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.
46 comments
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Anonymous
they send me a ‘cold’ DM in Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/galeriaazur.newyork/?hl=en
they want $2000 for their new york space. basically a scam.
“As presented, the exhibition will run from December 13th until January 7th, it is without a doubt a great time of the year to exhibit in NYC. The fall and winter season in NYC is a peak time for the art world. With major events, countless gallery openings, and prestigious art fairs, the city becomes a hub for collectors, curators, and art enthusiasts. The festive atmosphere, combined with the influx of international visitors for holidays and events like Thanksgiving and Christmas, creates a vibrant cultural scene. This period offers artists and galleries unparalleled exposure and opportunities, making it a key moment in the global art calendar.”-
Anonymous
They’ve contacted me too. What’s worse is that artists such as Zelda_Cavanaugh on Instagram help promote this obvious pay-to-play scam. Preying on young artists.
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Anonymous
They prey on vain people who have no understanding of how the art world works.
Renee Phillips writes on her blog:
As one art critic said to me, “When I see a vanity gallery listed on an artist’s resume, I know they paid to have their ego stroked.”
https://renee-phillips.com/vanity-galleries/-
Anonymous
Yeah, and the same critic/gallery/curator doesn’t evenreply to emails using an automated email reply. This actually makes me laugh.
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Anonymous
Galeria Azur also approached me recently about a show in Berlin. I’ve had many vanity galleries contact me in the past so I can spot them easily. I pretend that I don’t know anything and tell them to follow my social media…since they are so enamored with my work after all, right? They usually do it because they have to play along to seem interested in the artist. After they follow me I delete and never speak with them again. At least I should get a follow for having wasted my time with these losers.
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Anonymous
I received an email a few days ago from Galeria Azur to participate in Miami. I was excited too. But it doesn’t sound right to charge $2.000 to an artist to participate in a physical exhibition for a month with two paintings and in an online exhibition for the whole year (Artsy). Everyone can post paintings there to sell, like Fine Art America (Is just to open an account there). Their business is very clear and what is very suspicious is that the money needed to be sent as soon as we signed the contract.
Anyway, thank you very much to all for the information posted here. I think is very useful and we need to help each other. Nowadays scams are everywhere.
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Anonymous
Galeria Azur Berlin , same kind of experience. Just a nasty and sad way of trying to exploit an artist’s dream of success
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Anonymous
thanks for the information.
There was something that didn’t seem right to me. I then asked them straight up. What is in it for you. you are not doing this out of the goodness of your heart. I know that usually a gallery wants 50/50 so that would be reasonable but she then sent me this.(below) as soon as I saw requires a first investment made me do some googling and found your post Thank you. something smelt fishy, and you confirmed my gut feeling. I apricate it.
have a great day.
below is what they sent me.
Thank you very much for your comments and reply.
Our gallery has a business model which, unlike our other galleries (such as Buenos Aires), this one requires a first investment by the artist to help sustain the gallery’s infrastructure and its personnel. Bearing this in mind, we move away from the typical commission of other galleries which are commonly 50/50, receiving only 30% of the profit from the sale of the work.
Galería Azur, unlike most galleries, is not conformed by a reduced number of people; we have a team of 30 plus people at the moment, including a business, curatorial, audiovisual and social media department at the artist’s disposal, that is collectively working in our multiple premises with the goal in mind to contribute to their international legitimization and to build a robust market for their art. This initial investment helps sustain all of this to ensure we can provide the best service for our artists as possible.
We are planning as well to open up other possibilities of representation in the future and it would be good to keep in touch to collaborate in future projects together.
With kind regards,
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Anonymous
That’s funny! They “only” take 30% commission because they hardly sell anything and therefore don’t care about sales. They make money by renting out gallery space. That’s their real business.
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Anonymous
Thank you for this post, I was also contacted by them and received personal emails inviting me to participate in an exhibition . The whole thing seemed very out of the blue and fishy. I am glad that I did not waste time and money on talking with these scammers.
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Anonymous
Thank you so much for this information! And what about Artsper? I have never heard about it and I can see a lot of galleries are participating at Artsper, also Monat Gallery(which seems like a vanity gallery). Are all these galleries a scam?
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Anonymous
Thanks a lot for sharing this. I just received an invitation of them today and was immediately suspicious. This confirms my feeling.
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Anonymous
It is a vanity gallery with multiple locations around the globe. I just got an offer for €2000, which of course I didn’t accept. The physical exhibition participation with 2 works in the gallery in Miami will only last 2 !!!!!!!!!!! days and will be a huge event to which gallery owners and trade fair organizers will be invited. (Why do I care about a trade fair organizer?) The artist bears the transport costs. The Gallery will exhibit the selected artworks on the online platform ARTSY http://www.artsy.net and 1ST DIBS http://www.1stdibs.com for 12 months.
