Jonathan Carver Moore says he cashed in his own retirement account to start his gallery on the edge of San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood in 2023. He has mounted strong presentations at art fairs from Chicago to Miami. But artists, collectors and dealers say he has been guilty of chronic non-payment and withholding artworks, according to an extensive report in the San Francisco Standard.
Nine artists and gallery representatives who have done business with Moore say they have thousands of dollars outstanding from the dealer, or that he hasn’t returned their work to them despite numerous requests. Seven artists wrote to Moore jointly this month, demanding payment and the return of unsold work in a letter reviewed by the Standard.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the website for Moore’s gallery was not functional.
Moore makes it a point to work with Black, female, queer, and Indigenous artists, and hosts a residency program for them, next door to the gallery, as ARTnews reported in a January profile of the dealer. He has exhibited at the Atlanta Art Fair, Arrival in Massachusetts, the High Desert Art Fair in California, the 1:54 fair for African art, and FOG Design + Art in his home city. His gallery seemed to thrive even as others in the city, like the longstanding Altman Siegel, closed their doors.
“The gallery is not a standard gallery,” Moore told ARTnews in an email today. “It came out of a place of love. I did not come from the art world. I cashed out my 401k to start a space for artists of color, queer artists, and women artists. I was and am intentional in wanting to share the space and provide opportunities to artists that are often overlooked.”
He added, “It is a financial struggle running a gallery. Unfortunately, it often takes a lot of time to receive payment from collectors and institutions—this in turn has a big impact on running the gallery as a business. This impacts artists payments, general overhead (rent, etc), deposits for art fairs and more. I wish we were more transparent in sharing how the this all works and how it has a direct effect on everyone involved.”
Concluded Moore, “I care so much about the arts community and will continue to learn the business and make things right.”
Artist Demond Melancon says Moore owes him his share of about $70,000 from art sales at Expo Chicago in April, saying the dealer won’t return his calls. (On preview day at the fair, Moore told ARTnews he had sold a number of Melancon’s works as well as pieces by Adrian Burrell.) An art handling company that installed work at the fair says the bill is still outstanding.
Artist April Bey posted to Instagram on August 4, reports the Standard, calling on the dealer to respond to his artists and to either pay them or return their work. She told the paper that he was holding on to two artworks, cumulatively worth $68,000. She deleted the post when he returned one and paid her for the other. Adana Tillman said last week on Instagram that Moore was delinquent in paying her for nine artworks.
Then came the group letter to Moore, which read in part, “It is already difficult to navigate the art world under the best of circumstances. To experience this treatment from a Black-owned gallery that publicly states its mission is to amplify the voices of underrepresented artists, including BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and women artists, is not only inconsistent with that stated mission, it’s a serious breach of the trust we placed in you.”
Oakland artist Chantal Hildebrand tells the Standard she waited months for payments, which sometimes arrived late or short, if they arrived at all. She says Moore offered a collector a discount without her consent and that a first-time collector told her that he had paid a deposit but never received her work. She tells the Standard that of 20 artists she contacted, 11 described “unanswered calls, delayed texts, or total silence” from the dealer, with some encountering difficulties having artwork returned, some reporting delayed payment, and some saying the galleries that represented them had been left in the lurch after doing business with Moore.
Bahamas artist Cydne Jasmin Coleby tells the paper that Moore acquired a painting of hers from Nassau’s TERN Gallery but never paid the $7,000. The gallery has reported the painting as stolen to the FBI, according to the Standard.
Chicago collector Kevin Poorman tells the paper he paid $8,800 for a Melancon piece and was told it couldn’t be delivered until after a museum exhibition—one he later learned had been canceled months earlier. Poorman tells the Standard he has been unable to contact Moore.
“Some of these allegations are inaccurate,” the dealer told the Standard. “I deeply care about the art community, artists, collectors, and supporters. I have every intention of making things right with the artists, but as we know, it can be a financial struggle in running a gallery.”
