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BUYER BEWARE! SCAM!
My brother and I wanted to purchase a few master embellished giclees by Leonid Afremov. After watching Afremov’s video, I called [protected] which was the number provided by www.afremov.com, and wanted to verify that Leonid Afremov was in fact the person painting on these master embellished giclees. I asked to speak with Leonid and it was his son David on the phone impersonating him! I was able to tell from the video on Leonid Afremov because Leonid speaks in the video. This immediately grabbed my attention and I continued to ask for Leonid. He put me on hold and his brother Boris Afremov picked up also impersonating Leonid Afremov. I insisted I speak to Leonid and was then transferred back to David who admitted they both had impersonated Leonid! This is fraudulent representation! This whole thing is extremely suspicious. I called several times and each time there was an excuse as to why I am not able to speak to the artist himself (on vacation, technical difficulties, too busy…etc.) So who is the person painting on the “master embellished” giclees? Where is Leonid Afremov? Why is he being impersonated? SCAM!
First of all, I asked to speak with Leonid Afremov EVERY single time, NOT "Mr." Afremov. I wouldn't be writing this complaint if I asked for "Mr." Afremov, and I surely would have no reason to get suspicious of the sneaky things you are doing in this company.
Second of all, "Leonid, " you say you are located in Boca Raton, FL. Your company is located in Orlando, FL. This is approximately a 3 hour distance by driving. For your day to day transactions there is no way you travel 3 hours there and 3 hours back home just to paint on giclees. I don't believe you are sent these master embellished giclees to your studio in Boca Raton, FL either because shipping costs would be too expensive.
Third, Leonid Afremov's and William Burns' comments were posted almost exactly 2 hours apart, both with spelling and grammar mistakes. Something tells me you guys are closely related...that is if it isn't the same person writing this.
Fourth, Leonid Afremov wrote up a whole response to my complaint but in his video he barely speaks English and has a translator? Interesting.
Really tired of my smart comments and nonsense? Very professional way to go about this situation let me tell you.
I would love to know who is writing Leonid Afremov's comments, and I still haven't figured out why David and Boris Afremov were impersonating him on the phone...Once again, I specifically asked for "Leonid Afremov" not "Mr." Afremov, and both David and Boris pretended to be him by saying "yes, this is Leonid." The funniest part is that David actually admitted that Leonid isn't even around, even though both his brother and he said they were Leonid Afremov.
Nobody is questioning whether Leonid is a good artist or not, that entirely depends on people's taste. But what IS being questioned is who touches up and signs these master embellished giclees? This very suspicious behavior of Leonid Afremov being impersonated is now public and I just wanted consumers to know what they are getting themselves into. Also, to respond to a consumer with "really tired of your smart comments and nonsense" should give you an idea of what kind of people you are dealing with.
This is more for the consumer to know than for you to respond with YOUR nonsense, so maybe you SHOULD stop responding.
I am not talking about the artist wanting to talk to me or not. I am also not talking about where he lives or where his business is located anymore. The primary issue here is that he is being impersonated. If they can impersonate his voice they can surely just touch up and sign his paintings as if it was him as well.
Once again, if you haven't understood the first time, the issue is that Leonid Afremov is being impersonated! I completely understand an artist needs his time, an artist needs to paint, an artist would like to be left alone, fine, but having people impersonate him to make a sale? You must be joking.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer's satisfaction.
Afremov.com sells "original oil paintings" for pennies on the dollar, so clearly they are either mass-produced or printed - but something is not right.
I got a painting from afremov.com auction pretty cheap. I resold the painting on ebay and made $200 profit. I was surprised when I got many people bidding on the painting. It took a couple weeks to receive the painting but its not a biggie, the package had tracking. A friend referred me to afremov.com. He bought a painting and got it with no certificate. He complained to the customer support of the site and got a new certificate a week later. Me and him are happy the way we were treated as customers. I ran into this site when I googled afremov. My name is Paulina Gonzalez from NYC. I saw that most people here hide their names, I don't like it. If something is true, you don`t need to hide your name.
