much broader, contemporary term referring to works produced by unschooled art-makers of many kinds, including the creators of folk art and what used to be known as “naïf art”).

In recent years, increasingly, outsider artworks have been shown in major museum exhibitions and have entered notable public and private collections. Now more than 25 years old and an institution in its own right, the annual Outsider Art Fair in New York and its newer sister fair in Paris have played a large role in validating the status of self-taught artists and celebrating the diversity of their achievements.

As outsider art has gained recognition in the marketplace, legal challenges confronting outsider artists and their estates have grown in complexity to ensure that their artistic output is sustainable in the long term.

End of Brick-and-Mortar: An Epilogue with Gallerists David Dixon, Michael Foley, and Sasha Wolf


Gallerists David Dixon, Michael Foley, and Sasha Wolf respond to the crisis of the brick-and-mortar gallery model by analyzing new business models. Further background on this discussion can be found in the event recordings of Nicole Klagsbrun and Jay Gorney, Josh Baer and Richard Lehun, as well as an interview with Edward Winkleman.


David Dixon: Mike, you were at that brick-and-mortar conversation that Richard Lehun and Christie’s Education organized, the panel with Nicole Klagsburn, Jay Gorney and Josh Baer. I was wondering if you have any ideas about what was addressed, and about what wasn’t addressed in the talk that you felt should have been?

Michael Foley: First of all, I thought that the talk was incredibly timely. Everyone in the gallery world, including gallerists and people interested in the evolution of how we work, was interested in what seasoned dealers have to say. The only thing that was missing was a multigenerational take on this. The dealers involved had been in the business a long time, and this was a natural evolution for them to move out of that traditional gallery mode into something private and project based. I think the next step is to hear from gallerists who are somewhere in the middle, who have been in the business for while but still have a long career in front of them, and also the younger people coming up who are thinking about opening galleries or just opened a gallery, or perhaps an artist that has opened up an artist-run gallery space – and to hear a little bit about their perspectives. That panel was a great beginning, because we heard a lot of experience up on the panel. But now I’d like to hear from dealers that are at different stages of being a gallerist, either at the beginning or somewhere in the middle.

DD: And surprise, here we are. You’re basically in that middle range, I would say?

MF: Yes – I’ve been working in galleries since 1989, so I’m definitely pre-Internet and from the era of sending out slides and photocopying. But I have also moved into the digital age and had a gallery myself for the past 12 years, starting in Chelsea and then moving to the Lower East Side. Now I feel like I have still a long way to go in my career, but I also feel that things are changing. And it’s a good idea to address that now and figure out the possibilities.

DD: That was one of the things that I felt should have been addressed in the panel and wasn’t, which was like you said, we’re in the digital age now. You started with photocopying and certainly the changes now go beyond that. But in your gallery, do you work in a brick-and-mortar space, as well as the digital space?

MF: Yes, certainly. I have a traditional space and I do solo exhibitions. I definitely have one foot in the old and one foot in the new, and that new consists of a lot of different things. For me, it’s a turn to being a different kind of distribution system, or awareness system. How are people finding out about art? How are people viewing it? How are people buying it? What are the platforms that they are discovering? The brick-and-mortar space was a very specific model: I have a gallery, I have work on the wall, people come in, they see it, they experience it. Then of course there is the evolution of websites, which allows people to experience art remotely. And there’s the advent of the art fairs, which have been with us for quite some time, which is yet another space where people can view art. And there are online marketplaces. We have to try to understand all of these different ways that people are experiencing and buying art and engaging with it, and figure out what’s best and how much of my resources need to go into each and which one is turning out to be the most successful. Right now it seems like they all simultaneously occur, but the question is five or ten years down the road, what is going to rise to the top, what is going to be the way of working for a gallery in an industry has been used to the traditional model. And how can that morph and develop into something that perhaps we haven’t seen before – maybe that’s a hybrid, or maybe that’s something completely new.

DD: Sasha, that’s what you were saying earlier. That you’ve got your sights on where you are going to be ten years from now. So you had a brick-and-mortar space, but now you would actually prefer not to work in this mode?

Sasha Wolf: There are a lot of different reasons for that, but yes, I had a brick-and-mortar gallery for almost ten years and let go of that space about three months ago. When a space became available on the second floor above my brick-and-mortar space, I took it. What I wound up doing was closing the ground floor space and working out of the second floor space, which has so far worked very nicely for me. But there are so many branches there. There’s the economics of it, there’s my clients experience, there’s my artists’ experience, there’s my experience. Right now I’m much happier not having a public space. I don’t want my day to be the same every day. I’ve never really loved that. I have reverted back to having more freedom, and I’ve been traveling a lot more the past few months to go work with my artists in their studios, wherever they are. That just feels fabulous to me on a personal level, and I enjoy coming to work a lot more.

It works out better for me economically as well, and something I wasn’t sure was going to happen was that my clients really love it. It’s just more private. Of course there are big galleries that have very private rooms where they work with their clients, but I didn’t have that. I had a back area, but it wasn’t completely private, and there’s something different about the situation now. Now when I offer my clients something to drink, they always say yes. The bar is well stocked. There’s something about this setup, where clients are ready to settle in, they spend more time here, they have a glass of wine, they have an espresso. There’s something happening now that’s working better for them as well. The only thing that needs to be figured out is how to satisfy my artists’ desire for a public show. The answer to that seems to be that I will have pop-up shows, and I’m actually going to have one very soon, my first pop-up.

