Articles, News & Videos - Fine Art Advocacy®

Park West Gallery and the Art of the Con: A Silver Wedding Anniversary Celebration Turns Into the Cruise from Hell
Avery Hershkowitz first contacted Fine Art Registry in approximately August 2007, at the very beginning of our investigation into cruise ship art auctions. The first couple of articles we published...
Park West Gallery Lawsuit, August 19, 2011

Park West Gallery, Albert Scaglione and Ira Shore Reunite and Share the Art Auction Rip Off Spotlight
Fine Art Registry has been reporting on fraudulent, unfair, and deceptive art auction sales aboard cruise ships for well over four years now and the monkey business continues. You will want to...
Art News, August 15, 2011

Insurance Claim Investigation Reveals Stolen Dali Prints Sold By Park West Gallery are "FORGED" and "DEFACED"
The following story is a warning to all prospective buyers and holders of Park West Gallery Dali inventory--and especially those Park West Gallery Dali prints that are purportedly signed by Dali...
Art News, August 2, 2011

The Nuts and Bolts of an Elaborate Art Investment Scheme - Peter Paul Biro and Ex-Con Tod Volpe Hit The "Mark"
As most in the art world now know, Peter Paul Biro is suing the New Yorker magazine and its writer, David Grann, and others for defamation. This third article in our continuing series will focus...
Art News, August 1, 2011

Totally Sketchy - Worthless Dalis sold on cruises: Reports the New York Post
On their honeymoon cruise in 1998, Long Islanders Carl and Stacey Kolansky fell in love with two woodcuts by Salvador Dali. They saw them during an art show aboard their Royal Caribbean cruise...
Art News, July 31, 2011

Park West Gallery's Abuse and Financial Rape of the Richard English Family: Witness Intimidation, Lies, and the Cold Hard Truth for Park West Gallery and its Dali Inventory
Richard English and his wife, Tracey, are two more financial fatalities in a long and never ending line of Park West Gallery victims. Richard English testified at trial for Fine Art Registry...
Park West Gallery Lawsuit, July 27, 2011

Park West Gallery Propaganda - Dazzle 'Em with BS at All Costs: Does Anyone Really Buy Scaglione's Flapdoodle Load of Rubbish?
Park West Gallery must truly believe that its customers are just plain dim or altogether brainless. Perhaps they are much too trusting in the far-fetched and completely unreliable verbal...
Art News, July 23, 2011

Peter Paul Biro and His Wacky and Wild Tale of Conspiracy: or How Does One Canadian Art Restorer Fool So Many For So Long?
As promised, this is the second article in what will be a continuing series of articles on the Fine Art Registry investigation into Peter Paul Biro and company. You will recall from our initial...
Art News, July 18, 2011

Former Park West Gallery Auctioneer Penny Tyler Tells All--Rigged Raffles, Customs Violations and More: Or Teaching the Art of the Rip Off, Park West Gallery Style
Penny Tyler is a former Park West Gallery assistant auctioneer. On November 8, 2008, after being sufficiently indoctrinated at the Southfield, Michigan gallery by the fork-tongued auctioneer...
Park West Gallery Lawsuits, July 11, 2011

Peter Paul Biro Sues New Yorker Magazine: and Award-Winning Writer David Grann
BREAKING NEWS: The self-proclaimed "art authenticator" (cough-cough) Peter Paul Biro, has foolishly thrown down the gauntlet, accusing award-winning writer, David Grann and Conde Nast...
Art News, July 4, 2011

The Auction House - Know Your Risk Factors: Business of Art
In an earlier article about auction house consigning and bidding it was noted that there are several assumptions grounding the approach to using an auction house to buy or sell your art. It...
Art Article, July 4, 2011

Park West Gallery's Abuse and Financial Rape of the Szostak Family
The conclusion I came to was that I was completely swindled and that what I owned had absolutely no value.... I couldn’t breathe, to suddenly realize that I had been duped, that this was like a...
Park West Gallery Lawsuits, June 22, 2011

Art Authentication Boards: Another Element of Chaos in the Fine Art Industry
As technology takes many industries to the heights of efficiency, effectiveness and control, the fine art industry seems to be moving to greater levels of disorganization, inefficiency, and chaos...
Art Article, June 13, 2011