I have been a gallery owner for for about 35 years and I have been working with Leonid Afremov for the past 7 years. Leonid is a great artist and a very honest business man. I bought and resold more than 200 of Leonids paintings. Honestly, I made pretty good profits. During my history of working with Leonid Afremov, we had some little problems, mostly with shipping. But Leonid always worked with me to resolve all the issues. He has been very flexible with me. After reading some complaints here I have to say, Leonid's company has made over 10, 000 sales online since 2005 of giclee and originals and with such amount of sales its inevitable to make some mistakes and have a few unhappy customers. Look at the big numbers and this little few complaints.
Said Leonid - Now you stated that "so many people are having bad experiences with me", but I from all these comments don't see anything that has anything to do with the quality of my art or the speed of delivery.
Rubbish.
Re: The quality - my painting came damaged.
Speed: My replacement painting never arrived.
Thus, tried to contact Leonid perhaps 100 times to receive a refund for $500.
Result: None.
He is a scam artist.
SCAM!
I bid on and won two giclees from the afremov.com site- received a confirmation email and everything. I waited weeks and weeks, but no painting appeared. I called the number listed on the site, and was told that there had been some confusion in the shipping, but that the painting was on the way. Weeks later, I called again, was given the same runaround. Two more times of this, and I was furious. I called again to tell them to forget it, but they apologized and promised me an additional painting. Its been several months now, and I never received a single thing from Afremov.
Long story short, don't bother! You'll never see your paintings!
The scammer has closed his eBay account. Don't know where they are going to pop up to scam people.
Afremovscammer, sorry to see that your are going through the same thing with this company that I did. I agree totally with everything you said, a carbon copy of what happened to me.
Just to update, the same day or next after I posted the thread above, "Leonid Afremov himself" sent me an email. I say that loosely now because who knows who was behind the send button, whether it really was Leonid himself or his son David. Anyway, he said his son David had mentioned my problem to him and for me to advise him of the exact date the above transaction occurred and he would refund straight away. I sent him the details several days later. I checked my credit account this morning and I still haven't received the refund or notification from Afrenmov that the refund is on it's way.
I find two things interesting, the first one is, Afremov could have just ignored this complaint and not sent me an email stating he would refund straight away. I was actually surprised to find and email from this company, because I thought for sure I could kiss goodbye that refund after posting my thread, and secondly, why a world renowned artists (or his son) stoops so low and pulls this kind of crap on their customers. A world renowned artist doesn't need these tactics to survive, they have plenty of talent on their own. As an artist, I held a lot of respect for Leonid Afremov as I come from a family with artists, but after this nightmare, I have little respect left.
Afremovscammer, good luck with your claim and hope it's more successful than mine was. As far as I'm concerned, I really don't want to deal with this company anymore and I have absolutely no hope of having my problem resolved.
StephJ, you will never see your money. Sorry...it's just how scammers work. It's all a very calculated process.
AFREMOV - Please pay now. You know all the people whom you owe either product to, or money. I have a list of names. Send the money. I don't know why you continue to lie. It's getting really old. SEND THE MONEY. Oh, the cheque is coming...oh here's another ### tracking number...oh there's a problem with the shipper.
Stop lying, and send what is owed. You promised, and you haven't delivered. You're organization is shameful.
I will leave the issue alone if you make good on your promises. I will try to have these posts removed. Just stop lying and do what you say you're going to do.
I purchased a print from the website and absolutely love it. My total cost with shipping was under $50 and I have no complaints about the piece itself.
I do have concerns, however, about a few other aspects of my sale which the folks at Afremov.com have yet to resolve:
1.) At the time I purchased my print, afremov.com was running a promotion in which all (auction-winning) customers were to receive a $25 gift card towards their next purchase. This card was not included in the package that contained my print so I contacted the company. I received a promt emailed response stating that my gift card would be sent in 2-3 weeks. I'm still waiting for it...
2.) I paid $14 for expedited shipping (2-3 business days) but didn't receiving the print for 10 days. When I shared this with afremov.com, I was told that they wanted me to be completely satisfied with my purchase - and that my shipping would be free on my next purchase. This was great news, but did me absolutely no good. Once a customer has been notified that they have made the winning bid on an item, their credit card is automatically charged. How in the world am I going to get free shipping if my card is automatically charged?
Again, I have zero complaints about the artwork. It's colorful, relatively inexpensive, and looks great hanging on my wall. But - the lack of follow-through from afremov's customer service department has been a disappointment. As a result, I'll probably not purchase from them again.
