Gallery *****s work and charges unbelievable fees for return!

Terrible experience! As an artist I feel an obligation to alert fellow artists to my recent experience and dealings with Arteye Gallery. I have ongoing relationship with a number of galleries and dealers in South Africa. They keep pieces of my work in stock, with the intention of selling them, for an agreed, specified commission. This is the agreement I had with Tyron Selmon, of Arteye Gallery. Initially he acquired my work by collecting it himself, directly from my solo show at Arts On Main around 2015. We had a verbal agreement that he would sell the works for a set commission. On a number of occasions during this 5 year period of working with Tyron, when I did try and get any artworks back from him, I was met with various excuses: from how the timing wasn’t right and I should come back at a later date, to how the storeroom was being painted or in the process of being packed. There were always excuses as to why I couldn’t collect my work. But I didn’t force the issue as I was under the impression that he would continue to sell my work as agreed, and as he’d told me on the occasions when he visited my studio. On leaving South Africa in 2017 I made the error of giving Tyron additional artworks of mine to sell. I entrusted my work to him and believed that he had my back. I was led to believe that it was his intention to sell the work, as he had sold many of my works in the past, and can also talk a good game. In November 2020 I reached out to the South African galleries I work with, in order to get an updated inventory of my work and ascertain what had been sold – all of which were very helpful and some galleries requested additional works. As I had heard nothing from Tyron since leaving South Africa, I reached out to him at the same time - to touch base and get an inventory of my work. Upon discovering that my work was no longer being actively marketed by Arteye and that there had been no sales from his side, I requested my work back. It was at this stage that Arteye informed me that I owed him storage fees to the amount of R40k. Initially I thought he was joking, that was until I received an invoice from him in January. The only agreement I entered into with Tyron was that he sell my art at an agreed upon commission rate. There was no other agreement, verbal or written, with regards to me paying for storage should the works not sell. I have repeatedly asked for any form of evidence proving otherwise – of which he has yet to produce. Nor has he once asked me to collect my work, but on the contrary has made it impossible for me to get any of my work back from him. I have been in the industry for many years, and have worked with numerous galleries. This is the first time I have come across such absurdity. When a gallery needs me to collect my work, they simply ask me & I collect within a couple of days. I recently I sent representatives to Arteye, to collect the work on my behalf - Tyron refused to speak to them, slamming the door in their faces. To date, he refuses to communicate, has blocked me on various channels of communication, and won't release the work without me paying this ******ionate amount. I find this behaviour absolutely despicable – trying to ****** money out of an artist. And if my work isn’t returned, I believe this is theft. It has become apparent that I am not the only artist that has been wrongfully treated by this gallery, and I would like to caution any artists who are considering working with Tyron. His lawyers have now threatened me to the point of harassment. I have received two formal letters from a law firm over the past two days. Which are meant to threaten and intimidate me, and which present a series of fabrications about the situation. I will not be intimidated by this despicable behaviour.

If you would like to have your work wrongfully witheld from you and be harassed by strip mall lawyers and have money ******ed from you so that arteye can pay its rent then go work with Tyron Selman at arteye. Otherwise steer clear!