Hugh Waller

No… not a story, because that implies fiction and this is sadly true.

I received an email from a painter friend of mine a few days back, you know a bit of a catch up and all that. Anyway, several months back she had a show at a newish gallery in the capital city of another state from the one in which we both live and had left work in the gallery stockroom.

Now, this gallery has recently gone into receivership, a situation that I think will be repeated a lot, what with the economy the way it is. Three weeks prior to the official announcement of receivership the gallery had sold 5 pieces of my friends work to the tune of something like $18,000 worth. Now for the really bad part. The receivers have said that there is no money to pay any of the artists. So they, the gallery, had more than likely been selling work in the full knowledge that the artists would not get anything out of it.

If that wasn’t bad enough my friend said that she will probably have to pay to truck any unsold work back from the gallery to her home. A long way, so big bucks.

So please everyone, be aware. In the whole we creative people are a pretty trusting bunch and know that an opportunity has to be grasped but you also have to ask, at what cost.