I too, have been the victim of a virtually identical scam as 'Afremov's Victim'. I have been promised paintings, COA's, refunds, and tracking numbers, all of which have never materialized. Almost identical right down to the 'I'll pull it off the auction right now, and it's yours for 'x' dollars'. The amount of money that is owed to me is relatively substantial, and I have not yet exhausted all of my options.
The tracking number issue is identical to my scenario, and it is clear that there are games being played with the issuing of tracking numbers. They exist one day, and are gone the next. Thankfully, the freight companies have customer care call centres, and with some crafty questioning, it's been identified that there is a definite smoke and mirrors game being played with respect to false shipping information being provided.
It appears as though, the game this company has been playing has now caught up to them, and their lies unfortunately, are much more clear to see. It's funny to see a life lesson unfold in front of you! That telling a lie, only leads to more lies, and even more lies, until you can't remember what you had originally lied about, nor what other lies you've told to cover it up. Eventually, it becomes apparent to the lie-ee, that...you're lying!
I feel sorry for the true collectors that may own actual, valid Afremov originals (not cheap foreign copies), as his reputation is being ruined. Surely, the value of his originals has taken a hit. When you type 'Afremov' in Google, 'Afremov Scam' is the second drop down selection. The same is not to be said about other 'world renowned' artists.
You will notice that 'Afremov', or friends of Afremov (ie. most of the positive posts here), will not have any legitimate rebuttal to my comment, nor 'Afremov's Victim'. It is not a road they want to go down, as there's far more evidence of a scam with my documentation, than their condescening comments can ever hope to refute. However, I would encourage an agent of Afremov Inc to comment on these posts, it makes the organization look even more hoaky, and my lawyer loves it.
I hope anyone wishing to purchase an Afremov will read these posts first, and realize that they may never recieve the painting they have purchased, and if they do receive something, it may not be what they've paid for. I have the proof. Leonid's paintings are being used as 'bait' on their website, and the 'switch' happens thereafter. It's unfortunate, as the 'originals' look very nice. It's just sad that Leonid doesn't actually paint them, and for the ones that he has painted...well, the lies have ruined them all.
~Afremovscammer
If Afremov had a strong business, his son David Afremov is f'in his business up! The lies that are told from the company are ridiculous! Besides not refunding money, they don't pay their contractors after the work is completed. There was some rumor that the business got bought by "BIG TIME" investors. Who the hell knows if this is even true hence the crap that Afremov is passing off as art why would anyone want to purchase his company? Karma's a ### and too bad they can't get their ### together.
I had problems with COA's too, but after I contacted Leonid directly I received all COA's and also free gift.
If you need here is his direct email leonid.afremov@gmail.com, don't deal with David as I know he is not longer working in the company,
david is currently working for company as per facebook video posted by them. this ismsuch a shame there are so mamy dishonest delings., I was comvinced they weremok and about to soend 500 dollars and just at last minute decidedmto check reviews. now i am too scared
I’m another victim of this company and in particular of David Afremov. I don’t know if his father is aware of the crap his son pulls on unsuspecting customers, but at least with me and with all my friends, his father has lost many fans of his artwork..
I discovered Leonid Afremov’s art work by accident and fell in love with it. I participated in a few of his auctions and won quite a few of his least expensive glicees. All well, pieces were received without any problem. My particular nightmare with this company started in Nov 2009 and after numerous emails, huge amount of phone calls and a constant fabrication of a web of lies by David Afremov, my particular nightmare with this company has not been resolved and honestly, I don’t think it ever will.
On 13 november 2009 I was bidding for a truly one-of-a-kind unique piece of art painting with a signed by the artist Certificate of Authenticity. That same day and due to a special offer I received by email from Afremov’s company, I phoned the company and spoke with his son, David. We reached a sales agreement where he would pull the painting I was interested in off the auction (I asked if that could be done and David said of course it could) and sell it to me for $252.00, at tbis point the highest bid on the painting was at $227.00. Along with this painting I agreed to buy one of the special offer paintings, the total of both transactions was $400.00.
