12/05/2025
Not at all surprised.
UPDATE:
The gallery has fully settled the payment today. ( May 13, 2025)
Thank you so much to everyone who supported me and all the other affected artists during this time.
Special thanks to Sir Pepe Mendoza for bridging the conversation with the gallery owner, and to Badz for connecting me to Sir Pepe in the first place. I truly appreciate you both.
Hoping this helps set a better example moving forward—for fairness, transparency, and respect for artists' work.
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I’ve waited long enough, and I think it’s time to speak up.
My 16-inch Odyoboy sculpture was part of the Manila Bang Show last November through Arte Bettina. It was sold during the event.
My original artist-price was ₱75,000. They asked if it was possible to lower it, so I said ₱65,000 just to help the sale go through. I trusted that they would settle things fairly and on time. They said the artist-gallery split was 50/50, but the catalog showed something closer to 57% in favor of the gallery. When I asked about it, they said it was because of discounts and taxes.
They told me I’d be paid by the end of December.
Around December, they also invited me to do a solo show in February 2025—10 sculptures and 10 paintings. I was genuinely excited, but since I also work as a freelance animator, I asked if we could move it to September instead.
It’s now been almost 6 months, and still no payment.
A group chat was created with a gallery representative, hoping to follow up together with other artists. But even there, most of the replies were vague—no clear timelines, just promises.
My personal messages have also been ignored.
Recently, more artists, both local and international, have started speaking up. It turns out I’m not the only one. A lot of us haven’t been paid by Arte Bettina and their sister galleries.
As artists, we put so much time and energy into our work. For many of us, shows like this are our main source of income.
I was really looking forward to my first solo show. I had big ideas I wanted to bring to life. But now everything’s gone silent.
I’m sharing this to raise awareness. If you’re an artist, please be careful. We all deserve to be paid and treated with respect.
