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Post by purplem on Nov 28, 2009 7:29:53 GMT -8
Help!!! Does anyone know the Definition gallery in Baltimore? I was part of a show there in May , and since then the gallery will not reply to my emails or answer the phone. The owner Daniel Fountain has gone missing fallen off the radar. Ive had emails from other artists in that show saying they can't get their work back either. He has not returned the work and I can not get a hold of him. I'm in the UK so its difficult to find out just what is going on. I'd be grateful for any info from American artists who may know off the gallery. cheers Attachments:
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Post by thinkspace on Nov 28, 2009 17:20:01 GMT -8
I've been hearing this - not cool at all. I know that gallery in AZ that went under last year still owes folks back their art/money too, can't remember their name right now...
Track down Dan May - he seems to have had a good relationship in the past, at least he had a couple larger shows there.
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Post by danmay on Nov 28, 2009 17:43:20 GMT -8
hey andrew, i believe the arizona gallery you were thinking of was 'wind up'... you can throw them in the same bag as daniel fountain/definition gallery. both galleries owe me money for sold art... and i know that they also owe a ton of other artists artwork and money. i have not had any contact with either gallery in months. both gallery owners have changed their email addresses and phone numbers and seem to have disappeared off the face of the earth. this is an unfortunate situation that i hope to never find myself in again. as artists we put a great deal of trust into our relationships with galleries and you hate to see things like this happen.
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Post by Bytor on Nov 28, 2009 18:59:23 GMT -8
I know about purplem's problem and he has really tried every avenue to get his work back. I have friends that Daniel owns money to and artwork as well. I was lucky to get back my originals but he still has prints of mine. Daniel just changed his cell phone number one day without contacting the artist that had work in his gallery or he didn't have a professionalism about him to contact artist to tell him that they where closing and not to paint pieces for scheduled shows. I normally wouldn't get on here and bash anyone, but this is all true and I want other artist to know this because I would hate for this to happen to other artist if Daniel decided to open another gallery in the future.
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Post by commandax on Nov 28, 2009 19:24:03 GMT -8
Maybe the artists involved could throw in together to hire a private investigator to find this guy. Once he's located, each of the artists would be able to file a claim against him in small claims court. My guess is that faced with being sued by dozens of artists, he would choose to ship back the art. Alternately, I know we have a member named bspear who lives in Baltimore and had a relationship with Definition before it closed. Perhaps he knows someone who might have an idea where Daniel can be found. |
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Post by richardtharbaugh on Nov 28, 2009 19:26:53 GMT -8
Has anyone filed a police report yet?
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Post by bspear on Nov 28, 2009 20:53:14 GMT -8
This sucks. I'm sorry to hear Daniel is going out like this.
I've tried to get in touch with him too, but to no avail. His website hasn't changed since he closed up unannounced. The gallery looks like it hasn't been touched since then either. I'll do some digging and get back to you guys with anything I find out.
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Post by Bytor on Nov 28, 2009 22:46:40 GMT -8
Has anyone filed a police report yet? I am not going to mention any names, but yes I know of one artist that has filed a police report, it wasn't me, but they still haven't got back their peices. |
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Post by jemappellekat on Nov 29, 2009 15:08:40 GMT -8
Good luck tracking him down.
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Post by purplem on Dec 1, 2009 15:25:51 GMT -8
I tried filling a police report but that was weeks ago and I've heard nothing back from the Baltimore police. It saddens me to have to do that but I have honestly tried everything before doing so. I'm in the UK so its really awkward I feel my hands are tied.
If anyone knows how to get hold of Daniel I'd be very grateful for the help.
I've got a gallery in London wanting the work, but I'll have to turn them down or get them to accept something else.
The art game is hard enough as it is without the gallery owner stealing the artists work.
I believe his new email is forbindog@comcast.net
Perhaps I could call upon any sympathetic artists to petition Daniel on that email to return my work, he might react to peer pressure.
It might be a lame idea but its all I got.
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Post by purplem on Dec 5, 2009 15:11:25 GMT -8
Hey out of the blue they arrived.
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Post by commandax on Dec 5, 2009 15:27:15 GMT -8
Hmmm... perhaps Daniel has been lurking here. This thread does come up on the second page if you Google his name.
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Post by bspear on Dec 5, 2009 16:19:37 GMT -8
I walked by the gallery today and looked in the window. Most of the art has been taken out. I saw shipping materials all over the place, his computer/printer/etc, and a jacket on a chair. So it looks like there was some activity in the place.
Good to hear you got your work back. Hopefully everyone else does too.
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Post by thinkspace on Dec 8, 2009 13:43:49 GMT -8
I do now for a fact that the Wind Up folks own a pizza shop across the street from their old "gallery" - I helped a couple artists track them down there.