Commerce in general is so different. I think it’s really important to think about where are we going to be in five years, ten years, and that’s what I’m focused on trying to figure out. And then based on what I come up with, what my assumptions are, what do I need to build moving forward. That is what I’m working on – bigger plans to develop a new construct beyond what I’m doing right this second, that will make sense for a little ways down the road.

The decision to get rid of my physical space was not easy, as Michael knows. We’re old friends and we talk about these things a lot. It was scary, because the paradigm, the structure of the physical gallery space, is so unbelievably powerful. It’s so intense. It’s that white box, where you rotate shows every six, five, six seven weeks. It’s so deeply ingrained into culture and the art world. There are so many things that went into the decision. One is that I started to enjoy my experiences less with people coming in. I found that people under a certain age started coming in and photographing the show and then leaving, instead of coming in and really engaging with the work and with me, asking questions. I assume that they’ll interact with their peers when they post the photographs another time, and I have no judgment about that whatsoever, but that experience became less interesting for me. As someone who loves talking to strangers, that was a big loss for me. My overhead was also getting really crazy, and it was starting to feel suffocating financially.

The third factor was that it seemed like my artists always felt like they had to have a show every two years, that that became the industry norm, and I felt that a lot of projects were being aborted before they were finished. And that my artists wanted to have shows of new work before it was ready. We were losing on both ends. No matter how many times I kept telling my artists to relax and that this was just a false paradigm, that it was arbitrary, they really couldn’t get away from it because it’s the way the industry works. It started to feel not good, like I was putting up too many shows that were not fully baked. When you hang a show you want to feel filled with pride. There’s a feeling you get when you know you’ve put up a great show and it’s amazing. I started to feel there were too many shows going up that were good and not great. I wanted to get off that hamster wheel.

There were a lot of other reasons to close the brick-and-mortar space, but those were the big ones. Now I feel free, and I am working on all these other projects and much more productive. I’m selling more. I’m more focused. For me it’s worked out nicely, and I still have all my same artists. I still represent my artists, I still have all my clients and things continue, but with out the feeling of having to conform to a certain standard.

DD: You mention that you spend more time in your artists’ studios, is that partially due to not having a space?

SW: Yes, absolutely. I’ve always gone to my artists’ studios, for a couple reasons. I feel like you have to go to the studio to really see what’s going on. I’ve always traveled to my artists studios, but I had to be careful of how I spaced my trips because I didn’t want to be away from the gallery for too long, and there was also a feeling of anxiety about being away. Now I have no anxiety and I can even spend that extra day. I used to do crazy trips where I’d have an artist in Maine and I would fly in and get in at 10:00 in the morning and we would work 36 hours straight, barely sleep, and I’d come back. Now I can take a little bit more time. I was just in California working with two of my artists and I was there for six or seven days. That doesn’t seem a lot of time but all I was doing was working with them. I really enjoy that process of being able to sit there with my artists in their studio. With one artist, I was sitting in the studio for three days. I stayed with them, we were together all the time – looking at work, talking about work, drinking coffee looking at work, drinking beer looking at work. It was the whole day, and so it was so productive. I really love that freedom. For me, temperamentally and in terms of where I want to go with my business, and in the way I show work and deal with the artists, this works for me. This is so cliché, but I think of it as a river that’s flowing and I just want to be flowing with the river. For me, having a gallery started to feel like I was going the wrong way.

DD: Michael, you joyfully maintain your brick and mortar space, despite what you say about these retired or retiring dealers we were seeing at the brick-and-mortar panel, who were in the later stage in their career and seem to disavowing their need for such a space. But you feel as if in mid-career, you like working both angles. Would you elaborate on that a little bit?

MF: I think part of this is the nature of my personality. I’m very social. I like people coming in, I like engaging with them. I don’t mind if they have a lot of questions. I don’t care if they don’t know the artist. I like to inform them of that, and I like having a home, if you will. I like having people coming into that home, and I like hosting that.

I made the move from Chelsea to the Lower East Side, and I started on Allen St., which is a block away from Orchard St. where I am now. But I found that I would mount shows, and keep a tab over how many people would come in, and tops I would get 16 people. And I thought, I can no longer mount an exhibition from an artist who has spent years creating a body of work, for only a handful of people to see it. I decided if I was going to move, I was going to move myself front and center, which was Orchard St. at the time, and where I still am. The amount of through traffic there is really rich for me, and I have found that I’ve made converts of people who just happen to walk by the space and come in and buy work. My mentality is this: if I’m able to justify a gallery that I have now as a brick-and-mortar space based on the amount of foot traffic I get, then I think it’s awash, then I think it’s equal. There’s going to come a point where even being front and center on Orchard St. won’t be enough, and then I’m really going to have to think about whether this works anymore. But the way I’m set up now, I have really big storefront windows. I’ve put some art in there that I think really draws people in, and I engage with them, and I still think that the gallery provides a platform for physical interaction between two people. One is the art seller, the other is the art buyer. It really does communicate and transform for the possibility of a sale. If I don’t have that, I think I’m missing a big tool in the toolbox. But at the end of the day, it’s going to come to economics. If it comes to the point where my rent is so high that I don’t care how many walk-ins I get, it doesn’t pay, then I’ll change.

