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Spamming the gallery. Gela Mikava

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With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, Napa

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I missed all the "fun", but well done Alan for getting it sorted.  There's a never-ending number of people who are after something for nothing, and we do seem to get our share of them.  
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Tony Auffret

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Back again!  A little research shows Gela Mikava is a genuine artist.  As his work is available from the Saatchi gallery, it really does underline that these postings are little more than a cynical attempt to scam money out of people and nothing to do with the artist himself.

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by Tony Auffret

Denise Cat

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You would wonder why they have posted again, knowing their ploy has already been uncovered.
meprofile

Gary Martin

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Yes but is it Gela Mikava posting as the name of the poster seems to be Art Investment!? I think if it is Gela posting, he should change it to her own name! I have a feeling he is just trying to increase his web presence in search engines for his name and the words art investment - but I may be wrong.

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by Gary Martin

Collette Hughes

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I agree Gary. I searched the name. If someone does not open the link, the bit from painters online appears as if POL are writing that the artist is a good investment. Bit naughty. Screenshot below.      

Alan Bickley

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I did manage to get the last batch removed, and the artist banned. As predicted, they have re registered, changing the name from Artists to Invest to Art Investments… 

Norrette Moore

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I typed a long post and the forum broke.  Grrr. Short version:

Norrette Moore

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I was going to email them, but found the above under frequently asked questions. Elaborate selling game, too many websites offering free upload and sales.  People will buy into it, if a big name such as Saatchi are quoted. :-( the only bricks & mortar gallery I can find is the Tallantyre in Morpeth Nortumberland, who have a few originals unsold.

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by Norrette Moore

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Tony Auffret

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Thank you Norette.  I had some fun looking up Saatchi Art, owned by Leaf Group Ltd (seemingly a US company not to be confused with The Leaf Group Ltd, a now dissolved UK company) which was formerly known as Demand Media, Inc, acquired a couple of years ago by Graham Holdings, formerly known as The Washington Post Company.  At that point I gave up, I should have stuck with your phrase 'Elaborate selling game'.  Perhaps, not surprisingly, they are failing the people who, presumably, pay to have their art listed and hence resort to underhand activities like spamming free sites like POL.

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by Tony Auffret

With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, Napa

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In passing, someone tried to convince a committee I served on, evaluating artworks, that the artist had to be good, because he was on the Saatchi online gallery.  "So am I", I sniffed.  (I only have one piece there; not sure even if it's still there, but I couldn't be bothered to persist with it.)  And no one said "oh, well he MUST be good, then!".  To be honest, even I didn't think that....  There are thousands, tens of thousands of artists world-wide, trying to flog their works, inhabiting any number of online galleries: and there's such a thing as trying TOO hard, when middle-men and agents try to make money from other people's work and gain self-defeating free advertising for it.  If I were the artist in this case, I'd want them to pack it in. 

Alan Bickley

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I’m also represented by Saatchi Online, but I don’t have many paintings for sale on their site at present!  In actual fact, I’ve found Artfinder to be a much better sales platform for my style of work…
meprofile

Gary Martin

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I’m also represented by Saatchi Online, but I don’t have many paintings for sale on their site at present!  In actual fact, I’ve found Artfinder to be a much better sales platform for my style of work…
Alan Bickley on 07/04/2024 19:39:32
Aah that's interesting to know. I've been looking at all the online galleries recently trying to decide whether to try them or not. I do remember Noel Fielding was (maybe still is) on Saatchi online. 
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