Multiple artists and former employees are accusing a now-dissolved London gallery of failing to pay them thousands of dollars in owed money. Los Angeles-based artist Brittany Fanning has been using social media to highlight her case against Pictorum Art Group, posting photos of the gallery's owners, brothers Jackson Navin and Matthew Navin, while demanding payment for artwork sold three years ago.
Fanning discovered during her public campaign that she wasn't alone in her struggle to collect money from the gallery. Artist Finn Johnson successfully obtained a court judgment ordering Pictorum to pay her outstanding balances, while former staff members have also reported going unpaid despite repeated attempts to contact the gallery's principals. Pictorum Art Group was officially dissolved in July, and efforts to reach the Navin brothers have been unsuccessful.
Despite describing herself as relatively new to the art world, Fanning has established herself with solo exhibitions at respected galleries worldwide since 2022. Her work has been displayed at Mindy Solomon Gallery in Miami, Steve Turner Gallery in Los Angeles, and Galerie BHAK in Seoul. She has also participated in group shows across Rome, Mexico City, and Taipei since 2018, creating brightly colored scenes of leisure settings often featuring wild animals, though her recent work has shifted to a black and white palette.
Fanning's relationship with Pictorum began in 2022 when she was initially impressed by the gallery's efforts to discover new artists and cultivate collectors. However, she was surprised by the gallery's unconventional payment structure. Instead of the standard consignment arrangement where galleries typically pay artists 50 percent of sale proceeds after a work sells, Pictorum offered a smaller upfront payment of 20 to 30 percent upon receiving the artwork, promising to pay the balance after the pieces were sold in exhibitions.
Pictorum Art Group incorporated in 2022 and operated a gallery space on Portman Square in London's Marylebone neighborhood. According to its website, the company aimed to create a comprehensive ecosystem of complementary art businesses serving collectors, artists, and corporations. The planned ventures included an advisory arm, Uma Gallery (still listed as launching in 2018), Articul8 (an art commentary platform scheduled for 2024), and Duveen & Vollard (offering logistical support). The latter company was named after Joseph Duveen of Britain and Ambroise Vollard of France, two historically significant art dealers.
Fanning received one payment in 2023 for a portion of her painting "Shark Lover" but claims she's still owed £2,640 for that work. The gallery also sold two of her paintings to a collector in Saudi Arabia, for which she received only £1,000 total. Based on the invoice Pictorum sent to the collector, which Fanning showed to reporters, she believes she's owed approximately £6,500 for those two works. "That's a lot of money to me," Fanning explained.
Matthew Navin's mother-in-law, Beldish Shergill, is also listed as an owner of Pictorum. UK government records identify Shergill as the only current director of Pictorum Art Group Limited, while both Navin brothers are listed as resigned directors of a related company called Pictorum Advisory Limited.
Legal documents provided by Jenny Thompson, representing her daughter artist Finn Johnson, reveal a court judgment against Pictorum Art Group for £8,500 (approximately $11,240). The correspondence includes emails from Matthew Navin, identified as the company's CEO, acknowledging liability for outstanding payments on two artworks. Johnson's attorneys from Keoghs Nicholls Lindsell and Harris have been pursuing the company's liquidators at Anderson Brookes.
Johnson's legal counsel expressed serious concerns about the directors' conduct, suggesting they may have engaged in fraudulent or wrongful trading before the company's dissolution. The attorneys reported difficulty serving legal papers to Shergill, noting that a person believed to be a family member told a bailiff officer they had never heard of the debtor, raising additional concerns about the director's good faith conduct.
The legal letter describes a troubling pattern where several young artists entered agreements with Pictorum, surrendered their artwork, and received no payment despite repeated promises of future compensation. Nicole Bainov, who worked as sales director for Pictorum from 2020 to 2022 on a consultant basis, is still owed three months' salary. Bainov, who brought Fanning to the gallery as a close friend, noted that Pictorum wasn't operating in a conventional manner and failed to return unsold works or make timely payments.
Another former employee, speaking anonymously while pursuing legal action, claims to be owed over £15,000 ($19,850). Despite being owed back pay herself, Bainov emphasized that protecting artists remains her primary concern. "I'm a collector myself and I want to protect the artist," she said. "Pay the artist first and everything comes after."