In addition to that, I do feel that it’s an important step for an artist’s completion of that body of work to actually show it in a public space. It allows for a kind of celebration on their part. It also allows for critical valuation. That’s the one thing that I don’t think will occur if an exhibition isn’t in place – whether online, The New York Times, The New Yorker, if it’s not an exhibition, it’s not going to get reviewed, and it’s not going to have a critical dialogue. The gallery, the brick-and-mortar space, allows for that. I don’t know any online shows that are reviewed critically. Now maybe they’re spoken about, but it doesn’t provide the same temperament the gallery exhibition will. So, as long as the economics work – they still are working for me – I like having the space.

DD: From my point of view as an artist, who fell into this gallery dealing issue, which I consider an extension of the work I am doing. For me, the question became very quickly, not so much about brick-and-mortar, but the tradition of the white cube itself, and the way that it whitewashes its history for each show so that you kind of have kind of a reset. In my gallery, being down the hall from my studio, the space itself quickly became a kind of a sculptural object, where we didn’t return to the white cube. Each show sequentially built on its prior show, and there were some aesthetics left from that history in the space. This wasn’t necessarily something that I felt like was a solution for the brick-and-mortar idea or the white cube generally speaking, it was just something that grew out of my artistic needs, and my own relationship to the artists I was working with, to create what I felt like was an experimental, experiential dynamic space. The space itself became an experience that one couldn’t get online. My goal became to create an environment where the artist’s work would be better than they even expected it to be. That in our collaboration, we pushed them to do things that maybe they didn’t feel like they could in more traditional environments. In talking to people about this idea of not only artists and artist dealer relationships, like what it is that you do together when you put up a show, like who is in control, who is making the aesthetic decisions, who the curator is. Those became problematic, because I was an artist too and had my own ideas, as everfyone does about what something should installed or shown. So, the nature of some of those shows kind of spiral and ended up being maybe collaborative in ways that a normal one person show wouldn’t necessarily be. And the solution there was that the artist would generally have to show other places if they wanted a different kind of experience. So, I don’t represent artists into the way that a gallery normally does, in a kind of contractual way, and where they have some kind of exclusive relationship with them.

Fortunately I’ve ended up with two spaces to work with. One is the conventional white cube space that came after having done this kind of programming at Cathouse FUNeral, which was this additive space that wasn’t a traditional white cube. That space is now being deconstructed and reconstructed in offsite locations. I know this pop-up thing is popular, but the term seems diminutive to me. I prefer Smithson’s notion of site/non-site experiences, or choosing a space that fits with the work that needs to be shown. Its temporality is less important than the fact that it can be a unique and unusual experience. As a curator or as an artist, it pushes one to make certain thematic and aesthetic decisions differently in different kinds of environments. One of the things that become monotonous is to always show in the same space. You get used to what looks good on what wall. Maybe you’re talking about future ideas, future plans, some kind of system that seems impossible to implement, where one rotates and uses different kinds of spaces, rather than having to put down a lease. In New York City, long term leases are more and more rare, so maybe we’ll just have to remain more light on our feet.

SW: When I started, I remember that some people didn’t even have websites. Even the Internet – there was Amazon, but some colleagues didn’t even have websites yet. That was sort of amazing. As recently as six months ago, I read an interview with someone who closed completely, and they were saying that the main reason was because of art fairs. But I think a lot of people are having trouble because of online marketplaces and may not even realize that. I think that the ability to buy art online has had a massive effect on the industry in ways people don’t realize. It’s sort of a frog in the water, where we’re slowly being boiled. It’s crept up. I try really hard to not be upset. The world changes. Who cares? The point is to figure out a way to change with it and be happy with those changes. I can honestly say that I’m fine with where we are now. Primarily because I have free will. I don’t love all the online marketplaces that have popped up, some of them are sort of strange to me and I don’t love all the art fairs, so I don’t do them. No one has a gun to my head. I do think that objectively speaking, we are not where we were compared to ten years ago. There were art fairs and the big galleries would do one or two a year, and there were no online market places. Now those galleries are doing about fifteen or twenty art fairs a year. They’re just constantly sending out different staff members and they are on two or three online marketplaces. There’s no question that it’s a totally different experience. For me it really comes down to figuring out the little pieces here and there that serve our clients best, that haven’t been addressed yet.

MF: I agree with you. There have been a lot of changes, and the things that gallerists have embraced over the years as additional tools may ultimately be our undoing. When I opened 12 years ago, the only way one could see art and be with the art world and see what was new was to go to the gallery. That was the wellspring, that was where it all happened. There was an event, new work, I’ve never sent this before – fresher than a museum could turn out, because a gallery could do a show in a hot minute if it wanted to do it. Also, the artwork was held back. In other words, the first chance you could see it all was in the gallery, not through Instagram, not through Facebook, not through this post and that post. It’s kind of like music, in the way music used to be released. You waited until that record came out, and you got the whole thing. Now you got a single here, a special EP, this and that. The distribution model has been different, and I think gallerists have readily embraced technological and non-technological advances – whether that’s an art fair, having a website, having an online marketplaces, or doing pop-up shows to expand your presence. You can have a gallery here, and have a popup in San Francisco. It’s not to replace it, it’s actually to add to it. The ways that we can present work and engage our audience have greatly increased, but with that has been a certain sense of loss of control. The other change that I see is how artists are in the picture. Before, artists were viewable via the gallery. Now artists have direct connection. It’s kind of like instead of me selling it in my retail store, you can buy direct from the manufacturer, and they are showing their goods. Now our power, if you will, has shrunk. And maybe our importance!

