Nobody likes a borrower who tries to be a keeper! Case in point: Aviva Drescher who is being sued when she borrowed art work and decided it looked too pretty to let go of!
Remember how Aviva held an art viewing party at her brand new NYC townhouse? The apartment she purportedly rented solely for the purpose of filming for Real Housewives Of New York because the co-op board at her real apartment wouldn’t allow Bravo cameras on the premises. Well anyway, Aviva fancies herself a bit of an amateur curator and went on to install other works of borrowed art! But now she likes them so much she wants to keep some of them without paying!
Matthew Satz, a Hamptons-based artist, filed a suit against Aviva for $620,500. In June 2013, Satz says he loaned Aviva 5 paintings and hung them in her Upper West Side apartment in exchange for “some exposure” presumably of the RHONY kind and now he wants his artwork back.
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The exposure apparently worked (maybe?), because Satz says that a collector saw one of his works, titled ‘Pink Smoke Painting’, and agreed to pay $50,000 for the work but Aviva won’t unhand the painting if he doesn’t cave to her demands.
In a suit filed last Friday in Manhattan’s Supreme Court, Satz says Aviva is essentially holding his artwork for ransom because she and husband Reid insist they deserve a commission on the sale of his paintings and have spent weeks haggling for one. “It’s shocking that the Dreschers stooped to the level that they had and tried to extract a payment from Mr. Satz,” the artist’s lawyer, Andrew Weinstein stated, as reported by the NY Daily News.
Satz’s attorney says that his client never agreed to any form of commission with the Dreschers, who first proposed Satz give them $10,000 in exchange for returning his art. When the artist refused, they lowered their offer to $5,000 before finally saying the artist could collect his works if he paid them $2,500 and left “two small paintings.” Are they hard-up for cash or something? Cause there’s been rumors about Reid’s business…
Avicious, of course, dismisses Satz’s claims and insults him. “The guy is a crazy artist. He works out of his basement. He’s not operating on a full deck,” she complained. She also insists the artist was supposed to pick up his works on Friday, but never showed up. That’s Aviva’s answer to everything – vitriol – because this guy appears to be a very legit artist according to my amateur research. And what’s wrong with painting out of your basement?
As a result of the paint-napping, Satz is seeking over $620,500 in compensation and punitive damages from the Dreschers. The two parties are due to meet in court – unless Aviva can unhand the artworks, I guess!
Satz’s Pink Smoke Painting, courtesy of his Facebook page.
By the way, if you recall, Aviva also hung one of Victoria de Lessep‘s paintings in her apartment – hopefully she gave it back! [Credit: Bravo]
TELL US – DOES SATZ’S SUIT HAVE MERIT? DO THE DRESCHER’S DESERVE A COMMISSION?
[Main Photo Credit: Hugh Dillon/WENN.com]
