Nino Mier Gallery, a fast-expanding operation with spaces in Los Angeles, New York, and Brussels, underpaid some artists that it showed, according to a new investigation published by the Art Newspaper on Tuesday.
Julia Halperin reports that documents dated to 2018 and 2019 show that some artists were underpaid by anywhere between 20 percent and 54 percent. Her article centered around transactions involving works by multiple artists, four of which were named: Jana Schröder, Andreas Breunig, Thomas Wachholz, and Louise Bonnet.
Bonnet, a painter who showed at the 2022 Venice Biennale and is now represented by Gagosian and Galerie Max Hetzler, was the only one of the artists who commented to the Art Newspaper. She claimed that she lost out on around $4,000 during the purchase of one of her paintings through the gallery, and said, “It feels especially repulsive to be lied to, manipulated and robbed by someone whose business model relied entirely on making you believe that they cared about you as if you were ‘like family.’”
A Nino Mier representative told the Art Newspaper that the gallery would be conducting an independent review of the business’ dealings. “While we do not comment on business matters involving patrons, artists or staff, the gallery always has and always will work to resolve any concerns raised in a prompt and professional manner and welcomes open dialogue with its artists,” the spokesperson said.
Nino Mier Gallery did not respond to request for additional comment from ARTnews.
The eponymous dealer first opened the gallery in 2015 in West Hollywood; the gallery now maintains four spaces in the city. He expanded to Brussels in 2021 and now maintains two spaces there. Last year, he opened a space in Soho and then a few months later one in Tribeca, the New York gallery district which has rapidly grown in scale as many blue-chip enterprises inaugurate venues there. He also operated spaces in Cologne, Germany, from 2018 to 2021, and Marfa, Texas, from 2021 to 2023.
In 2022, Artnet News profiled Mier, noting that the dealer was “aware that you might think he’s kind of shady” because of how quickly his operation grew. “I think they assume this rise and this success could possibly have come by someone else’s hand, which is just not true,” he told Artnet. “I just know that if you take the time to get to know me, I think you would think very differently of me.”