SW: I was talking earlier about where we’re going to be in ten years. I believe that artists are going to be dealing directly with clients way more as the years go on, and I think there will be a platform, a really good platform created, a digital platform to connect artists with clients.

MF: And as far as commerce goes, strictly commerce, why shouldn’t they?

SW: I agree. That’s why I’m not upset about it. I think it’s inevitable.

DD: I think that’s been around for a while. There’s that documentary I was referencing earlier, Painters Painting, where one of the artists is on a panel, and the artist says, “when are we going to have direct access to buyers, why do we have to go through museums? When can we, as artists, directly access the Rockefellers, for instance, for collecting?”

MF: Well, now they have – the Rockefellers are on Instagram. So yes, the access is there.

SW: I would argue that if it makes sense, it should be. Right? Whether it’s gay marriage or whether its artists dealing directly with clients – it’s evolution and it’s evolution that makes sense. It is inevitable. So there’s no point in getting upset about things that make sense and are inevitable.

DD: What’s upsetting is if it’s the art itself that is degraded somehow.

MF: If the process of making the art suffers.

DD: Possibly. I would think, the experience of the work.

MF: Right.

SW: I don’t think it will. Because there will always be museums, there will always be certain institutions that where there are gatekeepers, where there really is rigor, but I think that’s why we have to get a lot more creative about what our role is.

MF: And about what we can offer. Before, we offered the white walls, we offered some guidance, we offered some sales, but now a lot of that is elsewhere. I see a parallel to publishing. The writer and the artist are very similar. Before, you had to go to one of the big publishers and it would be distributed in a certain way, and it could only be distributed at bookstores. There was a lot of power in few places. Now it’s different, but the one thing that the writer and the artist need is a good editor. If you read any novel or book of essays, you always see a big thank you that usually goes out to the editor, the person who went through the process with the writer. I feel that the gallerist still plays that role, and that’s probably our most important role that we can hold onto and maintain as long as artists still feel that they need it. Because I think that some artists are like, “hey you know I’m just going to do this all myself.”

SW: Right, so good luck, go ahead. But, you’ve mentioned and asked me about going to my artists’ studios. People ask me all the time, why are my artists still with me when I don’t have a physical, permanent space. Just imagine that you’re an artist, you’re making art, which we all know is a very candid, very lonely experience. There’s a certain unbelievable self-involvement that comes with making art. It’s just the way it is. You’re in your head, you have to have a certain drive, a certain dedication and single-mindedness and there’s someone there who is willing to talk to you about those things whenever you want. Whenever I go to my artist’s studios we are talking about them. What are you thinking? What do you want to do? Where are you going? What does this mean? In my case, what works well with my artists is that I’m not just willing to do that and be that person for them, but I also love it. I love debating the merit of every single piece. If you don’t move towards that place, I think you do become obsolete.

SW: I wonder how you, Michael, feel about art school, because you also teach. I do the occasional guest lecture where I went and I’m a total bummer, but you actually teach regularly.

MF: I think the most important thing for someone entering into art school, whether its undergrad or graduate, is to have a clear understanding of expectations, and an evaluation of who they are as an artist, their skill level, their intention and what they can expect when they graduate.

SW: Well, whose responsibility is that though? It can’t be the responsibility of an eighteen-year-old knucklehead with an undeveloped brain.

MF: Well, the challenge is that some student is like, “I like photography. Let me study photography.” And they really don’t know what that means the end of four years for them, versus their investment of their time and their money or their parents’ money to do it. There needs to be a better education about it, and I don’t know whose responsibility that is. Who is that person? Or who is that body? The student needs to get a clear understanding of what to expect and if they are really right for art school. It’s a great benefit to many people who are committed to it, who are dedicated to it and have their expectations in check. A lot of times the art schools, even at a graduate level, don’t really inform their students of what to expect after they get out, and about what they need to understand about the art world, what they need to understand about making a living and being an artist.

SW: It’s so important. I don’t know how you can graduate kids who have no sense of that. Compare it to the performing arts, and the schools that have conservatory programs, SUNY, Purchase or CHAS conservatory programs and Juilliard. Those students, they know how hard its going to be. There’s no pussyfooting around, when you’re dealing with ballerinas or opera singers, they really know the deal. I’m not sure why those same conversations don’t happen with art students.

MF: When you mention those conservatory schools, that sounds like a very dedicated and intense course of study, that is highly competitive. At a certain level, the undergraduate programs are not that competitive. A school has a certain quota or has to fill a certain amount of students in their student body. They may lower their standard and they may not give full disclosure about what people are actually getting involved with, and then you get a good group of people in there who realize somewhere along the line realize they don’t want to be artists. At a conservatory level or a more competitive program, you weed out the people who are less talented. Art school under the right conditions is a good experience for the right candidate, but for many of the people that are in there, perhaps it’s not a good fit.

