Jonathan Carver Moore says he cashed in his own retirement account to start his gallery on the edge of San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood in 2023. He has mounted strong presentations at art fairs from Chicago to Miami. But artists, collectors and dealers say he has been guilty of chronic non-payment and withholding artworks, according to an extensive report in the San Francisco Standard.
Nine artists and gallery representatives who have done business with Moore say they have thousands of dollars outstanding from the dealer, or that he hasn’t returned their work to them despite numerous requests. Seven artists wrote to Moore jointly this month, demanding payment and the return of unsold work in a letter reviewed by the Standard.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the website for Moore’s gallery was not functional.
Moore makes it a point to work with Black, female, queer, and Indigenous artists, and hosts a residency program for them, next door to the gallery, as ARTnews reported in a January profile of the dealer. He has exhibited at the Atlanta Art Fair, Arrival in Massachusetts, the High Desert Art Fair in California, the 1:54 fair for African art, and FOG Design + Art in his home city. His gallery seemed to thrive even as others in the city, like the longstanding Altman Siegel, closed their doors.