This is lottery gaming at the highest level!!!!!
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Anonymous
Thank you for this post. I feel a little relieved as something didn’t sit right with me.
PROPOSAL GALERIA AZUR – MIAMI (ART BASEL WEEK)
I received this a few weeks ago. I was quite blunt due to numerous scammers trying to approach me.I was sent a voicemail to prove legitimacy. Then the website, got the email asking for £2000. I said thank but said no, dye to shirt notice and cost.
The lowered it to £1800.I’ve said not interested, maybe another year. I’ll probably get another email soon.
Thanks to your emails, it proves even legitimate galleries are on the make too.
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Anonymous
Just got an email about art basel what will happen in november, by galeria azul and the sender was Fiorella Sozzi. Needed to answer ASAP, because there aren’t so much time anymore left.
“Regarding the magnitude of the project, the deadline will be relatively short, so I would appreciate a prompt response”.
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Anonymous
Is it the same one based in Miami, Florida? I recently got an email from them asking me if i would like to join an October exhibition.
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Anonymous
Yes, also Berlin and New York at least. Check the other thread: https://howsmydealing.com/2022/08/08/galeria-azur-madrid/
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Anonymous
Thanks for posting this. It helps a lot of artists out there to have this information.
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Anonymous
Thank you so much to let us know. I had the same email three times. I did some research and I send an email to Galeria Azure Madrid. I didn’t get any answer, I e-mail 5 times.
For me is that answer enough! -
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Anonymous
Thanks for sharing!! And another warning about a suspicious guy called Gerhard Götze.
Don’t loose energy with him, he just want’s about 30’000 dollars of you to realise a catalog…-
Anonymous
Thanks for the information. I almost went with it 3 times. Each time I kept thinking, why are there so many unknown expenses? I won’t be doing it after seening all these reviews.
PEB
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Anonymous
Hello everyone.
I was just approached by Gallery Van Gogh in Madrid…
Same scam as Gallerie Sonia Monti in Paris which I FELL FOR two years ago! So ashamed to admit!
So appreciate everyone’s posts.
Thank you!!-
Anonymous
OMG! I think they’re trying to hook me in too! Even did a video call….GRRR.. Van Gogh Gallery in Madrid! I put a lot of work into creating a Professional Artist Portfolio. Wanted my passport number and too much personal information so that’s when I realised RED FLAG and mentioned my lawyer to check over the contract.. Thank you so much for sharing the above. But I am actually really disappointed as I wanted to share my Art with the International Art Market 🙁
my insta @sophie_garrard_artist
if anyone has legitimate Gallery contacts or representations or can authentically help an Aussie artist to get my Art out in our world. Would be super appreciated. Bloody scammers!
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Daniel
Hello, from Dublin here, I got an email from their Berlin branch, on a Saturday evening for an exhibition that is a month away, and because my work would work with the ‘overall aesthetic’ (LOL their words not mine). Thanks to this threat I disregard it as spam, but they truly wanted my cash as they sent a follow up email. Told them I hope they find many like me.
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Anonymous
I have now received two emails from their Berlin branch (two separate group exhibitions), sounds like they use the exact same wording for all if I look at your and other posts.
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Anonymous
Just a heads up – watch out for ‘Van Gogh Art Gallery’ in Madrid as well. It seems to be a similar thing.
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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
I am so thankful for this site and all the honest comments from everyone. I’m am so sorry that there are stories here where artists were taken advantage of in their most vulnerable beginning stages and it is really unfair that these deceiving contracts technically deliver so they can’t be in breach. The more the word gets out and people speak up the less money they have a chance to scam out of people. What’s worse is that having any association with vanity galleries ruins the potential careers of talented passionate creatives. The art world is tough and new emerging artists have so much to learn and discern. I was also approached by two vanity galleries Van Gogh Gallery Madrid and Azur and even applied to a group exhibition for Florence Contemporary Gallery online of course with a fee starting at 70 euros all the way up to 850 Eros for the “package” which included……all the same “benefits” and of course only 4 days to commit. I searched their posts on their insta that have a huge following and every artist that paid them to be “promoted” have absolutely 1 to 0 likes or comments ect. It’s like looking at a whole page of fallen comrades memorialized to this scam. I am thankful bc reviews saved me from investing any money sadly wasn’t saved from the pain of discouraging disappointed hopes for gallery representation. Moral of these stories is DO YOUR RESEARCH on everything and Don’t LOOSE HOPE, BELIEVE IN YOUR ART, DO NOT GIVE UP because things work out eventually in time if you put the work in to learn and run your business with integrity.