SW: I agree with that. I know that this doesn’t really bear out, but I wish that you could come up for evaluation. Obviously you have to maintain a certain grade point average, but I think too many artists are graduating without enough skill and without any sense of what it takes. This is a debate that’s obviously filled with a lot of different tentacles and it’s hard to sum up, but I do think that there are too many kids who are getting out with these huge student loans, and they have no idea what it takes and they have no ability at all, and I find that really heartbreaking.

SW: If I could grab a hold of graduating artists, I would tell them not to get caught up in these sort of paradigms that we’ve created, that we’ve been talking about, that really have nothing to do with art. They’re not organic. They’re constructs, and there is no timetable. If it takes you ten years to produce one masterpiece, then that’s the way you work. We could sit here and go down the list of some of the greatest artists of all time who produced very few pieces and there are some who produced tons of work. There is no right and wrong, and yet I think that the constructs of the art world, or as I call it now, the art-industrial complex, make these kids feel like they have to have a show, they have to be in a gallery right away, that’s going to somehow change their life. And then they are going to have to have a show every two of years, whether they are ready or not. People need to figure out how to develop a practice that’s going to nurture them throughout their entire life, and that’s a very personal, private thing. The art world has intruded and just eaten young people alive. I think social media plays into this too, the need to be famous. Making art and fame need to disengage.

MF: It’s a long game. Whether as adults or as young people, we are so used to wanting some instant gratification. It is like baking cookies. You can’t take them out of the oven too soon, even though you’re hungry, and you just have to let it develop. People develop differently. Some people are very prolific, some people are slower, some people start with one medium, and then they give that up because their true medium is something else. And you can’t know that by rushing it. You have to give yourself time, under the correct guidance, no matter how many years it takes. And the other thing I’d say beyond that is that as an artist or a gallerist, you have to diversify your revenue streams. The days of being a gallerist where you sit in there and you put stuff on the wall and that’s how you make your living by selling that stuff is probably not going to be happening right now. It’s true for artists too. Just going in your studio, making work and selling it isn’t going to be enough.

SW: You teach and I do a lot of consulting with people who I don’t represent.

MF: That adds to it, it takes the pressure off and it’s a very practical form of income for me. And it informs what I do as a gallerist. The other thing I would say is, as a gallerist, don’t feel that that you have to do everything that everyone else is doing. When I started, I thought I had to frame all my artists’ shows, I had to do all these art fairs, and before you know it, I was spending so much more money than my gallery was generating. You may have to start small, do little by little. You may want a bigger space. You may want a fancier website, you may want to do the fancy art fair, but just because you think you can or you have the credit to do it, it’s not necessarily a good move. You have to grow as naturally as possible.

Both of us combined have had a lot of years of experience and have seen the old way of doing it and the new way of doing it and the way we haven’t even discovered yet. Gallerists, whether they have a bricks-and-mortar space or they don’t, have to be nimble and have to be able to pivot. They have to be open to letting old ways go and embracing new ones, even if though they’re not comfortable, and even if it means embracing a technology that they don’t understand.

SW: Which may be a metaphor for getting older. Don’t just walk around saying to “those young people,” you have to figure it out, you have to keep moving.

MF: As gallerists, we hopefully have a whole knew generation of collectors who have been raised to look at the world differently and we can’t dish them out the way that we think they should be. are. If they follow Instagram feeds and that’s how they buy art from the artists that they follow, alright then, that’s not the wrong way to do it.

SW: To make someone happy is the right way for them, frankly, and I totally agree.

MF: We have to be adaptable and changeable and that’s the bottom line.

MF: The generation before us got into it for a lot of the same reasons we got into it and that’s because we love it, we love the art. Very few people get into it because they think it’s a great financial opportunity. I think they have a genuine knowledge and love for the artists and that artists’ process. I think the biggest difference is that when they were doing it, there was one way of doing it, and they did it that way. Now when you enter, there are many ways to engage with it and there’s not one right way. And I don’t think there’s an end goal either. I don’t know what the best scenario is. I don’t know any more.

SW: Maybe we’ll be selling art from, instead of a food truck, an art truck. I said to people when I was doing this transition, that I was going to do pop-up shows when I had a show that was crying out to be seen. And I firmly believe this that would be very normal. Right now it’s not as much the norm, but I think in a year it’s going to be.

MF: Even in New York there have always been event spaces, dedicated spaces for exhibitions, retail pop-up that could easily be gallery exhibitions. That’s what their business model is, to take people like us, or fashion brands that are just starting, and do a pop-up – whether it’s one day, 24 hours, or a week or a month. So they understand that there’s a need for that and we’re happy to do that.

Letting Go of Brick-and-Mortar at Christie’s Education


Letting Go of Brick-and-Mortar:
the Future of the Gallery

Wed., September 21st

Panel Discussion and Dialogue: 7.00-8.30 PM
Wine and Cheese Reception: 8.30-9.30 PM
Christie’s Education – 1230 Avenue of the Americas 20th Floor, New York, NY 10020

Register here or use the order form below.