That same evening or the next (I can’t remember) I noticed that the painting David said he would pull from the aution, was still on auction and people were still bidding. I sent David an email stating this and he answered saying that my paintings had been shipped that day. Well, when the bidding on the painting that I had paid for already finished, I noticed through the customer feedback link on Afremov.com, that another individual had won that same painting and was stating he had paid for it and to hold off on shipment as he was bidding for some more pieces of art. I spoke with David to ask what was happening and instead of David being honest with me saying that the painting had been sold through the auction and refunding me my money, David begun to fabricate his web of lies saying not worry the painting had been pulled off the aution and shipped and that I should receive soon. David’s ability to lie is really amazing.
On 16 december 2009, more than one month later, I received the above mentioned paintings and low and behold, the painting that was supposed to be pulled from the auction did not arrive, instead, I received a very poorly painted version of the same painting and of course, a Certificate of Authenticity did not come with it. I was not at all happy, specially after paying $252.00 for it. I called David to express my disatisfaction with the handling of the whole transaction and he said that due to customs he sent the certificate via post and that the painting I received was different to the one posted on the auction because they accidently posted an embellished version of the same painting and that he would send me an embellished version free of charge. So much for purchasing a truly unique one-of-a- kind painting and paying $252.00 for it!
The other special offer painting I purchased at the same time came and althought it was nice and an original, it was not the one David offered me. When I told him this he said that the painting I received was not the one he offered, it was a gift from his father to me, and that the painting he offered me had been shipped at a later date because he had encountered problems in the shipping due to the size of it, he said it was huge and weighed quite a bit.
To cut a long story short, after numerous phone calls, a bunch of lies and bogus tracking numbers provided to me, David agrees to refund my money and more lies start. You guessed it, to date I have not received the refund and probably never will. So much for 100% satisfaction guaranteed.
More than four months after the initial purchase, I have not received the COA, I have not received that huge gallery framed painting he said was sent, I have not received the “embellished version” of the painting I paid big bucks for, I have not received an invoice although I certainly did receive the charge and I’ve lost any hope of getting my refund.
I don’t care if someone at Afremov.com comes back and treats me as if I was an embecil as I have seen them do to some of the poster’s complaints on this thread. What I have stated above are facts and I can prove it. I have pictures and email correspondence between David and myself that can prove everything I say is true. If anyone wants a copy please email me on afremovsvictim@googlemail.com.
All I have gotten from David is the run around, a bunch of lies, being hung up on and being ripped off. Let me ask you something David, wouldn’t it have been a lot easier and a lot more decent to be honest with me, after all, I’m sure that the $252.00 you ripped off from me, was not going to make a huge difference on Afremov’s accounts.
I’m really disgusted with David’s dishonesty and the lack of decency in this company and have been really turned off Leonid Afremov’s paintings. I have now gotten rid of most of the gligees I purchased and I will probably throw the painting I received into the garbage can as it not unique, it’s not one-of-a-kind and it is totally worthless to me without the certificate of authenticity apart from it being a very poor version of the auctioned piece.
Regards,
Afremovsvictim
Speaking no English, this Russian-Jewish artist had to fight to get his worldwide recognition. He was born in Vitebsk, (USSR) Russia in 1955 where Marc Chagall was born. Chagall was a famous artist who founded the college Afremov attended, Vitebsk University
This is from an article online...
Because he IS Russian, because Belarus was part of the USSR at the time he was born there (it says so on his website), and anyone part of the USSR is/was Russian. It's not rocket science. . It does not say he is 'Israeli'. I don't know anything about him being Israeli.
The main problem I have is the rude responses and lies my friend in Florida recieved and the length of time it took for him to get his paintings, the length of time it took for my paintings to arrive, (I'm still waiting for another from EBAY but I finally got a tracking # so it should be okay) and my Uncle's painting which took a month to arrive. I got a little carried away granted, but I'm tired of paying for stuff that I'm not too happy with, and then finding out that there are others with the same problems and the same suspicions as myself and my friend, and they're not handled effectively, and I thought I would add my $ 0.02.
-D
I know Leonid Afremov, I bought painting in his gallery in Boca raton and I saw all his company. it is a lot of people working on marketing, promotions, office work. But the artist is only one! :) I met his secretary who type all the answers and texts from his words.
He has a a serious ebay rating. and In my opinion it shows that the whole thing is real. Come on today 21st century and artist don't need to be represented by galleries. Internet took over everything.
