September 17, 2023 Art Politics
Throughout the past week, there has been an ongoing feud between Gallery Owner KJ Freeman & their artist, along with an incident with The Armory art fair. With everything going on, where do we begin? This article provides dates and statements from all parties involved except Adriana Farietta, the newly appointed Deputy Director of The Armory. It is formatted to follow the date of events and approach a comprehensive outline of the recent events that have taken place.
KJ Freeman, the owner of Persona Non-Grata, formally known as Housing, established a gallery presence in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, promoting and highlighting artworks predominantly by artists of color and many of the LGBTQ+ community. Established in New York City, HOUSING’s first show dating back to May 12th, 2017; many great artists have displayed their artworks within this gallery, but who knows if some will ever display within the gallery again?
The Armory Situation
Since first introduced to KJ Freeman, she has been a thought-provoking critic of the black American experience within the Arts; they tend to display discoveries of wrongdoings within the fine art world. During the weekend of September 9th , KJ addressed her mishap with the Armory Show; during a call with KJ, they explained, “I was late for my deposit. I put my deposit in. Then, after I put my deposit in and they didn’t get the full amount, they stated through email if I didn’t send it within 24 hours or within that day, then I was going to not have my booth. When they said that to me, I had to ask them if I could get a refund; I didn’t want to participate anymore.” KJ specified that since the payment was initially late, fees were added on top, “With late fees, there was an approximate cost of around $12,000 for the booth.”
After Inquiring—– What did they respond when you said you would like a refund? KJ responded, “They said because I was accepted and I agreed to participate that I was obligated by terms with them that would accept if I put money in or if I set money that I would not be given a refund.”
Before the Armory, on June 18th KJ had been transparent on social media in needing crowdfunding to aid the repair & restoration of HOUSING by uploading a GoFundMe alongside a picture of a broken-down shack.
KJ took to their Instagram on August 7th to make a statement explaining the discord between themselves and The Armory. On August 13th, KJ uploaded to the renamed Persona Non-Grata Instagram, “HOUSING no longer exists; it has been renamed Persona Non-Grata.”
After a summer hiatus, HOUSING was scheduled to resume programming in September 2023 displayed on the galleries website. (maybe).
The Armory weekend has come around, and KJ received a call from a friend inviting them to an armory after-party since they were eating dinner next door. This event led to footage uploaded on Instagram on September 9th, 2023, of gallery owner KJ being approached by security to remove them from the event.
KJ walked us through their side of the incident; “I didn’t know that the Armory was going to be at the Edition. I went to The Edition to have dinner. I got a call from a friend while I was at The Edition stating that the Armory was having a party. I was hanging out at the Edition. I had dinner, had some food, and then I went to the front because I wanted to check out the event. They asked for my name, and I gave them my name. They asked if I had received an email from the Armory, and I said yes. Then they just gave me a wristband. I went inside. I had left within 10 minutes; I went back to sit where I was at The Edition, where I was all night. After that, I tried going back in because my friends had arrived. I went upstairs; when I tried to enter again, they said that I needed to recheck in. When I tried to recheck in, they stated that Adriana, who was the deputy director of Armory, did not want me there. I asked, can I talk to someone? I also didn’t have the ability to talk to anyone outside of email correspondence about what happened. I had asked them if I could talk to someone. They said a manager was coming down while I waited for a manager to come down. They ended up getting security to escort me off of the premises, the whole hotel. The manager didn’t come prior to the security guard. “After being escorted off the premises, KJ mentions, “I had to call the police. My belongings were still in possession of the event, and I also felt unsafe.”
Artists Speak Out #1: Alexander Richard Wilson
As this story develops, an artist named Alexander Richard Wilson also takes to Instagram on September 9th to discuss a matter between himself and the gallery owner. Allegedly, “KJ Freeman of HOUSING or Persona-Non Grata has robbed me of work and payment. She has been holding my paintings hostage in New York since February.”
Alexander refers to his solo show on display in February of 2023, Alexander’s second solo, “Arrested Warmth,” in collaboration with HOUSING. It was a highly anticipated show that received viewers from owners of other galleries and patrons of the arts.
On May 15th, Alexander unexpectedly publicly removed himself from the association & representation of HOUSING due to Instagram commentary by the owner about bi-racial artists painting dark-skinned people. Both Parties agreed this was the initial reason for separating of the two.
