Rhilo;3430799 said:
This is still messed up as hell. Their sense of entitlement is sickening. They have NO right to steal and sell-off Michael's stuff to line their own pockets with money. Shame on everybody including, Katherine.
BLS is BS. Michael was as close, if not more, to David Nordahl who drew him many times over. Whereas with BLS, I can only recall one painting he did of Michael, of which copies were being sold on ebay for a mint.
I think BLS's motives are pretty evident. Him trying to profit from the one painting he did of Michael compared to David Nordhal, who with his many artworks has not attempted to use them for profit. David could easily make a book with all the paintings he did of Michael.
Considering all this why the HELL would Michael gift away his entire collection to BLS, and not to David Nordhal? If Michael was to giveaway his entire collection of personal drawing to an artist, I'm sure he'd pick Nordhal over BLS. Nordhal maintained his friendship with Michael towards the very end. He was around Michael and his children, and Michael even requested him to do portraits of his kids. Who the heck is BLS? Does any of this make sense, and the fact that Michael would 'pick' BLS? IMO, BLS is a thief, and he is using Michael's family who is just as greedy to make money.
Leave the art for Michael's children. I'm hella pissed off.
There were
Edit five BLS paintings that I know of (The Book, The Lovers, The Lovers ...misty version, Friends and 'Dangerous'...the latter with Michael's eyes from the album cover) and the Brotman Centre bronze, which looks as though it was done much earlier.
I agree about DN not having capitalized on his MJ art, but this is a little different, as BLS and MJ set up this formal 'Alliance', which does not seem to mirror arrangements with any other of MJs artists. The Alliance also had an address...a house, not the hangar. The house appeared to be purchased in 1989 and was sold in June 2005. (the same year BLS sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection*)....although I am not sure whose ownership it was in all that time. (I'm not putting a reference here as it is now a private address which I assume is unrelated to MJ).
It also looked as though the Alliance was thinking of investing in an art Gallery/ chain at one point...
http://www.allbusiness.com/north-america/united-states-california-metro-areas/290094-1.html
Singer Jackson, artist Strong negotiating for control of Gallery Rodeo International.
By Cole, Benjamin Mark
Monday, February 17 1992Publication: Los Angeles Business JournalShare:More Monday, February 17 1992
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Gallery Rodeo International Inc., a publicly traded company in the over-the-counter markets, announced last week that a partnership of singer-dancer Michael Jackson and artist Brett-Livingston Strong may buy majority control in the 4-year-old operation.
Jackson and Strong, through their limited partnership the Jackson-Strong Alliance, are negotiating to buy 4.13 million shares of Gallery Rodeo, a Beverly Hills-based chain of three art galleries which has about 6.67 million shares outstanding, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A value on the bid was not disclosed. Shares traded last week in the $2.00 to $2.25-a-share range.
Gallery Rodeo reported a profit of $243,499 on revenues of $2.12 million in the quarter ended Sept. 30, according to its quarterly, 10Q filing with the SEC.
Although the company reported its sales were running ahead of last year's pace, it also said that price-cutting was needed to move product. "Due to the economic climate, the company made the decision to utilize discounting to a limited degree, to overcome resistance and stimulate sales," the company reported in its latest filing with the SEC.
Gallery Rodeo, which has galleries in Beverly Hills, Lake Arrowhead and Taos, N.M., has an exclusive agreement to sell and promote the works of Strong, a sculptor and painter.
Strong has earned headlines for such artistic successes as his large painting of Michael Jackson, which sold for $2.2 million to a Japanese buyer, and for carving a large boulder into a likeness of John Wayne's head. The boulder later fell down onto Pacific Coast Highway in a rainstorm.
Strong also sculpted a statute of John Lennon, which stood outside Los Angeles City Hall, but which since has been sold to private investors.
The Gallery Rodeo International board will shortly consider the Jackson-Strong bid for control of the company, said Stephen Thompson, 43, Gallery Rodeo president.
"We anticipate that an agreement will be tendered to the board in the next five to 10 days," said Thompson. "The terms are confidential at this time."
POstscript: The only other thing I could find out about Gallery Rodeo was this very sad story:.........
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/content/printVersion/164368/
In 1994, he thought he'd made a killer investment--Gallery Rodeo in Scottsdale, through its affiliate Gallery Rodeo of Beverly Hills, offered him prints by Brett Livingstone-Strong, an artist who often included Native Americans in his paintings. Gallery representatives persuaded Reverend Sky he could buy prints from Gallery Rodeo at a discounted price, and the gallery could later resell them for an immense profit. Reverend Sky purchased $18,400 worth of Livingstone-Strong art. He kept a few pieces in his house, then later returned them all to the gallery for resale at the request of gallery officials, he says............remainder of he story is at the link
And this business analysis showing $3.5mill losses in 1993...Edit: which includes no mention of the Alliance, indicating no involvement of the Alliance in this business ie no purchase.
http://google.brand.edgar-online.co...D=262115-5991-30371&SessionID=CTZFHeJgWDFbkl7
* Re BLS Chapter 11 filing
http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/brett-livingstone-strong