Afremov is not picaso or some other big artist. I 'm buying his paintings because I love them on my walls. So I don't really care who answers the emails and phone calls.
Why you call him poor Russian. As far as I know from his biography, Leonid is Israeli artist and I doubt he is poor.
his bio states he was born in Russia and lived there for mmynyears before emigrating to Israel. He is actually Belarusian
from a 'man' who has several broken english posts scattered throughout the internet. NOTE: Hey Afremov's et al: You may want to cover your tracks a little better than you have been, to anyone with a brain, the different writing styles in various forums is an obvious giveaway that 'Leonid Afremov' is not the author, and is being IMPERSONATED. I come from a 1st generation European backgound, and NO elder who that I know that moved to the US in 2001 or 2002 or whenever, speaks with such clarity as the above reply, let alone writes that way. I will soon post a full detailing of my nightmare (and a few of my friends') as well, which I will prove that this organization is not the 'reputable establishment' that it claims to be, and that the speed of delivery that they claim to have is an absolute joke, and I have the tracking numbers to prove it. Unfortunately, I STILL have not received the paintings ordered a long time ago, so I don't want to spill the beans until I receive them, but I will summarize the lies and deceitfulness of this establishment in this forum thereafter. I have yet to find any reputable physical gallery or published documentation that can verify the validity of this artist's tenure or experience. All of his identity is completely electronic based (oooooh EBAY says that he's a good vendor so he must be), and I hate to say it, but having a website, a wiki page and a video that has been created about himself, does nothing at to justify the value of any of these works. (There are several scam organizations selling product on ebay with top ratings) And the people that are 'happy' with his products are clearly happy with what they've received, but what we're talking about here is the VALIDITY of the organization and the artist). Yeah great, I was happy with my first Afremov, but when the second arrived with what seems to be a stencil signature on it, I started to poke around the internet.
The fact that the public is being made to believe that there's some poor old Russian sitting there cranking out hundreds of paintings each day (I've done the math on the number of paintings sold vs. the number of days since the business began...the power of the internet!) is dubious enough evidence that something is off. I have 3 business degrees and have operated several sucessful businesses, and I can smell b.s. from a mile away. How exactly does an artist who clearly must be working 24 hrs a day painting pictures, have time to browse complaint boards, make multiple paragraph postings DAILY in other websites (which are owned by people in this establishment)? Can someone who actually knows this man, or has spoken to him, please speak up! I have yet to speak to anyone who has told me anything other than what has been listed here. That they have NEVER spoken with Leonid, and that there is always an excuse as to why it can't happen. I can not find any evidence of this man, outside of the web. For a "world-renowned" artist, it's impossible. Geez, people really do believe what they read on a website. Especially his.
SKAT - Don't listen to whoever it is that wrote that response on behalf of Leonid. Anyone can paint an original and put a signature on it. Just like the person who wrote the reply. It will never validate WHO actually painted it.
Once again, poor mishandling of an obvious scam, in perfect English, from a 'man' who has several broken english posts scattered throughout the internet. NOTE: Hey Afremov's et al: You may want to cover your tracks a little better than you have been, to anyone with a brain, the different writing styles in various forums is an obvious giveaway that 'Leonid Afremov' is not the author, and is being IMPERSONATED. I come from a 1st generation European backgound, and NO elder who that I know that moved to the US in 2001 or 2002 or whenever, speaks with such clarity as the above reply, let alone writes that way. I will soon post a full detailing of my nightmare (and a few of my friends') as well, which I will prove that this organization is not the 'reputable establishment' that it claims to be, and that the speed of delivery that they claim to have is an absolute joke, and I have the tracking numbers to prove it. Unfortunately, I STILL have not received the paintings ordered a long time ago, so I don't want to spill the beans until I receive them, but I will summarize the lies and deceitfulness of this establishment in this forum thereafter. I have yet to find any reputable physical gallery or published documentation that can verify the validity of this artist's tenure or experience. All of his identity is completely electronic based (oooooh EBAY says that he's a good vendor so he must be), and I hate to say it, but having a website, a wiki page and a video that has been created about himself, does nothing at to justify the value of any of these works. (There are several scam organizations selling product on ebay with top ratings) And the people that are 'happy' with his products are clearly happy with what they've received, but what we're talking about here is the VALIDITY of the organization and the artist). Yeah great, I was happy with my first Afremov, but when the second arrived with what seems to be a stencil signature on it, I started to poke around the internet.