KJ and Alexander met before working together at HOUSING. KJ attended Columbia College in Chicago, while Alexander attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; they’ve known each other for ten years. Allegedly, the two reconnected in 2019 when Alexander was approached to display his artworks in a solo show for Housing.
Alexander’s first solo show, “Burning Butte,” with HOUSING, opened on February 11th, 2021.
Alexander relays insight about occurrences that took place after the opening of his second solo show: “Quickly after the show took place (name redacted), a well-known New York gallerist had inquired on to display my artworks within a booth for an art fair. KJ expressed concern about this situation and proceeded to advise me that this wouldn’t be a smart decision.” Alexander explains, “After years of being friends with KJ, I’ve come to trust her as an advisor.”
All artworks that are displayed through HOUSING are on consignment with the gallery, not through contractual representation, as stated by both Alexander & KJ.
Alexander also mentioned that “When I had bills that would need to be paid, I would message KJ for the previous funds that were owed to me since my show in February.”
No documentation has been provided as to whether these payments were completed.
On September 11th, Alexander posted an update to Instagram discussing the matter of unreceived payment and storage fees & references his prior attempts to contact the gallery owner to obtain his artworks prior to the “KJ Storage Sale.”
This was addressed as deformation by KJ, who claims, “Alexander has not approached me for delivery of any artworks until this Instagram event.”
Photos provided by Alexander display his perspective of conversations and payment prior to this recent upload. Please refer to the dates provided above to further understand the screenshots provided
Sale of Artworks: “Lower than Market Rate”
On September 10th, 2023, KJ announced a “KJ STORAGE SALE,” a 50-80% off sale headlining “Not every artist but you know who.” This upload resulted in many mixed opinions, with some comments inquiring about purchasing artworks and others defending the artist whose artworks were for sale. [This will be my only observation added to this article, but from what I can see from comparing KJ Studio Sales PDFs (provided by an anonymous source) compared to Artsy.com pricing shows that the artworks being offered to collectors (explicitly referencing the documents provided); prices are not displayed lower than the artist’ market value, the photos below will give you context; from what I can see the price is nearly a 400% increase.]
No further information about the sale price of these artworks has been provided. If you are a collector who purchased one of these artworks, we look forward to hearing about the price you paid!
Artist Speak Out #2: Faith Icecold
Recently, on September 11th, artist Faith Icecold has uploaded to Ancientclay.Substack their experience with the owner of HOUSING within this review, Faith mentions that she was initially advised it was a group show. Shortly after, it became a huge opportunity for a solo booth. “I only planned one or two more minor works for the group booth, so I dedicated any second I did not have at my full-time job to create artwork for a full solo booth. I never had a solo booth at any fair before.” As we already know from above, The Armory booth did not take place, and the artist’s solo opportunity was canceled.
After multiple layers of conversation between KJ and the artist, Faith came to the conclusion that she no longer wanted to be associated with the gallery. “I asked to get paid for my remaining sales and told her I no longer wanted her to represent my work.” Allegedly, “KJ changed her public tune and began to attempt to intimidate me and gaslight me. After I continued to demand for my payment, she stonewalled me completely, refusing to account for her role in losing the Armory booth and not paying me for my work. After a few days, I commented publicly on the Armory “apology” post. KJ proceeded to delete my comments, turned off comments on the post, and then blocked me.”
Within her documented review Faith recalls that this event happened prior to the unexpected renaming of the gallery to Persona Non-Grata: “A day or so later, she rebranded, changing the name “Housing NY” to ‘Persona Non-Grata,’ a phrase she heard me say a few times. ‘Persona non grata’ and ‘drapeotomanic’ are both phrases I showed KJ over the years (I have multiple screenshots of KJ admitting to this); KJ’s is just a watered-down version of my own authorial voice. She co-opts the language of Black people around her that are less powerful than her for authenticity and leverages that contrived authenticity to her wealthy white and non-black audience. She thinks this makes her bulletproof and beyond reproach. I am still blocked by KJ; I suspect this is because she knows I have receipts and knows I will not respond to intimidation or defamation.”
Is KJ leaving the Art scene?
After all of this, KJ announced on Instagram that they would not be continuing their participation in the art scene. She shared that she is focusing on writing and film, with minor statements of the KJ STORAGE SALE proceeding to become a stand-alone project that may change into an auction or a quick point-and-sale method.
While reporting this story, I mentioned to both parties my opinion of hoping that everything could be figured out between the two of them and the other artists involved. Nonetheless, this story will continue, and if any updates come about, make sure to stay tuned to Gotham Art News.