Art Dealers in the 21st Century - Part 2: 22/8- 22 Dealers in 8 weeks
The round up of players and their roles below is not meant to pinpoint any required activities or responsibilities. It is a quasi-representation of who does what in the creating, selling...
Art Article, May 31, 2011

BUSTED (AGAIN!) Park West Gallery Sues its Insurer for Bad Faith? Shouldn't it be the Other Way Around?
The Pot Calling the Kettle Black? Is Scaglione’s latest lawsuit against his insurer, the proverbial pot calling the kettle black or what? Who is really acting in bad faith here? Before we answer...
Park West Gallery Lawsuits, May 26, 2011

Park West Gallery's Financial Rape of the Vallillo Family: The Passionate and Emotional Trial Testimony of Mike Vallillo
Q. Sir, in your opinion, do you believe that Park West is engaged in unethical conduct? –Jonathan Schwartz, Attorney, April 2010. A. Unethical, criminal activity...they are worse than the Mafia...
Park West Gallery Lawsuits, May 25, 2011

The Madcap Trial Testimony of Bernie Ewell
"To my eye those signatures are not authentic..." --Bernard Ewell (Trial Testimony, March 31, 2010). As promised, this article will be the first in a continuing series on the Michigan Federal Court trial testimony of Park West Gallery's star "expert" witness, the Mad Hatter of the Park West Dali World, the bumbling, Bernie Ewell. The quote above is Ewell's sworn testimony regarding the half-million dollar forged set of Divine Comedy prints that was sold by Park West Gallery to Sharon Day and Julian Howard...
Park West Gallery Lawsuits, May 18, 2011

It's Official: Spain's Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation Blasts Park West Gallery: Day Divine Comedy Set NOT Signed by Dali
The following is perhaps the greatest and biggest news since Fine Art Registry announced its huge win at trial against Park West Gallery in April of last year. We are pleased to announce that the Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation in Spain has formally weighed in on the legitimacy of the Divine Comedy Set sold to Sharon Day and Julian Howard by Park West Gallery for the outrageous sum of nearly $500,000...
Park West Gallery Lawsuits, May 17, 2011

Round 2 – Defendants Park West Gallery and Royal Caribbean to Face Victims and Fine Art Registry in November 2011 Jury Trial - Park West Gallery Litigation Update #77
It has been some time since our last update as it relates to Park West Gallery and all of the related litigation that is ongoing, but it certainly does not mean that our investigation into cruise...
Park West Gallery Lawsuits, May 9, 2011

Buying Art at Sea: Don't Blame the Victim, Blame the Cognitive Schema
Starnes argues that art fraud is an invisible crime: you do not know you have been duped unless someone tells you. Yet in the response to assigning responsibility for purchasing cruise line art...
Art Article, April 8, 2011

Coming Soon on Fine Art Registry: Navigating an Unregulated Art Industry - Art Crime & Fraud - Understanding Art Authentication Boards - Appraisal Organizations - and Much More
In this new year we are working on bringing our Fine Art Registry members and readership new and continuing investigations and reports concerning the unregulated art industry, including new...
Art Article, February 15, 2011

Park West Gallery's Wacky and Zany "Dali Authenticator," Bernard Ewell: Coming Soon to a Jury Trial Near You!
It's hard to believe that we are coming up on the four year anniversary of our reporting on cruise ship art auctions. Since that time, in an effort to silence Fine Art Registry from reporting the...
Art Article, January 27, 2011

Class Action Lawyers Slam Park West Gallery in Amended Lawsuit
Since we are well on our way into the New Year of 2011, we thought it fitting to update our members and readership on the latest in the class action lawsuits filed against Park West Gallery that...
Park West Gallery Lawsuits, January 6, 2011

Park West Gallery Tightens the Refund Noose and Fortifies its Gallows: Dangerous and Wicked New Contract Terms and Conditions for 2011
Since Fine Art Registry first started reporting on the bad business practices cruise ship art auctions in 2007, Park West Gallery has frequently and significantly changed, revised, edited, and...
Art Article, January 6, 2011

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