 

Gallerists are under unprecedented market pressures leading many to move on from the brick-and-mortar gallery convention. Prominent amongst these are Nicole Klagsbrun and Jay Gorney, who will present on alternative entrepreneurial and curatorial models. Noted art market analyst and journalist Josh Baer will provide historical contextualization and structural insight. Richard Lehun, founding member of the Stropheus Art Law Collective, will present on the opportunities and challenges created by these new art business practices. The event will be followed by a reception with a selection of curated wines.

Panelists

Nicole Klagsbrun, moved to New York from Belgium in 1982 where she became director of the Olsen Gallery. In 1984 Klagsbrun co-founded Cable Gallery. In 1989 she started her eponymous gallery in Soho, which made the move to Chelsea in 1998. Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery represented noted artists including Jimmie Durham, Candida Höfer, Elaine Reichek, Billy Sullivan, and Mika Rottenberg. In 2013 Klagsbrun gave up the gallery model to work from her office on 26th Street.

Jay Gorney, a native New Yorker, worked at the Sidney Janis and Hamilton galleries, opening Jay Gorney Modern Art in 1985 in the East Village. During its 13-year run, Gorney represented Martha Rosler, James Welling, Gillian Wearing, Haim Steinbach, Jessica Stockholder, Catherine Opie, Sarah Charlesworth and Allen Ruppersberg, among others, and mounted major exhibitions of the work of Richard Prince, Michaelangelo Pistoletto, and Joseph Kosuth. Gorney moved his gallery to SoHo in 1987. In 1999 Gorney joined forces with John Lee and Karin Bravin to form Gorney Bravin + Lee, which showed artists such as James Siena and Justine Kurland. As director of Mitchell-Innes & Nash’s Chelsea space from 2005–2013, Gorney built a program centered around mid-career and younger talents, including Virginia Overton, Chris Martin, and Pope.L. In 2013 Gorney transitioned out of the physical gallery and is currently an independent advisor and curator, and the special advisor to the estate of Sarah Charlesworth.

Josh Baer, is an art advisor, curator and art market journalist. He began his career in 1979 as director of the influential White Columns, and ran his own gallery from 1985-1994. After closing the gallery, Baer decided to focus on private art advising, teaching and writing. It was the same year that he launched The Baer Faxt, and started teaching arts-administration at The Fashion Institute of Technology. Later he became a bi-weekly contributor to New York Magazine. Baer advises collectors and curates exhibitions for leading galleries and auction houses from his office in downtown New York.

Dr. Richard M. Lehun, Esq. is responsible for artist-gallery, consignor-auction house, agency, and other fiduciary relationships at Stropheus Art Law. He completed a doctorate in fiduciary law from McGill University while cross appointed as a Visiting Researcher at Harvard Law School. Lehun has a Magister in Aesthetics from the Goethe Universität, Frankfurt am Main, and a fine arts diploma from the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb).

Letting Go is a collaboration between Christie’s Education and Stropheus Art Law.

 

Martin Shell: Commercial Leases in the Art Context


Commercial Leases in the Art Context: Survival Guide

{Audio transcript} It’s a pleasure to be here. As my introduction discussed I’m in real estate litigation, and I do a lot of landlord tenant litigation. So, from that fire I have some tidbits that I think can help anyone who is negotiating a lease. We’ll start with the premises that you have made it to Williamsburg, you’re ready to set up shop, and the landlord hands you this piece of paper. Now, certainly let’s start with the premises that you want a lease. A lease gives you the right, legal right, to occupy the space. If you don’t have a signed writing, a contract, a lease (it can have many names), you arguably have no right to be there, and it would be very easy for somebody to remove you. So, if you’re confronted with this situation, you certainly want to say to whoever is about to give you the space: “I want a lease.”

Leases start out as a general form. The form is about six pages that’s been used probably for over twenty years. But, of course, in New York, things aren’t that simple. So, the six-page lease attaches to a forty-eight page rider. The rider is attached to the lease and you have to worry about all the terms and conditions in there. So, I think it’s helpful to go through a couple of those terms and how they may affect you in a court at some point.

So, let’s just talk about who is going to be signing this lease. You have the owner of the premises – the landlord – and you. Now, you do not want to sign any lease individually. Why? Because you are individually liable for all the money due under that lease. It’s much better if you have a company that is responsible, because then that company can shelter you from liability. And there’s the magic takeaway term called a ‘Good Guy Guarantee.’

You want a Good Guy Guarantee that states you are agreeing to pay the landlord a certain amount of money should, unfortunately, things go bad and the landlord wants to remove you from the premises. In that case, at least you are not on the hook for the whole term. Most leases are five years, could be ten years. If you enter into a lease in year one, and unfortunately things don’t go as planned and you have to leave, you are liable for the remainder of those four years, depending on the length of your lease.

Now, it just so happens in New York, that most likely a landlord will find somebody else to take over that space. However if they can’t, and there’s no obligation, repeat no obligation that the landlord does that, you are on the hook for those remaining years. It’s far better to have a company on the hook, that you could potentially put in bankruptcy and not care about, than you individually. Thus, the Good Guy Guarantee. Basically the way it works is, you would say to the landlord, “look, when I leave I’m going to be kind. I won’t owe you any money, but I’m going to leave before the lease ends and you agree not to come after me individually.” One good takeaway.