The fact that the public is being made to believe that there's some poor old Russian sitting there cranking out hundreds of paintings each day (I've done the math on the number of paintings sold vs. the number of days since the business began...the power of the internet!) is dubious enough evidence that something is off. I have 3 business degrees and have operated several sucessful businesses, and I can smell b.s. from a mile away. How exactly does an artist who clearly must be working 24 hrs a day painting pictures, have time to browse complaint boards, make multiple paragraph postings DAILY in other websites (which are owned by people in this establishment)? Can someone who actually knows this man, or has spoken to him, please speak up! I have yet to speak to anyone who has told me anything other than what has been listed here. That they have NEVER spoken with Leonid, and that there is always an excuse as to why it can't happen. I can not find any evidence of this man, outside of the web. For a "world-renowned" artist, it's impossible. Geez, people really do believe what they read on a website. Especially his.
SKAT - Don't listen to whoever it is that wrote that response on behalf of Leonid. Anyone can paint an original and put a signature on it. Just like the person who wrote the reply. It will never validate WHO actually painted it.
Hello!
The site was under construction that week, and that caused some paintings to be listed twice, there was big sign on the website stating that the site wasn't operating at that time.
Our usual response time is about 2-3 hrs, so I don't really understand where is the issue here. So please, before you accuse me of selling a giclee as an original paintings, please bring your painting to any art gallery and check if it is giclee or an original.
Now you stated that "so many people are having bad experiences with me", but I from all these comments don't see anything that has anything to do with the quality of my art or the speed of delivery.
The first ever complaint was from a person who didn't believe that I even existed, instead accused me of being a conglomerate of sweatshop workers. The second was from the person who was trying to promote another artist. And lastly, you Skat, I think you are trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill by pointing out what was already stated to be a small computer glitch. I have thousands of happy collectors who would gladly speak to my reputation as quality Artist.
Thank you,
Leonid Afremov
I have an original and some giclees won from his website auctions, and I've always thought my original looked like a giclee with some paint embellishments on it. Well, I saw my "original" come up for auction again, only instead of being a horizontal painting, it was a cropped vertical version of it. I am good with photoshop, so I put the two pictures layered over each other, and it was a perfect fit-complete down to the brushstrokes. I asked about on Friday and Afremov responded in just a couple of hours (I was impressed - Friday was even a holiday). He said it was a mistake in the image listing and and it would be fixed on Monday. That doesn't do much good when the auction ended on Saturday.
So, either someone won an auction for an "original" and got a different one than the auction showed, or it might be that the originals he is auctioning off on his website are just embellished giclees. Leonid is very talented; it's a shame so many people are having bad experiences with him.
I had a very bad experience with them to. I do not know what is happening in that company.
I own two originals and one giclee. I'm happy with the artwork, but I'm afraid my investment will be a solid loss. Deception is the name of the game at afremov.com. Trying to figure out what is an actual, original painting is impossible. Some of afremov's deceptive practices are walking a very fine legal line. One of these days he is going to get sued.
Also, the giclees are a copy of an original, and afremov.com leads you to believe that there are only 25 copies of one original painting. This is not true, they will issue 25 copies of one distinct size of the original painting, and then offer 25 more copies of a different size of the same original. This goes on and on. Now we have oil on canvas paintings, which have another 25 copies of the same original painting. If you read the above comments, this is the reason afremov.com needs warehouses.
Another thing, almost all his paintings look the same. It's repetitive painting. Leonid could turn a painting out in less than 5 minutes in his sleep. Daniel Wall would probably agree. Do you remember when Leonid was claiming to be the "founder of intense impressionism"? All of a sudden every website and wiki no longer had that description. I'm guessing there was a lawsuit, or a settlement with Mr. Daniel Wall. His and Leonid's paintings are almost identical, and I think I know who is impersonating who.
Unfortunately, Leonid Afremov is destroying his reputation. He, or one of his representatives will send out a pretty picture in a timely manner, but this is a multi-million dollar corporation, not just an artist. So this is a warning to anyone who is going to pay big bucks for one of his originals. If you like the look of the painting, then buy it. Just don't expect to get anything for it when you sell it.
