What can an artist do to stop the sale of their missing paintings
ARTinvestment.RU   25 июля 2017

What measures are feasible to take to the artist to quickly and independently, even before the formal legal steps? The situation with the sales missing earlier paintings now decides the artist Semyon Kozhin. AI is monitoring the situation

what's the thing between those is very common. Here and there heard that the pictures never came back from the show, stuck for years in foreign former gallery owner, was "lost" during transportation. After that usually it takes several years, the incident is forgotten and here again – lost things suddenly pop up on sites selling behalf of anonymous sellers. Through a large specialized auction to sell their fraught, and the electronic "flea market" or small auctions, the author maybe will not notice. Attackers can try to do it quickly and anonymously, at any price. Moreover, the people who got the gift of picture, not a pity to throw them even at a low price.

About this situation now "ressive" the artist Semyon Kozhin. A few dozen of his paintings in the mid-2000-х remained in storage in England with his aunt. Then the connection was broken, the contact person to get stopped. And in 2016, 9 paintings were exhibited on ebay who-то incomprehensible, and certainly without the permission of the author. The claim of the artist platform has not responded, I had to connect English lawyer. And only after a letter of claim to the painting was removed from the auction.

But remove does not mean to return. After this incident missing from the artist paintings began to appear on small auctions in the UK. And not too small. In particular, one of the lost works are in 2016, Russian Bonhams auction.

How to block their sale – a very difficult question.

as an aside, I will say that whether it's relevant auction in Russia, it would suffice for the treatment of the author to lot removed. We, at least, not once these situations are watched and even helped to solve them. For example, I remember the auction of Leonid Shishkin after the complaint of the artist was taken off work, which according to him was stolen from his Moscow Studio. Informal treatment of the artist was enough. AI Auction in such cases does the same, because further disputes with customers nobody needs.

In Britain, a phone call may not be enough. So in your case, Simon Kozhin on the advice of English counsel was in Moscow affidavit – a sworn written statement. Affidavit in Britain – this is serious. That is not just a verbal explanation in the style of "I think" or "I do not remember such that I sold to whom these works", and a signed affidavit, from which it is difficult to dismiss. The text of the affidavit can be read here. Note how it is made @- indicating the circumstances of loss, listing the paintings, their description and photo.

And here, too, there is a teachable moment. Not all artists and not all collectors at the right moment are photos and a description of the work (technique, size, etc.). Not all are recording. And without this information to find your stuff and to make the treatment will be difficult. Better to fix all at once. Especially when left in storage or give to the exhibition. Kozhina from this informationwas.

So the next step is to give information to the public. Post a photo of the missing works.

to Do this, the artist can at least in a few places:

1. On their own official website (this is why we urge that it should be) and Facebook. As done in and here and here.
2. On the forum forum.ARTinvestment.ru such as here.
3. In the group of "Stolen and lost art" on Facebook. It closed, but it is actively looking gallery owners, artists and experts. The artist will give access
4. Through the Ministry of culture on their website in section "Wanted". This section is regularly updated and there are ads about the loss of items stolen from private individuals. At least you can try.

This of course is not enough to stop the attackers, but it certainly will complicate their lives and help the artist when dealing with auctions and other sellers.

What more can be done to the artist himself, without the assistance of a lawyer? It is possible to track your work that are put up for auction. Useful in any case to inform the trading platforms, if you see the missing thing. Tracking information is available through our database of auction results (it is published not only accomplished, but also upcoming sales) or through other databases.

As you can see, even before seeking legal assistance, the artist can do a lot to protect their interests. Well and further already it is necessary to analyze, how can I help lawyers, solicitors and other professionals. So we will continue to follow closely the story with paintings Seeds Kozhin and wish the artist a good return it works.

Vladimir Bogdanov, AI

Sources: kozhinart.com, www.facebook.com