I couldn't find much on them, and even their own website doesn't provide much background info on them. It looks like they're been around since 2004, and that most of the artists who particpate are simply looking to bulk up their CV. The only other place online I could find with a discussion regarding their legitimacy is the Het Nederlands Kunstenaars Forum. After translating the conversation in chunks (the website forces itself out of frames, which are used by Google and Babelfish translators), it seemed that people were in agreement that they're a small-time website which just wasn't worth the entry fee.

She said there is no written proposal or agreement and has never been asked for one even when 'Motherwell was commissioned by her company a $1. M piece for the lobby at the GE HQ in Fairfield CT, there wasn't such formality',

I don't know any company who would commission a piece of artwork at $1M without a contract. It's just not good business. Even if this is the real deal, Trimper obviously does not handle herself professionally. Practice safe sales with a contract!

Whether legitimate or not, the folks at ATcultura are persistent. I received my third email from them today (first one in early November, second one in mid-November) , and the persistence makes me more suspicious of their legitimacy. Search results for ATcultura continue to be inconclusive, with a red herring being their name showing in the resumes of many artists who have profiles with artist directories (and in few other places). Why a red herring? Because these artists are the easiest targets for scammers (like fish in a barrel). Proceed with caution!

Subject: Your incorporation in Book of Contemporary Art.
From: director@atcultura.com
Córdoba, Argentine.
March of 2008.

Dear artist Julianna Yau

Once informed about the characteristics of your work, we will consider your possible inclusion in the book named “La Estética y el Arte Contemporáneo” published by ATcultura, being the book of huge format, art-gallery quality with full colour images and texts in English and Spanish. The selection was based upon quality and origin as in previous publications by ATcultura: “Arte Iberoamericano Contemporáneo" (Contemporary Latin-American Art), www.atcultura.com with the participation of Regina José Galindo, (winner of the León de Oro Bienal de Venecia, 2005), Caio Fonseca (Bill Gates´ collection) etc; “Arte Contemporáneo Imágen y crítica“ (Contemporary Art; Image and Review), with the collaboration of the painters Pèrez Celis, Rosella Matamoros, and others.
Atcultura is sponsored by the Government formally but receives no money, that is the reason why this venture is supported through sponsors only, thus asks artists for a reasonable economic contribution. If you are interested in being part of this book, we need an immediate response via e-mail to atcultura@argentina.com so as to include you in the listing of chosen artists. Visit www.atcultura and www.atculturalibro2.blogspot.com to meet the first artists confirming their participation, and http://www.550m.com/usuarios/Ram/arte/Actividades%20culturales/arteiberoamer
icano.html in order to see the launch of the previous book.
Look forward to hearing from you.

Dipl. Ricardo Cesar Lescano Grosso
ATcultura. Director.
www.atcultura.com

Unfortunately the Ontario Crafts Council has not been able to speak with anyone directly at the show.

At this time the Council would like to highly caution members and craftspeople about this show. They are still attempting to make contact with the people associated with the show and will be providing updates on their progress.

I have done some online snooping, and found that searches for "I.V.P. Promotions" (the host of the "Toronto Art Show" website) and "The Toronto Art Leauge" to be less than satisfying. The whois record for wgt3d.com indicates that the domain name is owned by someone in Florida, and expires this June. Any updates I receive will be posted to this website. If you have any information to share, please post to the forums or contact me directly.

When we are constantly bombarded with suspicious emails from supposed galleries, agents and art fairs, it's easy to forget that financial danger to artists exist in the real world. Bloomberg covers the story of Lawrence Salander's mishandling of his gallery, and his persistence in trying to scam someone...anyone.

Lawrence Salander has just the man to save his bankrupt New York gallery.

Salander asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Cecelia Morris in a Feb. 15 motion to authorize his Salander-O'Reilly Galleries LLC to rehire him. He's proposed to help in identifying its 4,000 artworks and eventually in selling pieces whose ownership are not in dispute.

His salary was $50,000 a month running the business, which filed for Chapter 11 protection in November. Salander has asked the judge to determine what pay, if any, he merits.

I recently received a call for artists for the International Exhibit Contemporary Art "STRAPPI E FERITE", organized by Sabrina Falzone. I couldn't find much on either the exhibition or the organizers which is in English. The Google-translated version of the call can be found here, and the Google-translated version of Sabrina Falzone's website can be found here.

Here is the English call, sent by email:

The Italian Association Immaginecolore.com selected artists for the International Exhibit Contemporary Art "STRAPPI E FERITE", organized by Sabrina Falzone in the Palace Spinola di San Luca (Ars Habitat), in the centre town of Genoa (ITALY).

Concept: the violence

For the selections they can participe artists from all the world, all age, all technique: painter, sculpture,
photography, design, sketch, digital art, performance, etc...
The exhibition will be organized in the period 1 - 15 aprile 2008 in the centre town in the historique palace (it's a prestigious museum of Genoa). The vernissage is fixed for 5 avril, h. 18,00.

You must send a bio - CV and the images of yours works within 10 march 2008 to e-mail:
mostre@sabrinafalzone.info - http://www.sabrinafalzone.info

You can require the form of participation by e-mail

And the Italian version:

L'Associazione Immaginecolore.com seleziona artisti per la Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Contemporanea "STRAPPI E FERITE", curata da Sabrina Falzone nell'incantevole cornice del Palazzo Spinola di San Luca (attuale Ars Habitat), nel cuore di Genova.

