Re: Sean Taylor Tribute Painting
This whole thing is very amuzing to watch. For one thing, this painting has not been on sale since April 16th. This painting was part of an art show back in January of this year. I missed the show as I was in Australia attending the funeral of my 12 year old niece. On my return I made arrangements to pick up all the artwork from the hospital by the closing date of March 21st. I was asked if I could leave the Sean Taylor painting at the hospital as a backdrop to the upcoming Redskins Reads charity event, I happily accepted. The event was on March 24th and was attended by 6 Redskins and their staff. I was approached by one of the staff and asked what I intended to do with the painting. I replied that we would like to sell it as I had a contract with the hospital to donate a quarter of all art sales which I would honor even past the art show dates. Not mentioned either was that I was going to give an extra 10 percent to the Sean Taylor foundation, a total of 35 percent. This artshow took weeks to organize so it's not just a matter of painting a picture.
I asked the Redskins rep. if the logos would be a problem and nothing was said, we just traded cards and decided to stay in touch.
I was contacted a week or so later to see what I was asking for the portrait. I stated $ 20 000 which was the price during the whole show. I was then asked if I would donate the painting to the Redskins so they could hang it at Fedex field. I said it would be a great honor but I decline the offer. I received another email a few days later saying that if I intended to sell the painting I needed to remove all Redskin & NFL logos. I then offered to loan the painting to the Skins for a set amount of time to display it at Fedex but never heard back from them. That was April16th and that was our last communication.
As far as the Moss deal went it was probably my fault not getting some sort of deposit or statement. I was approached at the same show and asked if I could get him 3 prints with a size we determined to be around 48 inches by 40 inches, these were custom Giclee prints on canvas, not just a poster. I see there were a lot of art experts who seemed to know what this costs. To set up a print like this costs around $1000, then each individual print costs for that size just over $300, the hardware to stretch them costs $150 each, then I have to pay someone to stretch them $ 100 each. The these were to be sent to Miami $600 including insurance. Then there was the 2 and a half days labor so tell me you still think the $5000 price tag is expensive, 99 percent of the art people I consulted said I was selling these way to cheap.
I gave the final price and never heard back from him, I contacted his agent and she suggested "I move in another direction with the prints" .
So now I find myself out of pocket $2650.
I was pretty mad but new I didn;t have much recourse so I just picked my pictures and brough them home.
The recent articles you have seen have arisen because I decided to bring the painting back out to display as part of the NFL kickoff. Just to make it perfectly clear , this painting is a display and is Not for sale, SAvvy Mr Admiral Brizzo. The articles came about because of local tip offs and I told my story to The Post, I was then in turn contacted by WJLA so I am not out there jumping in front of cameras, I would like to know how that bloke says I'm full of myself, what a friggin world beater statement that is.
This painting will remain a display piece and you should all go take a good close look at it and give me your honest art critique.
Oh and by the way there has benn absolutely no offer whatsover from the skins and I'm not losing too much sleep over it. I have given away a lot of artwork over the years to people I think deserve it or have helped me out in some way. I had two special prints made up to give to Chief Taylor and Jacki his fiance and they both thanked me for them. I went to a game once and my mates 8 year old kid had a half eaten Snickers bar in his hand, the Moron at the gate told him to throw it in the trash as he cannot have food in the Stadium. Seeing this kid visibly upset showed me that this is not an orgaization built around the fans, it was a few years back, but I won't attend another one.
Now if you still want to dispute this story then I give up trying to explain and this is the last time I will explain. So draw your own conclusions. I have the truth on my side
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