Another thing is, any lease is going to require you to give a security deposit. Footnote here: generally, security deposits are one to two months, maybe three months. Security does not apply to rent. A lot of people think, oh, I’m going to leave, I’m going to just use my security deposit. Doesn’t work that way. Security deposits are for your destruction of the property. So when you leave, if something has to be cleaned up, that’s what the security deposit is for. Otherwise, the landlord is supposed to return it to you. In practice, I understand a lot of times it does get applied to rent, but that is actually not the way it’s supposed to work.

You certainly want to make sure that the amount of rent is clear in the lease. So, if you’ve agreed to pay $1,000.00 a month, you want to make sure the lease says $1,000.00. The lease is also going to have an escalation clause. Every year the lease money due is going to go up; you’re going to have to pay more rent. So, you want to make sure that’s correct.

The next big thing on the lease is the use of the lease. And, in this particular instance, you’re going to be using it for commercial purposes. So, it is important when thinking about commercial purposes that it is used for such. That means you generally cannot sleep there. You don’t get to sleep there, you don’t get to have your friends sleep there. It’s not your apartment; it’s used for business purposes.

If you’re not using the lease the way it’s supposed to be used, you may be considered in breach of the lease. Now, the takeaway with this is, whatever the use clause says, you want it to be as broad as possible. So let’s say you’re an artist and your going to make, going back to my high school days, wicker baskets. I know every professor I had used wicker baskets, but you don’t want it limited to just wicker baskets. Because, let’s say the world doesn’t want to buy wicker baskets. You want to make something else, so you want broad use terms. You want to say, I want to use this place to create art. The landlord shouldn’t care.

Let’s talk about another big provision in leases: assignment and sublease. Every lease includes such a provision, and in general, every lease says you cannot do either without the Landlord’s consent. Let’s talk about it – what is an assignment? An assignment basically says that somebody else is going to come in, take over the space and pay the rent for you. Rather than the rent coming from you personally, it’s going to come from the person who’s taken over. That person is called the assignee, you are the assignor. Generally, that’s not allowed without landlord consent.

The other big thing is called the sublease. That is, when I rent out the space to someone else. They pay me and I’m still generally paying the landlord. Assignment and sublease both kind of overlap, because the principle is the same. You’re no longer occupying the space, and somebody else is there, and it becomes their burden to pay. However, the kicker is, if they don’t pay, you’re still on the hook to pay. It doesn’t necessarily matter.

Now, in general, both of these are not allowed. And people get into trouble with this all the time. Especially with services like Airbnb. You think, oh great, I’m going to leave for the weekend and get somebody else in here. Generally it’s not allowed, and if the landlord wanted to enforce the terms of the lease, that would be considered a breach. So, without going into great emphasis on AirBnB, my general recommendation is it’s probably not the best idea with a commercial space.

Let us talk a little bit now about defaults, which is how you end up in court and potentially talking to somebody like me. So, generally it’s a failure to pay, usually rent. Now let’s talk about this, because this is another important takeaway. Under New York statute, if you fail to pay your rent, a landlord may send you a three-day notice. Only three days. You have three days to pay your rent or they’re going to take you to court and then they’re going to (again, this goes against your record, because this is a public record) try and collect the money from you in court.

So, what do you do? You want to negotiate a longer cure period in your lease. You don’t want just three days to pay rent on demand. I would argue you want 30 – 60 days, try and get as many days as you can. There is no set rule here, but hopefully you can negotiate something longer than three days.

Now, regardless of what you negotiated, if you haven’t paid your rent, you are likely going to get some sort of notice. That notice may be called a demand for payment, or it may be called a ‘Notice to Cure.’ You have a period of time in which to cure. So you have to pay your rent. What happens if you don’t? You are going to get a legal action brought against you. You’re going to be served with papers. Here’s a very important thing: the landlord cannot lock you out without a court order. So, he can’t scare you and say, “I’m changing the locks, you didn’t pay the rent.” I would love it if landlords did that because then you could sue them for damages.

Rest assured, you cannot be locked out. It is a very lengthy process before you would actually be removed from the premises. Probably takes two or three months. But, taking that a step further, once you fail to pay your rent and are now in court, the landlord sued you for a very important non-payment of rent. Generally, what’s going to happen in court is the judge is going to want you to enter into some sort of settlement. The agreement is likely going to provide for a longer term to pay the rent. Most landlords are not going to kick a tenant out immediately for failure to pay rent. There’s going to be some sort of extension of time period.

If you fail to pay during that period, you will be removed from the premises. A lot of tenants that I get will ask, “Can I avoid that?” The answer is no. No landlord is going to agree and just say, “I got it, I took you to court, you failed to pay your rent, I’m just going to give you another chance and start the whole proceeding over again.” Doesn’t work that way. The landlord wants the space. More importantly, they want their money. Unfortunately, that’s the world we live in.

So, you’re going to set up some sort of payment plan and if you pay you’ll be allowed to stay. Let’s say you don’t and you can’t agree on the payment terms and you just can’t afford to pay. Ultimately, you will be evicted. How does that process work? Very quickly, it works in this sense. The judge enters a judgment of possession for the landlord and claims a warrant of removal shall issue. Then the landlord has to go to a marshal. The marshal goes to court and submits the paperwork to get the warrant of removal issued by the court and the judgment of possession. Only a marshal can do this. The landlord cannot do this personally. The marshal then comes, puts a notice on the door, and says you’re going to be evicted. And generally – I think it’s six days – the marshal says, “I’m coming back in six days to remove you.” You have now six days to try and make some sort of stay, which you could do by paying the rent at any time to stay longer, or, ultimately, you may be locked out of the premises.

