Subject: Continuation: Wednesday, June 26, 2002
Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 02:34:43 -0400
From: "Evan Carter" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>

Dear Ms. Zubriski:

In our collective efforts to settle matters and resolve issues, below are some clarifications to certain items in my last transmission that seemed ambiguous.

Regarding Mr. McKenna's works, you are correct in that his works will be shipped on Thursday, June 27th and you will be provided with the Air Waybill and tracking numbers.

As to Ms. Genicot, I have not spoken to Ms. Genicot personally, but it is my understanding that she has received nine of her prints from Dr. Margret Parra. I have a shipping receipt from Brokstedt, Germany with her signature, so I know she has received something. She has not let me know what it is that she received and Dr. Parra has not informed me of what it was that she sent.  However, Ms. Genicot claims that she has not received ten prints from our Gallery in Miami and this is what I am looking into currently.

Ms. Nadia Mierau, who also represented Olegi Osepaishvili and Tanya Lebedeva, has received all six of her works back, six works of Olegi Osepaishvili and I believe fourteen works of Ms. Tanya Lebedeva. Ms. Mierau used a private shipper, Errand Express (954) 977-7588 to collect and ship both the works of Olegi Osepaishvili and her own and these works were shipped out on June 13, 2002, Invoice 61166. Ms. Lebedeva's shipment, which we pre-paid, 9295690692 was received June 19, 2002.

As to Mr. Chaldakov and to answer your questions, the answer is "yes", someone did sign for his artworks on April 28th, 2002.  However, I am going to have to limit discussions about this issue because their is pending litigation under the Hague Conference on Private International Law; Title Numbers 15, Convention on the Choice of Court and 16, Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters.

I would like to clear up an additional issue and we feel it is important because as quickly as we attempt to resolve issues, Ms. Cecile Coiffard seems to be determined to keep them stirred up and I invite any of your readers to contact my office for any information about this issue.

Because of professional courtesy, I will not give the name of the attorney who represented her in New York to negotiate her agreement with the Gallery, but if you call me Ms. Zubriski, I will be happy to give you his name and telephone number. I am certain you can appreciate this.

I negotiated personally with Ms. Coiffard's attorney for over five months, dissecting at her request, every single paragraph of our agreement. We literally "re-wrote" the agreement to fit her particular needs and the only point we were stuck on was an exhibition in the first year, which I never guarantee to any artists. We simply cannot do that as we have no sense of how that artists' work will sell. I did agree, since the agreement was a two-year agreement, to hold a exhibit of some level in Paris in 2003. This would at least give us time to gauge her sales performance.

Ms. Coiffard seemed at the beginning, very skeptical and I have no problem with that. To place some comfort on the situation, I invited both she and any "guest" of her choosing, at our expense, to visit us in both New York and Miami and preparations were being made to have that trip happen.

When Ms. Coiffard and her attorney and I had reached an agreement as to how the contract should read, she would not sign it ahead of time (she lives in Bonn, Germany), but in fact sent it to me for my signature. I signed three copies, asked my attorneys to make copies and sent all three back to her for her signature. She signed them and returned copies (two) to me. Then I read where she claims that I "altered" the agreements, and this is the most ridiculous statement I've every heard. I signed them first and sent them to her. If they were "altered" in any way, she did it.

Ms. Coiffard and I had had several, what I call pleasant conversations, and I felt that if she had certain issues, she was welcomed to talk to me about them, especially since we were about to spend nearly $4,000 just so she could "visit" the galleries. When artists that we represent complained that she was contacting them making certain accusations, I told Ms. Coiffard in no uncertain terms that I was not pleased with that type of behavior and it was my choice at this point not to work with her or represent her and I did just that. I chose not to represent her.

We never handled any of her work and all the time she claims she "wasted", I don't know what time she could be talking about because her attorney and I were the ones who spent five months negotiating her agreement. My webmasters were the ones who spent countless hours designing pages to her specifications, so I am completely at a loss as to what time "wasted" she is speaking of. And according to her attorney, whom I just spoke to recently, he does not have much to say about her one way or another because she never paid him for the five months of negotiations. 

Ms. Zubriski, many of your artists are sitting in front of their computers looking at this as if it is the "rebirth of the O. J. Simpson trial". Accusations are flying back and forth and I ask your audience to stop and think for a moment... forget being so "right-brained" for an instant and THINK... It is incredible expensive Ms. Zubriski, to pay for artwork weighing over 200 pounds to be shipped from the Netherlands, Ireland, Costa Rica, Germany, Amman, Jordan and we pay ALL shipping and we insure ALL of the works of the artists, and if you have ever tried to ship something with the major carriers, you know that anything shipped above $500, you must seek an outside carrier.

