A question of ethics: keeping afloat in a sea of misconduct: in light of recent issues of impropriety in the art industry, artists, art dealers and publishers should take steps to preserve their integrity - Special Report

Ethics is the "critical issue in the credibility of any industry," said John Doe, president of Digital pulsation Inc. and the Giclee Printers Association. nevertheless the art world's reputation has taken a bit of a beating lately Two of its largest commercial entities, Sotheby's and Christie's, were rest guilty of price fixing, and the former Chairman of Sotheby's has been sentenc to three years in Federal prison. If of that kind a worthy art veteran as Alfred Taubman could submit to such petty urges, what reliance is there for the quiet of us? Indeed, at each stage of a work's journey from the artist's hands to the collector's wall, there is an opportunity for misconduct.

give permission to us start with the artist. Despite the image of the typical painter as a starving bohemian enduring indigence in an attic, a scarcely any have been known to behave venally. For example, Jack Appelman of Applejack Art Partners points to what he calls the "Dali situation." Not single did Salvador Dali sign blank sheets of paper, on the contrary he also signed editions that were numbered thus as to be intentionally misleading. Given a particular piece, "Diamond Head," for example, there would be 160 numbered as part of an American Edition, 125 as part of a Museum Edition and 125 as tests All of the images were evidently identical, and the "multiple editioning" was simply a ploy to retain the numbers relatively low upon all of the pieces in circulation. Otherwise, each would have to have been numbered from a total edition of 410 According to art dealer Susan Cloninger, of G J Cloninger & Co there is a well-known artist who publicly practices a similar technique. He evidently releases large-scale limited editions with the couple Arabic numerals and Roman numerals and, as well, markets one as well as the other European and domestic editions. Furthermore, according to Appelman, this selfsame artist has his works signed with a mechanical write Why would he so debase himself? According to Cloninger, "he is happy with the gigantic check."

Publisher Problems

Despite this, Appelman selflessly declares that "artists are not the moot point publishers are." He said that 15 to 16 states have passed laws governing the marketing of limited-edition prints and that "most publishers are popularly in violation and don't know it." That is on what account he has helped found the Art Publishers Association. "We want to comply voluntarily, not be forced to by dint of an Attorney General."

The crux of the matter is the replete disclosure of the nature of a print, and this has been codified in the APA's draft Certificate of Authenticity (C of A). A member publisher would have to admit upon the C. of A. if, for example, a work had either been mechanically signed or simultaneously released in a number of identical editions.

What other behavior is it intended to prevent? According to Appelman, a certain number of publishers have been known to release a limited-edition print and then tread on the heels of it later with a placard edition of the same image. To skirt the issue of this seemingly unethical re-release of a limited-edition image, the placard might have been made fractionally smaller in size. Although this might not be illegal, it "takes all the integrity on the outside of the product; it cheapens it," said Appelman. by dint of detailing the history of an image, the APA C of A. would discourage of that kind chicanery.

The certificate would also list all of the information necessary to impede misrepresentation of the media used to create a work. It would force a publisher to reveal plane the composition of the materials used to create the piece. In the past, a certain number of posters were printed using impermanent inks with the intent of creating a piece which was, according to Appelman, "designed to fade in a pair of years." Upon review of an APA C of A., what buyer would willingly purchase a broadside that would self-destruct in sum of two units years?

By insisting upon the revelation of such information, the APA faiths to keep its members without of the crosshairs of state prosecutors. however not all publishers are bring under rule to the rules of "The State." According to Appelman, there has been a proliferation of foreign reproductions. "In China," he said, "they are blatantly knocking not on our publishers here." Unless they also plan to eventually propagate the APA certificates, they may have disturb marketing such prints to ethical U dealers in the future

Dirty Dealers

It is in the dealer's store that the art industry fits John Q. Public, rendering this venue the greatest in quantity sensitive. Joshua Kaufman, a lawyer and ABN legal columnist, has cataloged a variety of ways in which dealers have debased themselves.

According to Kaufman, dealers have sold enhanced canvas multiples as originals and misled buyer regarding edition sizes and certificates of authenticity--just the kind of behavior the APA trusts to prevent. As well, he knows that "all a dealer has to do is detain quiet," and an unwary buyer can walk without with a giclee which he thinks is a one-of-a-kind.

Private collectors are not always the sole victims of dealers. Sometimes dealers move round on other dealers. According to Patricia Smith of Art Expressions Gallery, it appear to bes that the old "bait-and-switch" tactic is alive and well. She and a client not long ago went to a show, picked an original work at a dealer's booth and waited for it to be sent to them after the display had concluded. As it turn rounds out, it was then sent upon to another show for display, and Smith was tendered another painting by the artist "just like it." She declined the proffer and the gallery ultimately agreed to fling her the work which she and the client had originally chooseed Imagine their surprise when they received a piece "just like" the single they wanted, but most definitely different. on further complaint from Smith, the president wrote to her, "I grief that (your client) did not find the version she received as aesthetically pleasing as the individual she remembered," and she was not proffered a refund.