Artist accuses dealer Reco Sturgis of withholding payments and artworks

Many artists accused art dealer Reco Sturgis (founder of New York Hugo Galerie), who closed in 2023, of holding artworks, failed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in owed funds and posing a violent threat via email and text messages.

In a reviewed message ArtnewsSturgis appears to threaten to kill a friend of an artist who publicly warned others: “She is in danger now. This bitch will die. On my mother’s grave,” he wrote.

Originally from Atlanta, Sturgis, whose whereabouts are not yet known, has named a legal process seeking unpaid sales proceedings in at least one legal process. In 2023, he was also sued by landlord Peter Weisman to avoid renting rent on Hugo Galerie’s SoHo location. Court documents filed by the New York Civil Court show that a settlement of more than $463,000 was reached, but Weissman told Artnews No payment.

Other companies, including CFG Merchant Solutions, Byzfunder, Mantis Funding LLC, DHL Express and Sutton Maddison Inc., have sued Sturgis for outstanding debts between 2023 and 2025. The accumulated damages claims in these lawsuits, as well as rent owed to Weisman and overpaid, pay more than $1 million to the artist.

Neither Sturgis nor his lawyer, Daniel Kokhba, responded Artnews‘Request for comment. In 2023, Sturgess Shout atlantahe said: “The relationships I have with artists, clients or employees are built on respect, admiration and trust.”

(Artists who make financial claims for Sturgis provide confirmed invoices, text messages and email communications in this article Artnews)

British sculptor Beth Carter started working with Hugo Galerie in 2016, saying the problem began in 2019. ”[When he closed to the galleries in 2023] He didn’t tell most artists Artnews.

She claimed Sturgis owed her $200,000 and sold several large bronzes after repeated requests for return over the year, including a life-sized Minotaur that cost her £10,000 to cast. “He didn’t pay for these works,” she said. Sturges sold several works she believed were market value.

Although Carter did not sign a shipper agreement with the gallery, she said Sturgis “regularly confirms inventory and sales records.” She eventually retrieved the remaining unsold work – back to the UK at her own expense and chose not to sue after receiving legal advice on the fees.

“For years, I saw Reco as my friend (my husband is like my husband),” she wrote. “We lived with him in his apartment in New York and he was with us in the UK.”

Carter said the extended uncertainty has left her and other artists who have worked with Sturgis “emotionally, mentally and financially hurt.” Artnews The email was reviewed, and two of the collectors contacted her for the work they claimed to have paid to Hugo Galerie but never received it.

Another British sculptor, Joseph Paxton, started working with Hugo Galerie in 2017, he told Artnews Sturgis refused to return three bronze sculptures and two drawings worth at least $70,000. He also claimed he owed nearly $10,000 in payment. “I only found Reco closed the gallery when another artist in New York recently started showing with Reco, asking me to say he had walked past Soho Gallery and saw all the galleries closed,” he wrote in an email.

French artist Patrick Pietropoli tells Artnews He is “one of the most owed artists” of Sturgis.
He said in a statement that Sturges launched Hugo Galerie in 2016 by recruiting $5,000 from several participating artists, many of whom had previously worked with him at Axelle Fine Arts until his founder Bertrand Delacroix died in 2015.

Carter is one of the artists who donated $5,000 to the gallery’s startup costs, but says Sturgis repaid her. Another artist who doesn’t want to be named Artnews They were also asked to pay the same amount, but chose not to. Pietropoli said Sturgis’ debt seemed out of control when it opened its second gallery on Madison Avenue in 2021.

Another artist who asked to be anonymous said they owe €120,000 and had been represented by Axelle before. “When Reco stopped paying and stopped communicating, our relationship began to collapse,” they wrote. They responded to Hugo’s “quick break-off” after opening his location on Madison Avenue.

While they are not directly threatened by Sturgis, the artist says dealers are “emotionally manipulating.” A friend of an artist was threatened by Sturgis after posting a message online warning people about his behavior. Share via email ArtnewsSturgis wrote to the artist: “[Your friend] Absolutely not sure about me or my business… Now she will regret putting her nose where it doesn’t belong. I will no longer tolerate it. She is in danger. This old bitch will die. On my mother’s grave. ”

Sturgis sent an email to the artist this week saying he was planning to open a new gallery in New York.
“I’ve been opening another gallery. But it’s not as easy as I thought. I’m determined that it will happen sooner or later. He offered to continue selling their jobs and proposed a higher percentage of sales to “make up some of the debts owed.”

Several artists told Artnews After Hugo Galerie closed down, Sturgis tried to continue selling his job, providing 60% of the sales, gradually repaying the money he owed.

Canadian painter Joseph Adolphe said he owed more than $30,000, and he publicly warned others via Instagram in October 2023. “Many other artists have also been forgotten, and many artists have no access to art,” he wrote. Sturgis later told him: “Please put this post down…If you damage my reputation in the art world, it will make it impossible for me to pay you.”

Send to Artnews“Of course there will never be any financial ending, but the judgment on him will be good. He is in hiding and if we can find him we can serve him and spend the day in court.”

Painter Brian Keith Stephens, who started working with Hugo Galerie in 2016, filed a complaint in New York Civil Court in 2023, claiming that Sturges owed him $40,351.50. But, Stephens said he couldn’t find Sturges because he couldn’t find him. Stephen also told Artnews Many of his works are below market value. “His message is delusional and aggressive,” he wrote in an email after Hugo Galerie closed. “He accused the artist of failure rather than taking responsibility.” Stephens never signed a shipment contract, and he said his attorneys determined that their work, prices and terms were enough to form a legal agreement.

In a reviewed group email Artnews Sturgis sent to many artists he worked with, who directed Adolphe and Stephens’ crime of homosexual terror. In a reviewed message Artnewshe posted an image of Adolphe’s daughter and named her school, which prompted Adolphe to contact campus safety. “The whole thing is a tragic document about the conspiracy of truly disturbing thoughts,” Adolf said.

French artist Benoit Trimborn told Artnews He began working with Hugo in 2016, and Sturgis owed him $22,000 because he sold three pieces. He said he tried to get Sturgis to sign a shipper agreement, but he never answered.

“He made a promise without keeping them,” Trimburn wrote in an email. “I know he abused many artists who are not debt-free, but I’m not one of them and I think I’m relatively spared compared to other artists.”

French painter Marc Chalmé says he owes $48,000 Artnews He was able to retrieve his work, but received threatening texts and videos from Sturgess. Share in one screenshot ArtnewsSturgis sent an image of a masked man holding a knife that reads “Continue to post about me shit.” Chalmé previously posted about Hugo on Facebook and wrote “The bad experience of this gallery, no sold-out shows.”

In another message reviewed by Chalmé Artnews“If I hear you continue to slander me…there will be consequences. I promise you.”

Once, Daniel Kokhba, the lawyer of Sturgis Artnews– Representatives several artists claiming that their statements constitute “infringement intervention” and “defamation.

At the time of writing, Hugo Galerie and its online branch Sturgis Art Gallery’s social media pages remain active – although they have not posted since April and March.