Overview
- The lawsuit filed on Thursday, July 16, in Manhattan Supreme Court names painters Daniel Um and Nastaran Shahbazi and seeks roughly $50,000 in unpaid proceeds from works consigned between 2024 and 2026.
- The complaint lists specific shortfalls of $28,975 to Daniel Um and $21,000 to Nastaran Shahbazi and says each received only partial payments after sales.
- Um and Shahbazi allege The Hole sold their works, collected proceeds, and then used those funds to pay rent, operating costs, other creditors, or other artists instead of holding them as the artists’ property.
- The filing follows earlier signs of financial strain at The Hole, including landlord nonpayment claims for its Tribeca and Bowery spaces and a prior 2019 artist suit over unpaid sales proceeds.
- If proven, the claims could force the gallery to repay withheld funds and face statutory remedies under New York law that require galleries to segregate and remit consignment proceeds to artists.