Every few years, it happens. A buy sell booth makes it through our careful deliberate process. I'd like to explain how that happened, and why we can't do more about it.
A painted metal artist this last weekend at the Clay, Glass and Metal Show should not have been included in the fair. While he was possibly an artist, the style and quantity of work he showed indicated that at least a good amount of his work was imported.
So how did he get in?
1) He made it through the jury made up of three artists committee members and two outside artists. All work in mediums related to our focus. Clearly his body of work was only part of what he ended up displaying.
2) He made it through our vetting process, which starts before jurying and never really ends. Potentially suspect work requires extra attention. I don't like to think that I "profile", but we do target certain artists. If an artist with suspect themes applies, I take extra steps to assure the legitimacy of the work. Of course we also do some research on other artists. This "artist" was an award winner in other shows, with no negative online reviews we could find. He had been in high quality art fairs including a major local event. Perhaps he started out legitimate and crossed the line more recently?
3) He made it through set-up. My crew is very busy at check in and move out during the show. We do keep an eye out for buy-sell artists or people who bring different work than they submitted, but with 120 artists and limited time, it's impossible to see everything before opening. This "artist" moved in around 9 a.m., just an hour before the show started. Our site review team identified the problem shortly after opening and well before any of our participating artists notified us.
4) I went right to the booth and spoke with him. He showed articles "proving" that it was his work. He also had articles showing his awards. I told him that he had violated the contract and would have to leave. He refused. More on this later.
5) One of my regular artists showed me a series of comments made after opening on an artists-only site (not accessible to me as a promoter). I went to the reporting artist to commiserate with her and let her know that I agreed with her assessment. (Incidentally, that site states that it does not permit artists to name artists suspected of buy-sell).
OK then, Why was the individual allowed to stay?
Many people do not understand this. The false artist is in violation of contract law- a civil infraction. Police cannot take immeadiate action on civil infractions. I have checked this multiple departments and with my lawyer. They all say the same thing. I have listed the process at the bottom of this document.
It takes a long time to evict someone violating a contract. Perhaps some of you have been on either side of that kind of dispute. The legal way to remove someone takes time, and cannot be enforced by police until an order has been issued. The steps are listed at the end of this document.
Criminal law is enforceable right away. Were I to physically remove the person or his materials, I am acting criminally, and the police can arrest me or my crew for assault on property and or person.
More than one artist has suggested that I should block access to the booth. I tried posting a staff person in front of a booth once, and the disruption it caused to the show did not help anybody, nor did it cause the violator to leave. Many of us have witnessed people loudly defending themselves even though they are clearly in the wrong. The news story becomes "those mean artists and promoters are picking on another artist who is just trying to make a living."
I have read about shows that have been able to oust artists, and even get police support in doing it, so I know it is possible. Yet the efforts that I have made have not proven fruitful.
Violators are not invited back. We do maintain a list of artists who for reasons such as this, we decline for all future shows. Not a satisfying solution, but maybe the best one available.
If you have viable solutions to propose, I am thrilled to hear from you. Or if you have practical ideas on improving the vetting process send those my way too.
And if you are a promoter, or on a jury, and you see a name like NAME REMOVED I have been advised that I need to remove this. come up, you may want to give it extra attention. This is not at all related to this blog post. If it were I could be sued and then the burden of proof is on me to prove my point. Like I said, at least one artists only web site disallows listing names, perhaps for that very reason.
I am told that these are the steps for enforcement of a civil law:
Step One- Present a three day notice...
Step Two- After three days hire an attorney to file in court...
Step Three- When court approves, serve court notice...
Step Four- Wait five days and then a date for trial can be scheduled...
Step Five- Court will set date for within 20 days...
Step Six- After judgement serve a five day notice for compliance...
Comments
First, I'd like to say that I appreciate your dedication to ensuring that the art at your shows is genuine. It's an affront to those of us who spend countless hours honing and perfecting our craft with love and passion to have someone buy items from China and pass them off as their own art. Having said that, I have 2 suggestions:
1) If the show is held in a private location (such as a building or a private parking lot) and you, the organizer, rescind your invitation to them, can't the police escort them out for trespassing? And if they make a scene, all the better because then they'd be disturbing the peace...
2) Invest in some large "walls" painted black to put up around the booth unless/until the offender leaves, so that the booth is completely covered and buyers can't see it.
If neither of those is a viable option, I like the idea of police tape and guards preventing buyers from accessing the booth. No one should be rewarded with buyers for dishonesty.
I echo the thanks from all of us for your attempt at removing the B/S'ers, and for your explanation.
Selectively turn on the sprinklers? Street barricades? Movable shrubbery? Invite the local preschool to tour his booth?
great explanation mark, got to be frustrating. im all for the midnight moving crew. it would not take long for the word to get around.
Lacking a wall, hire your friendly stilt performer or clown troupe to stage an intervention . . . !
I love the 10x8' wall idea of Stephens too~how creative~see~when REAL Artists put their heads
together, look what we can come up with! I know I am making light of this, but in reality, the BS people are really pathetic.
The Hinsdale idea is a stitch~ KUDOS to them, HOWEVER, there are customers out there that may buy feeling "sorry" for these fools.NO, come on, there are a lot of applications that say something like "If for any reason we may decide to move your booth to another location, we have the right to do so." FINE~move them to the NORTH FORTY with bushes around them, because you (the Promoter) decided to have a little Margarita booth or shoe shining table, or WHATEVER~wouldn't they HAVE to move then?! I suppose if this isn't a good idea, Robert & Greg you're right, we'll have to make Paul Revere proud of all of us (LOL).
KUDOS to you for taking the initiative to even try to stop the B/S.......that shows that you TRULY are thinking about the REAL artists. I've been to many shows where the B/S issue is brought to the attention of the promoter or coordinator, and it fell upon deaf ears. Most are afraid of "confrontation," and just say "we won't let them back next year," and then oftentimes you go back to the same show next year and lo and behold, guess who your neighbor is? I have no solution for it, but want to THANK YOU for making an aggressive attempt!
If I was a promoter I would build several 10 x 8 foot 'walls' and have them on hand and simply place them in front of the booth opening of the tent and post a staff member to ensure it stays up. This would entirely block the offending booth and should cause little disruption to the surrounding artist and patrons would probably not even catch on to what it is.
Too further ensure compliance and negate someone having to babysit the blocked booth you might even have a shop make a couple of strong cast iron stands to place on each side and attach to the wall with a lock and plop a planter or 2 in front.
I would guess that the buy/sell person would tire of sitting in the blocked booth and would pack up and leave and any buy/sells that are canvassing the event would be discouraged for next year.
These 'walls' would not be terribly expensive and would also aid if you had another reason to block entry to a booth such as an artist being unexpectedly called away due to some emergency and needs a quick fix to leaving the booth unattended for a long period.
Folks,
As I read each and every one of these posts, I could not help but think . . . ya' know, there is another meaning for the shorthand B/S. Which pretty much sums up the entire situation.
Lois
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