The clincher was the woman that answered, was the wife of the owner of Wind Up, but she claimed her husband handled all that biz and she was clueless and this and that and then blew off all follow up calls (obviously has caller ID, as you should be answering every call if you own a pizza joint it would seem). Thing is, you can google on Wind Up and find a couple local articles where she, the woman in question, was interviewed about the gallery she claims only her husband dealt with.
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Post by sleepboy on Dec 8, 2009 16:35:22 GMT -8
I wish people would have the integrity to wrap up loose ends even when things in life don't work out the way they want.
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Post by kellymckernan on Dec 10, 2009 20:54:54 GMT -8
Hey everyone -
I exhibited at Definition back in May. I was concerned about one piece of mine being returned (my others I requested to be returned immediately following the show). Long story short, I finally got it back. In the meantime, I contacted the other artists involved in the show to see if they had had any similar issues. Some I spoke to did, and even one had said they didn't hear anything back and all of their work was still there.
Anyhow, I sent Daniel a message on facebook basically stating that I wanted tracking info for the package, since I was worried about my piece, etc. He writes back:
"Hey Kelly before you contact other artists in shows you should let them i tried to send your package to you three times, I spent more shipping it than it was worth. You gave me two addresses that were non existent and got returned. Fill in the blanks before you slander me and bother others. So did you finally get your piece or are you living in artist never never land. basically you are calling me a liar. ill send you the bill and shipping history so you put that in your pipe and smoke it."
How utterly unprofessional is that?
I wrote back:
"Daniel,
First off, your attitude and history with the gallery (including what I've heard firsthand from several of the artist you've worked with) is incredibly unprofessional. Nothing in my message above called you a liar. My emails weren't answered for months, the gallery telephone was cut off, and every email I sent later was returned unsendable. Any rational person who sent you artwork would be freaking out that you and the gallery dropped off of the face of the earth. So I contacted other artists from the Quantum exhibition to see if they had any ways of contacting you. That's when I had heard from half of them that they haven't received any of their artwork back or worse, NONE of it, and hadn't heard anything from you. I hope you can understand that I was extremely worried.
Secondly, the first address you sent my painting to was an address I had moved from. I sent an email specifically stating my new address, and that was apparently ignored. The address I resubmitted was valid and it is still where I live and I receive USPS and UPS packages there on a regular basis. I don't know why it was returned. I finally received the package at my parent's home in time for the exhibition I needed the artwork for, so thank you. However, I hadn't received any notice of it being shipped again, or a tracking number. Again, you should understand my point of view here being worried.
I'm sorry you feel like acting inappropriately toward me and many of the other artists you've worked with. Your reputation has obviously already been soiled, but keeping the attitude that you have only furthers it.
Best,
Kelly "
ANYWAY, I do have the phone number for an associate of his, Ivan, and he picked up when I called to get information (he was pissed that I had the number). He let me know that he and Daniel shipped the painting the day before. Dan May and someone else gave me numbers for Daniel, but both were disconnected.
If anyone wants Ivan's number, just email me.
I'm sorry this has happened to so many of the other artists that have worked with Definition. It's a true shame.
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Post by grotesqueanimal on Dec 11, 2009 12:56:28 GMT -8
This sucks.
I was shocked to find out that this is the former Foundation One Gallery, even more so as I bought a Lola piece from them in 2007, and they were extremely helpful and friendly, the communication was excellent, the piece was shipped immediately after the show had come down, tracking number was sent - I would not have had anything to complain about.
I don't get it how they turned out to be that unprofessional.
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Post by Weekender on Dec 11, 2009 16:37:49 GMT -8
Must be difficult in a situation wherein you are not sure if you are getting your artworks backs, i mean the effort you put in piece and everything only to know that its (almost) unrecoverable...i could only imagine the anxiety.....
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Post by grotesqueanimal on Dec 15, 2009 9:28:55 GMT -8
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Post by rsylvia on Jan 11, 2010 9:20:27 GMT -8
Just an FYI. I was Daniel's landlord in Boston, where he was renting my apartment for business purposes. His lease was for October 2009-August 2010. After receiving rent for October/November/December, he vanished and skipped out on the rest of his lease agreement and like many of you have stated, is nowhere to be found.
I contacted Ivan as well with the help of posters on this thread and in addition to him being very upset that he was being contacted, lied about his business relationship with Daniel and told me to never call him again. After stating that he didn't know where Daniel was and that he didn't have any contact information for him, he said that the next time he saw him he would pass along the message. I told him that it was in his best interest since his name is associated with Daniel on the internet and is not too hard to find. If anyone decides to pursue legal action on any of these matters, please contact me as I would also like to join in.
That is if you are able to even locate Daniel, which seems to be impossible at this time. He has deleted his facebook account and does not respond to the aforementioned email that I also had on file for him. Like many others, his various mobile numbers do not work.
Feel free to contact me with any questions, etc. on this. I can be emailed at ross_sylvia2@yahoo.com
Best of luck to you all.
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