But, keep in mind, once the marshal comes, you definitely want to come see me, if you want to continue to stay in your space.

Now, some overview of the notices that we’re talking about here. You have:

The Notice to Cure starts everything (or, demand for payment). So, you want to try to comply with that. At the very least, you want to call your landlord and say, “I know I haven’t paid, I need more time.” I think a lot of time, the reaction is to run for cover and think nothing’s going to happen, and bury your head in the sand. Generally, it doesn’t work. The landlord is going to come after you, unfortunately. They are either going to want your money or somebody else’s money, right. So I recommend trying to make a deal.

After you get this Notice to Cure, what will likely come down the pipeline is a Notice to Terminate. This is a very important one: Notice to Terminate. You don’t want one. If you get a notice to terminate and it becomes effective, you’re going to have no rights. The court is not going to be able to help you do anything to continue to stay in that property. I’m going to talk about the notice to terminate again in a little bit, because it comes up again, but I just wanted to mention that.

Then after this notice to terminate, you get some court papers. The court papers that are filed are called the Notice of Petition, followed by a Petition. You get served with the papers. Ultimately, then there’s the Warrant of Removal that gets served on you by the marshal. It’s quite an extensive process.

In Kings County, I can tell you that it could take anywhere from three to four months to get an eviction. Manhattan’s a little quicker, and generally you can get evicted in about two months. Now, you only get evicted – very important here – for a breach of your lease. So, obviously a non-payment is the most frequent, and the courts are familiar with this and there are procedures in place to offer forgiveness. So if you’re not paying your rent, what may happen is that a landlord goes to court and asks for non-payment of rent, and the judge is going to encourage you to work out something to allow you to stay.

There’s also a breach which doesn’t involve non-payment. These are a bit harder to deal with, and let’s just talk about some of the things that result. You’re paying the rent but you can still be in breach of your lease. How can that occur? Number one: you’re assigning your lease or subletting your lease. This happens all the time and all that I can say to you is the best advice is don’t let your landlord know.

Okay, and if your landlord doesn’t know it’s not going to hurt you, but if your landlord knows and doesn’t like it? Well, landlords like to be in the business of being a landlord. They don’t want tenants to be landlords. So if you have a landlord that thinks, well, I’m charging $2,000.00 and now your subleasing and making $1,000.00, well, I want that money. And by the way, most leases will provide a provision that allows them to recover such money, even in a court of law. So, assigning and subleasing generally constitute a breach.

If you fail to get the necessary permits to operate your business, that is a breach. If you fail to maintain insurance – big one. Landlords want to know their space is correctly protected with insurance. They usually require proof of insurance every year. If you don’t provide them that, that is called material breach, and it could result in removal. If you’re serving food and you need a health permit, for example. Or, if you alter the premises without consent. In fact, I’m in a landlord / tenant trial right now where the commercial tenant painted the facade white and the landlord is incredibly upset.

So, you don’t want to make alterations without the landlord’s approval. Now, these are all breaches that don’t include payment. What is going to happen in these sorts of breaches is very similar to non-payment of rent. You’re going to get a notice to cure. It’s going to give the time period that is provided in the lease to fix the situation. Obviously, from a tenant perspective, you want as much time as possible. Let’s say you cannot fix the cure within the time frame. If you cannot do so that is going to allow the landlord to terminate the lease.

Remember I discussed this earlier: termination of the lease is a bad thing. The court can’t do anything for you once your lease is terminated. So, it’s very important to extend your cure period. The courts allow that by something called a Yellowstone Injunction. The takeaway here is that you can extend your cure period. You want to make sure your cure period is extended before your lease is terminated. You go to court and say, “I got this notice to cure, I’m going to fix this, I’m going to get insurance, judge please don’t let them terminate my lease, I want to stay in possession,” and the court will grant it, almost always. As long as you can fulfill the requirements, you’re going to get it.

The requirements are very low, for a reason. The judges in the courts want to give tenants the ability to cure. But if you don’t do it, if you fail to cure in a timely fashion without it being extended and the termination notice is triggered, then you’re not going to have any defense. You will ultimately have to be removed. So, the Yellowstone Injunction is very important.

I wanted to mention one other thing, one final little tidbit to take away from this is to negotiate attorneys’ fees. Obviously, we all like to get paid. So, every lease includes a provision where if the landlord has to remove you, pursue you, they get their attorneys’ fees back. So even if you owe $10,000.00 in rent, now you are going to have to pay their attorneys’ fees as well.

What you want to always include is reciprocal attorneys’ fees. You always want to have a good offense if they’re pursuing you, and you can countersue them for something. Say the landlord breached the lease and didn’t provide some sort of service that he was supposed to. Then you could try and get your attorneys’ fees back. It provides leverage down the road.

So when you’re negotiating your lease, I’ll leave it at this: try and get your attorneys’ fees reciprocal, as long a cure period as possible, a Good Guy Guarantee, and don’t sign the lease in your own name. And if you want more tidbits, call me.