Tamara Bane Gallery

The Tamara and Robert Bane Gallery opened its Beverly Hills, CA art gallery (perhaps best described as a "cheesecake business" ["Sorayama Prevails Over Art Dealer, Mike Boehm, September 22, 2007, LA Times, http://articles.latimes.com/2007/sep/22/entertainment/et-pinupart22] ), in 1987, with a one-woman show of Olivia De Berardinis. Since then, the gallery has continued to exhibit soft-core erotic painting and art from the likes of Barry Masteller, Lorenzo Sperlonga and Todd Schorr.

$2.3 Million Judgment Against the Robert Bane
On September 22, 2007, Robert Bane was found to have committed fraud by illegally dumping hundreds of limited edition reproductions of artist Hajime Sorayama artwork online. Subsequently, Bane filed for bankruptcy on Oct 22. [Ari Case, Anne Riley-Katz, Nov 12, 2007, Los Angeles Business Journal http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m5072/is_46_29/ai_n21156527]

Artist Hajime Sorayama won a $2.3 million judgment awarding damages against his publisher Robert Bane Ltd. and Robert Bane personally due to Bane's failure to properly account for the proceeds from sales of 33 original paintings. The court also found that Bane was dumping cut rate Sorayama limited editions through Ebay. The United States District Court in Los Angeles found that Bane perpetrated a continuing fraud against the well known artist whose works are part of the permanent collections of the Smithsonian and Museum of Modern Art in New York. The award included punitive damages against Bane personally of $1 million and a permanent injunction against further dumping. [Hajime Sorayama wins a $2.3 million judgment, Laurin & Associates, http://www.laurinlawfirm.com/updates.html] [Mike Boehm, LA Times, http://articles.latimes.com/2007/sep/22/entertainment/et-pinupart22]

References

*Laurin & Associates [http://www.laurinlawfirm.com/updates.html]
*Sorayama Prevails Over Art Dealer, Mike Boehm, September 22, 2007, LA Times [http://articles.latimes.com/2007/sep/22/entertainment/et-pinupart22]
*Ari Case, Anne Riley-Katz, Nov 12, 2007, Los Angeles Business Journal [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m5072/is_46_29/ai_n21156527]

Footnotes