Tema: la violenza

Alle selezioni possono partecipare artisti di qualsiasi nazionalità e religione, senza limiti di età, operanti
in tutti i campi artistici: dalla pittura alla scultura, dalla fotografia al disegno, dall'arte digitale alla
performance live e così via. La mostra sarà allestita dal 1 al 15 aprile 2008 nel centro storico genovese presso il palazzo cinquecentesco (che fa parte dei musei istituzionali di Genova) e verrà inaugurata sabato 5 aprile, alle ore 18.

Le richieste di partecipazione dovranno pervenire in forma completa entro il 10 marzo 2008 all'indirizzo email:
info@sabrinafalzone.info - http://www.sabrinafalzone.info

Richiedi il bando e il modulo di partecipazione via email

Subject: Mrs. Ibrahim Al-Azzawi.
From: intro dollness <enstromose@web.de>

Dear Sir/Madam,

My name is Sahira Ibrahim Al-Azzawi a citizen of Iraq ,It's my pleasure to contact you for a business venture which I intend
to establish in your country,Though I have not met with you before but
I believe one has to risk, confiding in someone to succeed some times
in life.There is this huge amount of funds which my FATHER kept in Europe before his untimely death.

Now I have decided to invest this huge amount in your country or any where safe enough outside my country Iraq for security purposes.I want you to assist me in transfering this funds
into your account for investment purposes So if you can be of an
assistance to me please reply me to my private email address: sahiraibrahim2008@gmail.com

Upon your response I will update you of the funds.

I anticipate your urgent response.

Yours Faithfully,
Mrs.Sahira Ibrahim Al-Azzawi

This scammer must be full of more sorrow than the others, because I received the same email from "her" twice (the second was sent 15hrs and 6 minutes after the first). The email is an obvious scam because it still follows the old format. The email was sent from msprisca7m@yahoo.com but has a reply-to address of camaramiss@yahoo.com.

Here's the email (spelling errors and bold formatting intact):

Dear Trusted one,

Please forgive my indignation if this message comes to you as a surprise and if it might offend you without your prior consent.

I am Ms. Prisca Camara 19 years old,the only surviving daughter of Mr david Camara from Zimbabwe.There is a proposal i would like to keep confidental with you,there is some document in my position which my late father left in my favour togther with the WILL of this fund under the course study of a Bank, And this said amount in question is $19.5M united state dollars.

As this was the money that was supposed to be used by my father for my education and setting up of a cocoa factor here in Africa. I will forward the depository documents to you in my next mail for your perusal. All I want from you, now is honesty and sincerity,this is the reason I cry unto you for Godly help to get this money out of the bank.

I await your soonest response and please consider my plight and help me out.

Thanks and God Bless,
Yours sincerely,
Miss Prisca Camara.

I received an email the other day for IACmusic.com, with the subject-line "about your music (an opportunity), please read..". This triggered all sorts of warning bells because (a) the email address is for Artifice, the mailing list I manage for arts & culture in the Waterloo Region and (b) what music?

The email starts by telling me "I heard your music and wanted to invite you to start a free artist page on our site.". Again, what music? This is a clear indication that IACmusic.com is blanketing the web with these emails.

They also tell me that "it recently got mention in Rolling Stone". A search of the Rolling Stone website via Google shows one result, and I can barely consider it a "mention". If there's another spot in which IACmusic was mentioned on Rolling Stone, it's not on their website.

The other claims made by the email are unverifiable. What, of course, I can point to is the fact that the email comes from the domain ridethekiac.com, which isn't a website. Although there doesn't seem to be a phishing URL in the email, the unsubscribe email address is ridethekiac@aol.com.

A search for iacmusic.com reviews via Google was not very helpful. Looking at their website, it seems they really are providing a service, but they obviously aren't very professional if they're making claims without references and emailing random email addresses to recruit new artists.

Here's the text of the email:

Hi,

I heard your music and wanted to invite you to start a free artist page on our site.

IACmusic.com is an indie all-star site, it recently got mention in Rolling Stone, and has been called the most innovative music portal on the web. Cashbox found the quality of music on the site so outstanding that now all content on their Indie Charts comes directly from IAC. Our traffic is huge and growing, word of mouth is off the hook, and our station set-up is years beyond any other music site. Meanwhile, our community is thriving with station managers who actively pounce on the new releases and will help promote your songs for you. Also, IAC stations will soon be available to listen to via any cellphone with our recent move into that arena.

We are about the music and indie culture. No cookie-cutters were used in the making of this site. IAC is colorful and magical, to reflect the creativity of the artists themselves. If you choose, you can sell your downloads, set your own price and you get 100% of the take. You can build digital CDs called DMDs which include the revolutionary IAC Ultrapage. IAC's dedicated support department is always there to answer your questions. Check out the site here. If you want to find real listeners, this is the place to do it.

Here's a direct shortcut to start a free page. Any additional exposure can help you get your music to the world.

Hope to hear your songs at IAC soon.

Toby, a&r - IACmusic.com

If for any reason you do not want to receive these messages, drop a line to ridethekiac@aol.com.