Drawgasmic & Christopher Gervais
On Artists Beware someone brought up a site called Drawgasmic, sending form emails to artists.
I got an email invite the other day to this site (it was an impersonal email addressing me as "Hi you" LOL) [...] From their site:
"We're bringing together the work of 1000 international artists, illustrators, and designers in an exhibition and book unlike anything ever created before! We're showing off the edgy creative talent that is tipping the institutionalized art world on its head! You'll be gasping in wonder as you view piece after piece of the best independent art around!"
Apparently this is to be in the format of a book and an exhibition. They have some artists listed as part of the project but I noticed a lot of them were students. Now I have to admit, despite not having any experience with my art being published, a little red light went beeping in my head as I was reading up on this project. It started with the impersonal email that said my art was awesome but did not actually name any particular works nor ask permission to print them in this book and/or host them in this exhibition. Then I noticed on the site that accepted artists are expected to pay a $35 fee to participiate, from their Q&A section:
"Q: Is their an application fee?
A: NO! It is free to apply! Only accepted artists are required to pay an operational/participation fee of $35.00!
Q: Where does my operational/participation fee go?
A: All money brought in via these fees goes towards online and print promotion for the show, upkeep fee's associated with this website (ie: designer/programmer fees), mechanical costs (ie: DJ, Sound system, Webcams, etc), rental fees for the gallery, and promotion of the book! This exhibition is costing a TON of time, energy, and money to put on! Your fee helps ease that pain!
Q: Are there any other fee's associated with this show?
A: Yes. Artists must pay shipping to and from the gallery. The gallery will also keep %15 of the sale price.
Q: As a participating artist do I get a free copy of the book?
A: Unfortunately we can not give out free books due to the HUGE cost of producing them. Sorry! We still love you! We will however offer all participating artists wholesale discounts on ANY book orders they place!"
To me, it looks more and more like a particularly clever vanity press site for artists, trying to entice more customers through this exhibition, which may in fact happen but does not mean the project can't also possibly be a scam along the lines of "Get your poetry published! Only pay to own the book with your poetry in it!" - the line in particular about "wholesale discounts" made the red-light beeping go faster.
A few others who go this email commented and were also wary, and there's some discussion in various dA journals. One person commented:
I sent a generally positive response back to the guy and asked him where he might of seen my art at and which pieces in particular he enjoyed (so I could have an idea what he would want me to do for the project). Never received a response back though.
Someone pointed out that, if they're really getting up to 1000 artists... all the artists paying $35... that equals up to 35,000. Also consider if they were really going to mass produce this book, wouldn't they expect to make money off that as well?
It's not unheard of for galleries to have fees to cover costs and take a cut of any sales, and the gallery mentioned does exist, so maybe I and others are too pessimistic for our own good, and the hundreds of artists eagerly seizing this opportuity will do fine. What do you think? Have you heard anything or know anyone (other than a contributing artist) involved? The fellow behind it is David Wolk, and he apparently runs Dew Tech Designs and has done a plush event. The YouTube videos for the event annoy me though; I'm not inspired by a couple of skull dolls pretending to make out then telling me to join.
A bit more searching shows that he has also run at least one other "hey, there are thousands of creators!" event (and possibly as many as 27, which is the number of domains he owns).
Next, if you do or know anyone who does wildlife art, beware of Christopher Gervais who in 2009 contacted artists about an art event he's hosting in their area, usually at a prestigious venue. It's supposed to be juried, but, much like the Poetry.com scam, any artist who applies is accepted. The show is then canceled or changed to a cheaper or free venue.
He of course offers no refunds to artists. He also operates under the names Palmetto Art Shows, South Florida Art Shows and has been known to go by the alias Troy Marsh according to the attached website http://julietchapman.com/blog/2009/04/02/the-latest-on-mr-gervais/ . He runs an online magazine at www.WesternWildlifeMag.com in which he illegally uses copyrighted images he can obtain off the internet or through set up for one of his shows noted above. [1]
The Wildlife Art Journal and artists Julie T Chapman and Laura Levitsky are a few who wrote about him.