Literally thousands of dollars just in shipping and insurance Ms. Zubriski and the artists pay ABSOLUTELY nothing. They don't even pay for a single stamp and they break contractual agreement's like they don't even exists which prohibit us from ever recouping just the money we spend on shipping and insurance. And as you can see, we are not eating the paintings, we just need the opportunity to sell them to make our money back. And as you have experience with me with Ms. Gardner, spending time and money with her even before I really knew her... WHERE DO PEOPLE THINK WE GET ALL OF THIS MONEY FROM?

People are quick to judge and jump on bandwagons but they are slow to count expenditures Ms. Zubriski. You have been fair here and given us the opportunity to present our side in this forum, but even you Ms. Zubriski, don't have the expenses we have. I think in all honesty Ms. Zubriski, and I have always said this to you, that you "spoil" these people and they think that everybody will spoil them. Well, I have a business to run Ms.Zubriski and after all of these recent events and the lost of artists and artworks, revenues and agreements being broken, and not by us I might add, I don't have anymore money to "spoil" anybody with. 

Regards,

e v a n w a l l c a r t e r

THE EVANS GROUP OF GALLERIES
e-mail: [email protected]
Telephone: 305·532·0740
Facsimile: 305·673·0051

RESPONSE:  Full response

First thank you for clarifying  the statement about Mr Mckenna's paintings will look forward to the tracking number. Please be sure to include the name of the shipping company so we may personally call them to keep informed as to the package.

I am still not sure just what you meant about Ms. Genicot here is a copy of the email from her
Subject:  News from Miami
Date:  Tue, 25 Jun 2002 10:16:02 -0400
From:  "dege6" <[email protected]>
To:  "Art Space 2000" <[email protected]>

Dear Pat,

I read the update III of Evan Carter. What does he means when he says "recovering Ms. Genicot's prints with you and Agent Dale Brigante"

I sent 10 + 10 prints to Mr Carter in Miami. The 10 first one were supposed to go to Germany for the Brokstedt exhibition. Dr Parra from Germany sent me back a good month ago 9 of my prints in very good shape.When I asked why she did send me back 9 prints instead of 10, she repleid that she has never received 10 prints but only 9 prints from Mr Carter. 

So Mr Carter should have 11 prints in his possession. Either he already sold them, in that case he owed me some
money or he sends them back to me, but this time with a real tracking number

Kindest Regards
Martine Genicot

Do you have the 11 prints Mr. Carter... and if you do not would you please let us know what has happened to them so that negotiations may start as to a purchasing price..

I contacted Ms. Nadia Mierau and here is her response to my asking for confirmation that you sent back her paintings

As to Mr. Chaldakov We are not asking for any information that would hinder any law suit or investigation. All we are asking for is the information and proof that you did return his images and that either he or someone did sign for them.
I am trying to be fair about all this and if you claim they have been returned then I think it only fair that we check into this allegation and if we find that in fact he did receive this images back we would like to be able to show that. As I have said before we are not here to hang you just to resolve some issues. We do not have any intention of posting one persons story and not giving you the opportunity to clear up these doubts. I realize time is money and you are very busy but as I am sure you are aware these are just a few of the people you claim to represent so why not clear up all this and get on with living. 
In my line of work if someone does not want to do business with me I chalk it up to their loss. I do not spoil people as you state. I do my job and part of my job as a human is to treat others as I would like to be treated and that is fairly and honestly. 
We are not asking you to spoil these people we only ask that you give back what is rightly theirs. It is sad that the deals did not go thru for what ever reasons and some of those reasons have not been printed but Mr Carter these are not people who are upset because you did not sell their work. These are people who it seems to me have valid points for wanting to break their agreements or get their artwork back and it seems to me that the wiser course is to give them back their work and end your association with them. 
No body Mr Carter likes to lose money but unfortunately it is a fact of life. I am sure with all your galleries and artists that you represent these shipping charges will be a good write off. 
On a more personal note I want you to know there is no hard feelings and we are sure you will get this all straightened out and everyone will be happy. We still wish you and your fiancé Dr Margaret Parra all the best .
I ask you to please do the right thing and lets get all this cleared up as quickly as possible so we can all get on with our lives.
Sincerely pat