Supplier and curator Eric Ian Hornak-Spoutz has filed swimsuit in opposition to painter Scott Kahn, who’s accused of breaching his contractual obligations to Hornak-Spoutz by abruptly terminating an exhibition on the Phillips in Hong Kong in an effort to be part of David Zwirner’s roster.
On the middle of the swimsuit, which was filed on Monday in New York State Supreme Court docket in Westchester County, is the exhibition, which Hornak-Spoutz says was born out of an hours-long Zoom name in November 2022. Additionally on that decision have been Jonathan Crockett, chairman of Phillips Asia, and Kahn himself, in accordance with the swimsuit. The exhibition, which was meant to happen between October 26, 2023, and November 5, 2023, was to include round 50 to 60 work.
Whereas Hornak-Spoutz and Kahn by no means signed an official contract, the 2 had been working collectively, the lawsuit says, since Kahn consigned 20 works to Hornak-Spoutz. Hornak-Spoutz then bought them at Gallery 928, his area in Marina Village in Florida.
The gallery closed in 2014, the identical yr it tried to promote work it stated have been by Jackson Pollock, then eliminated the attribution following scrutiny.
Two years later, Hornak-Spoutz was arrested for promoting pretend artworks he stated have been by Willem de Kooning. He pled responsible to at least one depend of wire fraud, and was sentenced to 3 years in jail and ordered to forfeit $1.45 million.
Hornak-Spoutz claimed that he and Kahn have labored collectively extensively since 2014, with the supplier allegedly promoting dozens of limited-edition works for tens of hundreds of {dollars} and facilitating acquisitions by main establishments, together with the Dallas Museum of Artwork and the Moss-Thorn Gallery within the Schmidt Basis Middle for Artwork and Design at Fort Hays State College.
The lawsuit claims that Hornak-Spoutz would have earned a ten–20 p.c fee on every of the works on the Phillips exhibition. Kahn’s exhibitions with Almine Rech, his main gallery on the time, have been promoting out, and his market was ascendant, with Christie’s promoting a Kahn portray for a record-setting $1.43 million in 2022.
Kahn is one thing of an artwork market unicorn. In 2022, he had sold-out reveals along with his Almine Rech in Paris and Harper’s in New York. Even three years earlier, he was exceptional, dwelling in his cousin’s attic. The late painter Matthew Wong, a pal of his, championed Kahn’s work and helped carry him to the of the bigger artwork world.
Hornak-Spoutz claims that Kahn was sad with Almine Rech Gallery and allegedly requested Hornak-Spoutz to assist him discover a new main gallery, ideally earlier than the Phillips present was opened, to generate extra publicity.
Hornak-Spoutz allegedly reached out to Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, and David Zwirner, the latter of which formally took on Kahn this previous Could. Hornak-Spoutz factors out that Patricia Crockett, the spouse of Phillips Asia chairman Jonathan Crockett, is senior director of David Zwirner in Hong Kong, the place the gallery is about to a stage an exhibition by the artist in November.
In line with the lawsuit, Kahn deserted the plans with Phillips Asia, having allegedly failed to offer the agreed-upon footage, damaging Hornak-Spoutz’s relationship with the public sale home.
Hornak-Spoutz argues that with out his connections, Kahn wouldn’t have gained entry to David Zwirner. The swimsuit additionally claims that Kahn subsequently conspired with key figures at David Zwirner to chop him out of any additional dealings. Hornak-Spoutz is in search of at the least $7.5 million in damages for misplaced earnings, reputational hurt, and the alleged disruption of his enterprise with Phillips Asia.
Phillips, David Zwirner, and Almine Rech didn’t reply a request for remark by the point of publication. When requested for remark Hornak-Spoutz’s lawyer, Deborah J. Denenberg, referred ARTnews to the criticism.