Galería Azur Madrid: vanity gallery
The usual story: a gallery rep contacted me by email and said she had seen and liked my work, and asked if I wanted to be in a group show. The reason I am posting this is that unlike IT’S LIQUID and similar well-known scams, this one is a new gallery in Madrid that has apparently been around in Argentina, their home country, for a while. The director seems to belong to a well-to-do family, and they have a substantial following on instagram. So, for just a minute or two, I thought for once it wasn’t the usual hoax. HA!! When I said I was interested, sure enough they sent me a standard contract that specified, among other things, the following clauses:
a) the artist has to pay for transportation both ways
b) the artist has to pay EUR 1000 for a one-month GROUP exhibition (and three months subsequent online representation – yey!)
c) they will keep 30% of sales revenues
I would also have to insure my work obviously for transport but also once there (although they said they would compensate me if anything got damaged).
I have never posted here. But given that this gallery is new and likely to cause a lot of frustration to fellow artists, I thought I should make this one a first.
18 comments
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Anonymous
Van Gogh Art Gallery is definitely a similar vanity gallery. It should have its own thread here. Another even more outrageous one is M.A.D.S. online gallery.
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Anonymous
I recently got approached by Van Gogh. I asked a fellow artist friend and she warned me it was a vanity gallery, which led me on a rabbit hole tof vanity galleries in Madrid and found Galerie Azur as well. I’ve heard it can be bad to have these on your CV.
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Anonymous
Thank you so much for these reviews. I was just contacted by them via Instagram. I got excited enough to email a fellow artist with the caveat that it could be a hoax like so many others. Reading these reviews has helped me immensely. So, thank you. I will not sign.. anyway, I can not afford the price!
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Anonymous
Me too! I saw the policy which explains the fees so I just assumed it was a lousy deal and to move on. Now seeing I’m not the only one, I’m thanking the internet for connecting me to others who confirm my initial suspicions. Thank you!
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Anonymous
They just contacted me as well, I looked at their website and google reviews and researched some of the people, all seems legit. Although their team huge. This thread is the only info that made my Spidey sense perk up. One of the assistants Daiana messaged me. I’m going to speak to her and ask her some questions out of curiosity.
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Anonymous
Did you get any replies from her or did she suddenly no longer responded to you? That’s what happened to me.
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Anonymous
Thank you for sharing this and for the others that also took the time.
Doing our research is very important for artists. Just as important to alert others.
I can delete the email without a thought now! -
Anonymous
I am very glad I found this feed and did some research. I had no idea these types of things were happening. I just got an email two days ago from Galeria Azir to represent me for a $1300 fee or $3800 premium fee for a year of promotions on artsy another website, and a month in physical gallery. Shipping paid by artist.
The email and website, contract looked very legit. 30% their cut. Since I’m an emerging artist I don’t k ow what is normal or not..
Do artist ever have to pay their own shipping for gallery representation? GA Artsy page seems legit, but as I read are you saying artist don’t actually sell thier work through them? Please advice.
I am emailing Sofia the curator currently and was told I needed ti sign by Dec 27th. Today it’s the 22 Dec of 2022. Should I bring up the bad reviews to the curator?
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Anonymous
I hope you didn’t sign the contract! Shipping costs are usually paid by the gallerist, even in online galleries such as Saachi Art. Did you check Artsy how much they’ve sold? Did you ask for sales figures from the person who contacted you?
They rush the deal because they don’t want you to check out reviews and think more carefully. No need to hurry, do your research thoroughly. Rush is always a red flag!
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Anonymous
I was just approached by Galeria Azur as well, similar to how others have outlined here. So glad I went with my gut feeling and did a bit of research on them before signing anything. Thank you all for sharing your experiences. It helps out so many others from galleries like this that take advantage of artists, especially emerging artists.
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Anonymous
November 28, 2022- They are yet another vanity gallery and it is so easy to get sucked in ; seems to take every bit of self esteem to ward off the ever increasing money scams.
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Mary Westheimer
Thank you for sharing your experience. Their professional presentation made me at least look into it before I hit “delete.”
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Anonymous
Yes unfortunately, you are correct about everything you said above. Glad that you didn’t get sucked in.
I was new on scene when I bought into there 12 month contract for an online show. Prior to signing, I communicated with many other artists they “represented”, asking the same questions but received good reviews, which was confusing because when I approached the sales team to ask about sales numbers, I only received vague and abstract answers. No artist I spoke to have a bad review or warned me. By the way, anyone that contacts me about GA, I give them all the intel I have!
The group show came and went, the social media coverage was professional indeed, but that’s it, everything I paid for stopped there. I never received follow up or feedback, my art was never-ever again promoted, and my images still sit on their artsy site and don’t appear in any social media posts. I paid for an online group show that had 2 seconds of coverage. I never sold one piece. Embarrassed, I took their name off my resume I had!
Artist friends, stay away from this and others like it and use your money on materials and professional self promotion. From now on I tell people they need to pay me for promotion, lol, unfortunately I learned the hard way.
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Anonymous
Thank you for sharing. I, too, was about to sign, and then googled the reviews. Except now, they charge $1800.
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Kris Mohfanz
Now they are charging 2000.00. they reduced it for me to 1800… Glad I did not sign
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Anonymous
About 30 artists per month, each paying 2000€, that makes 60 000€ per month. That’s a lot of money! The artist just loses money.
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Anonymous
If I have understood correctly Galeria Azur is an auction house in Argentina. In Europe (Madrid & Berlin) they make money by charging artists, not by selling art. It’s a full blown vanity gallery. Some artists don’t understand that or just refuse to admit it, so the gallery is making lot of money.
I’m surprised they haven’t commented here already, because in Google Maps reviews they are replying to the bad reviews in a panic mode and probably making up most positive reviews. It’s pathetic.
Anonymous
Just a heads up – watch out for ‘Van Gogh Art Gallery’ in Madrid as well. It seems to be a similar thing.