Artists who joined the Artist Pension Trust, from left, Ruby Osorio, Amitis Motevalli, York Chang, Elana Mann, Carolyn Castano, Sandeep Mukherjee, Amanda Ross-Ho and Danny Jauregui in Los Angeles, June 21, 2021. Many artists who joined the company say they worry about the works the entrusted to it. Rozette Rago/The New York Times.
by Robin Pogrebin and Siddhartha Mitter
NEW YORK
(NYT NEWS SERVICE)
.- It began as a worthy experiment: a fund to create some rare financial security for artists by having them pool their paintings and sculptures and sell the work years later when it had appreciated in value. Everyone would share in the proceeds. A for-profit company, the Artist Pension Trust, hatched the idea in 2004 and promised to store, insure and market the works in exchange for a cut of the revenue. The venture got off to a promising start, fueled by the involvement of art world luminaries like the former Whitney Museum director David Ross and well-regarded curators who recruited emerging artists from around the world. Over time, the company gathered more than 13,000 artworks from 2,000 artists in 75 countries, with an insured value of at least $70 million as of 2013, according to company records. But dozens of the artists now say they have deep concerns about the company. It sold very little of their art, they say, made only two rounds of small payouts several years ago and sought ... More