Georgia Straight article

Arts Notes

News from the art world

Arts Notes

Publish Date: May 17, 2007

CLOSURE LEAVES ARTISTS SCRAMBLING
Bewildered artists are wondering what happened to their work after the Art Center at 2060 Pine Street, which ran Gallery O, the Vancouver Gallery of Photography, and Revolution Press at the space, suddenly closed shop on the weekend of April 21 after receiving an eviction notice.

Toronto-based painter Hans Engel, whose work was being shown by Gallery O, told the Straight he had been negotiating to retrieve his paintings from the gallery because of a dispute over commissions when he was caught off guard by the closure.

"I started getting phone calls in the middle of the night from artists in Vancouver, saying 'Hans, there are moving trucks in the alley, they're moving out, we don't know what's going on,'" he explained in a phone call. He said he has since received a number of his paintings, but claimed he is still missing 11, worth $22,000 in total. He also claimed he is owed another $4,000 in commissions.

In a phone conversation with the Straight , gallery director Sergio Patrich confirmed the eviction. He said he was forced to leave the space in a hurry, and that he was in the process of contacting artists and returning their work.

"We've been trying to return work as we go," he said. "We were very rushed to do things, and some artists might be owed money, and I can see them getting nervous...It's not like I have money in my pockets. We're trying our best to take care of people whichever way we can."

David Haughton, who had been scheduled for an exhibition of his work this month at Gallery O, scrambled to find another way to show his paintings and etchings. Haughton, an emergency pediatrician by profession, said he was able to negotiate with the landlord to rent the former Gallery O space for a month. He estimated he has forked out about $20,000 in rent, lighting, cleaning, and repainting costs to pull the exhibition together.

Lisa Barrett, former mayor of Bowen Island, a member of the Vancity board of directors, and Haughton's former art dealer, has been helping run Haughton's exhibition since it opened May 3. "In the time I've been here I've met a dozen people, from artists to tradespeople, looking for Sergio," she said.

Patrich insisted the eviction took him by surprise and that the move was not premeditated. "I know there are some artists that are pissed off at us, but there's nothing we could do," he said. "It's not like somebody said, 'Okay, let's close down and take off.' We were forced off very quickly." He said he was hoping to relocate the gallery to a smaller space.

Before heading the Art Center, Sergio Patrich ran the Simon Patrich Gallery on Granville Street.

> Jessica Werb