I got an email invite the other day to this site (it was an impersonal email addressing me as "Hi you" LOL) [...] From their site:
"We're bringing together the work of 1000 international artists, illustrators, and designers in an exhibition and book unlike anything ever created before! We're showing off the edgy creative talent that is tipping the institutionalized art world on its head! You'll be gasping in wonder as you view piece after piece of the best independent art around!"
Apparently this is to be in the format of a book and an exhibition. They have some artists listed as part of the project but I noticed a lot of them were students. Now I have to admit, despite not having any experience with my art being published, a little red light went beeping in my head as I was reading up on this project. It started with the impersonal email that said my art was awesome but did not actually name any particular works nor ask permission to print them in this book and/or host them in this exhibition. Then I noticed on the site that accepted artists are expected to pay a $35 fee to participiate, from their Q&A section:
"Q: Is their an application fee?
A: NO! It is free to apply! Only accepted artists are required to pay an operational/participation fee of $35.00!
Q: Where does my operational/participation fee go?
A: All money brought in via these fees goes towards online and print promotion for the show, upkeep fee's associated with this website (ie: designer/programmer fees), mechanical costs (ie: DJ, Sound system, Webcams, etc), rental fees for the gallery, and promotion of the book! This exhibition is costing a TON of time, energy, and money to put on! Your fee helps ease that pain!
Q: Are there any other fee's associated with this show?
A: Yes. Artists must pay shipping to and from the gallery. The gallery will also keep %15 of the sale price.
Q: As a participating artist do I get a free copy of the book?
A: Unfortunately we can not give out free books due to the HUGE cost of producing them. Sorry! We still love you! We will however offer all participating artists wholesale discounts on ANY book orders they place!"
To me, it looks more and more like a particularly clever vanity press site for artists, trying to entice more customers through this exhibition, which may in fact happen but does not mean the project can't also possibly be a scam along the lines of "Get your poetry published! Only pay to own the book with your poetry in it!" - the line in particular about "wholesale discounts" made the red-light beeping go faster.
A few others who go this email commented and were also wary, and there's some discussion in various dA journals. One person commented:
I sent a generally positive response back to the guy and asked him where he might of seen my art at and which pieces in particular he enjoyed (so I could have an idea what he would want me to do for the project). Never received a response back though.
Someone pointed out that, if they're really getting up to 1000 artists... all the artists paying $35... that equals up to 35,000. Also consider if they were really going to mass produce this book, wouldn't they expect to make money off that as well?
It's not unheard of for galleries to have fees to cover costs and take a cut of any sales, and the gallery mentioned does exist, so maybe I and others are too pessimistic for our own good, and the hundreds of artists eagerly seizing this opportuity will do fine. What do you think? Have you heard anything or know anyone (other than a contributing artist) involved? The fellow behind it is David Wolk, and he apparently runs Dew Tech Designs and has done a plush event. The YouTube videos for the event annoy me though; I'm not inspired by a couple of skull dolls pretending to make out then telling me to join.
A bit more searching shows that he has also run at least one other "hey, there are thousands of creators!" event (and possibly as many as 27, which is the number of domains he owns).
Next, if you do or know anyone who does wildlife art, beware of Christopher Gervais who in 2009 contacted artists about an art event he's hosting in their area, usually at a prestigious venue. It's supposed to be juried, but, much like the Poetry.com scam, any artist who applies is accepted. The show is then canceled or changed to a cheaper or free venue.
He of course offers no refunds to artists. He also operates under the names Palmetto Art Shows, South Florida Art Shows and has been known to go by the alias Troy Marsh according to the attached website http://julietchapman.com/blog/2009/04/02/the-latest-on-mr-gervais/ . He runs an online magazine at www.WesternWildlifeMag.com in which he illegally uses copyrighted images he can obtain off the internet or through set up for one of his shows noted above. [1]
The Wildlife Art Journal and artists Julie T Chapman and Laura Levitsky are a few who wrote about him.