Guest Work Agency acts for Artists REGARDING Gallery Owner charged with 9 Counts of STEALING

Image: I'm Sorry If I Was Shit, But I've Always Loved You, 2019. Jordan Kerwick. 

Guest Work Agency has been acting for a number of artists in relation to Tove Langridge, owner of TW Fine Art gallery in Brisbane. Over approximately 10 years the artists had exhibited and consigned artworks to TW Fine Art.

In December 2023, Queensland Police executed two search warrants and seized numerous artworks which had been consigned to TW Fine Art. Langridge was charged with 9 counts of stealing under section 391 of the Queensland Criminal Code, in relation to selling consigned artworks and not remitting any sales proceeds to the artist owners.

Under section 391 of the Queensland Criminal Code 1899, a person commits stealing if they “fraudulently takes anything capable of being stolen, or fraudulently converts to the person’s own use anything capable of being stolen”, and guilty of a crime which is liable to imprisonment for 5 years.   

In a recently published article in The Art Newspaper, Guest Work Agency Director and Founder Alana Kushnir explained why the charging of Langridge is significant, being one of the first examples in Australia in which police have charged a gallery owner for this type of conduct.

Langridge is due to appear before Southport Magistrates Court in Brisbane on 27 February.

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