ART SHOW SCAM

CONDUCTED BY (ALIAS) CHRISTOPHER J. GERVAIS or

CHRISTOPHER GERVASI (of the same address)

AND HIS COMPANY WILDLIFE ART SHOWS

 

I, along with artists across the United States and Canada have fell victim to an art show scam.  A man who calls himself  Christopher J. Gervais of Wildlife Art Shows sends out a call for entry inviting artists across the country to apply for a  prestigious juried art show which is  to be  held in a well-known, elaborate venue in their area.  Although advertised as “juried”, anyone who pays the fee is in.  After having each artist pre-pay for their spot in the expected venue, either the venue is changed to a smaller venue that doesn’t require much of a rental price, such as school gymnasium, or it is cancelled all together with numerous reasons why and he does not return anyone’s money. 

 

One of his websites, www.wildlifeartshows.com/,  (which has now been revamped) – proudly advertises that he is the businessman/show promoter, of shows across the US and now Canada. (please see list).  Looking at the shows advertised, one may think that he is a very busy man and knows what he’s doing when it comes to organizing and promoting wildlife art shows.  Most of the shows advertised are actually not his and in fact, no one has heard of this man – it has been noted that he may also go by other alias such as Troy Marsh, or Gervais Art Shows, Southwest Florida Arts Shows or Palmetto Art Shows. 

 

The contract the artist receives clearly lists the larger, more elaborate location as the venue which is what the artist thinks he/she has paid for.  It also reads that “no changes shall be made to the contract unless agreed by and signed by both parties”.  By changing the venue it is a breach of contract.  When the venue for the show I was booked in changed, I wrote a letter reminding him that by changing the venue on my contract is actually a breach of contract and asked for my money back.  He ignored that fact and persisted that “collectors decision to attend is not based on a so-called glamorous location.”  My question then would be, why sell the artist the glamorous location?  Because we know that location and presentation has a lot to do with a successful show? 

 

When a Canadian artist blew the whistle on Mr. Gervais, investigations into his actions increased and people were catching up with his scam.  The BC show, which is the one I was booked for, was first scheduled for the Abbotsford Tradex, where he never returned their contract.  Participating artists found out and his reply was that he moved the show to the Abbotsford Curling Club,  where he never paid the fee  -  when questioned –  all of a sudden all shows for 2009 were cancelled due to economic crisis and refunds will be forthcoming.  To my knowledge, to date– no one in Canada or any other artist that has caught onto his scam has received their refund – which is the second issue.  If either venue for the BC show has never been paid for….I’m wondering why the delay with refunds. 

 

As mentioned earlier I noticed his website  www.wildlifeartshows.com/ , has been revamped, showing no show history (as before), no upcoming 2010 events (as before), no links (as before)…nothing.  He also has another website - http://westernwildlifemag.com/

or westernandwildlifeartmagazine.com.  Here is advertises shows, but has changed the format, not listing a location.  “These shows seem to not only be piggybacking on other events but also is trading on the reputation of nonprofit and conservation groups.”   He has also been known to use well-established artists images without permission to promote his “shows”.   I noticed links to the cancelled shows have all been removed but the web pages are still floating around out there.  I also recently just discovered another call for entry in BC which was posted in May 2009.   The call for entry link takes you to www.bcwildlifeartshow.com/Home_Page.html.  Here it  states that the show was cancelled due to lack of interest and participation.  This was the original web page set up as the advertising tool for the show that was supposed to be in August 2009 with the call for entry in September 2008.  ?   It bewilders me to see why now half of the artists have been removed from the site but some remain.

 

I have reported Mr. Gervais and his business practices to every authority I can think of and would like to see this man stopped and every artist he has scammed refunded their money.  Mr. Gervais’ contact info is PO Box 347, Ardmore, PA, 19003, 610-896-4776.  If you are an artist and this company or so-called promotional manager has contacted you promising you space in a prestigious show, think twice before handing over your money.  For any show, really, really do your research.  A deposit seems fine, but don’t pre-pay in full – you shouldn’t have to.

 

The list below was copied directly from his website when I first became suspicious.  I placed calls to every show on the list and of all the shows that were “scheduled”  and past on the date I made the inquiries – to the best of my knowledge with the information I received, every show but one, was cancelled.

(names of people I spoke to and Associations have been removed so not to involve any innocent parties or names of Associations)

 

JANUARY 17-18  TUSCON, ARIZONA
2ND ANNUAL SONORA WESTERN & WILDLIFE ART SHOW
Tuscon Convention Center

610-896-4776 www.wildlifeartshows.com

05/08/2009 – spoke to booking, stated the show was cancelled

 

 

FEBRUARY 13-15  CHARLESTON, S CAROLINA
05/08/09 – NOT HIS SHOW -  they never heard of Christopher Gervais

 

 

FEBRUARY 20-22  MESA, ARIZONA
05/08/2009  - NOT HIS SHOW, they have never heard of Christopher Gervais.

 

 

FEBRUARY 28 - MARCH 1  SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS
TEXAS WESTERN & WILDLIFE ARTS SHOW
Gonzalez Municipal Auditorium
610-896-4776  www.WildlifeArtShows.com

05/08/09 –nothing booked – there was no show at this venue

 

 

MARCH 18-22  GREAT FALLS, MONTANA

05/08/09 – NOT HIS SHOW – and title of show is actually different

 

 

MARCH 28-29  SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA
 05/08/09 –NOT HIS SHOW

 

 

APRIL 25-26  ST CLOUD, MINNESOTA
St Cloud Civic Center  610-896-4776  www.WildlifeArtShows.com

05/08/09 – confirmed show did not take place at venue

 

 

MAY 2-3  MISSOULA, MONTANA
2ND ANNUAL MONTANA WESTERN & WILDLIFE ARTS SHOW
Holiday Inn Downtown on the Park  610-896-4776 www.WildlifeArtShows.com

05/08/09 – spoke with event  reservations, confirmed there was no show  at this venue

 

 

MAY 23-24  RED DEER, ALBERTA
ALBERTA WESTERN AND WILDLIFE ARTS SHOW
Westener Park, Prairie Pavillion Complex  610-896-4776 www.WildlifeArtShows.com

05/23/09 – spoke with event  artists from Saskatchewan and Alberta regarding this event.  Was moved to a school gymnasium, there was no advertising

 

 

AUGUST 1-2  ABBOTSFORD, BRITISH COLUMBIA
BRITISH COLUMBIA WESTERN AND WILDLIFE ARTS SHOW
Tradex Convention Centre  610-896-4776 www.WildlifeArtShows.com

05/04/09 – found out the show was being moved to the Abbotsford Curling Club, although it still had not officially been booked or paid for

06/20/09 – cancelled show and all other shows for 2009      

 

 

 

Between May and June some Canadian artists revealed Mr. Christopher J. Gervais as a scam artist and on June 15th, Mr. Gervais sent out letters cancelling all further 2009 shows and deleted all information off of his wildlifeartshows.com website.  

 

I sent a letter to Mr. Gervais explaining that I would reveal his scam on my website and report his actions to every authority possible if he did not return my money by the time the show I paid for was originally scheduled (August 1,2)…..I have not received my refund – he’s had my money since January.    

 

This seemed as easy scam as this type of show is very much needed in Canada, so turning a negative into a positive, we, Canadian artists have discussed the possibility of banding together to promote our own Western and Wildlife Shows.  Hopefully we can look forward to a successful prestigious event as such in the future - organized, promoted and attended by our own talented Canadian artists.