Let me say this up front, I own an original Afremov painting and 4 giclees and I am very happy I bought all of them. He is an amazing artist and I love them hanging on my wall - especially the original.
I looked at his feedback on his new website (http://afremov.com/user_reputation.php?user_id=100001) and saw two feedbacks that gave him 1 star out of 5. One of them said that he ordered an original and got a giclee and that the original was up for sale again. Five minutes later, that feedback was gone and I noticed that the daily number of original paintings up for auction had dropped to 3 for today when it listed 4 this morning when I checked.
I googled the original painting he said he bought, and he didn't even win that auction, so I'm not sure what's going on there. But, I did find the drop of an original painting auction that day to be interesting and coincidental.
I have a question, if the embellishments may not be from the artist, and if the signature may not be from the artist too, isn´t it a fraud? Since he announces that everything are made by him?
My advice on both sides is the be a bit cool headed.
A copy of an artwork that's embellished with the artist's touches may not warrant response from the actual artists from complainants, where original sold works of art might. If that's the case, the company should put that disclaimer somewhere on their website. How can one go about proving that a product is original or not in this case? Verify the signature? I don't know. If anyone answered a phone saying "I am Leonid.." or suggesting such, then that was an invitation for criticism and the doubts here aren't unwarranted. I think the response that the caller was wrong to ask for "Mr. Afremov" (if he did, he denies it) and expect the artist, is silly. He's buying Leonid Afremov's product, if he asks for "Mr. Afremov" he's obviously asking for Leonid Afremov and not Leonid Afremov's brother or uncle or cousin. The expected answer might have been "he cannot answer the phone, but you may speak to his brother".
In any case, is there any qualitative difference that suggests the embellishments may not be from the artist?
Shame on you Chris Maier, you are one complaint out of many thousands of very pleased and satisfied collectors. Anyone who is familiar with Leonid Afremov's track record, via eBay, knows that you Chris are nothing more than a spoiled piece of trash. As far as who embellishes his Giclees, if it is Leonid or an artist under his direction, it really is of no consequence. It is very common practice within the community of high end artists to employ students for such work. This is why I will not pay thousands of dollars for embellished prints or giclees regardless of the original creator. Thomas Kinkade is a very good example of an artist who employs hundreds of students to do embellishing, but he is still able to fetch extremely high prices (far too high in my opinion for embellished work) for his print work. And it is of my understanding that T. K. doesn't even sell his originals, why don't you give his office a call and see if you can talk to T.K.directly. I would like to clarify that I do not know who exactly embellishes Afrmov's work, he has stated that he does, and there isn't a reason not to believe his words.
Stephanie
This is very interesting indeed.
The biggest giveaway that the Leonid Afremov website www.afremov.com is a scam is that the response to such a relativelty small complaint has been terribly mishandled.
What should have occured is an offer to the potential customer to resolve the issue over the phone/email. Not to belittle and laugh at the complaint.
This doesn't give me any confidence in buying your work, mainly because should I have any issues I might be ridiculed as you have demonstarted here very poorly indeed.
The other tell sign is that all the people oppossing this complaint are somehow artists and collectors!. How interesting that you all happen to find this complaint at the same time.
I guess Chris in response to your question of who is signing and making these paintings you only need to look at the people responding to your complaint. It seems the people painting Leonids prints are the artists who posted comments on this page, ie: William Burns, Chris Miguel and Frankie Volentia.
What a terrible public display of poor customer service. Not only did you loose a potential sale but have made a mockery of the meaning of artist.
You may be a painter, but your also a conartist aswell. Shame on you Leonid for trying to pull the wool over peoples eyes.
As the saying goes a person with a compliment will only tell one person, where as a person with a complaint will tell ten people. Or in this case thousands.
Very dissapointed.
Anton
I think mostly the scam people give no response at all. having said that afremov mob were very defensive and eventually hostile. Even in his response he/they make out it is his, persomal email given - hardly. Others have had emails seemingly coming from him . he also co tracted hi self sahing he has customer service staff, If he does all this business on his personal email he would have no time to laint. Of course he would have customer service and probably a nig department - so why nide that", 8 liked the look of his work but mow I am confused. Do kich of what is o his site sounds genuine and a sincere love of what henputs into his art - but now Iam scared to buy
I agree with Chris, completely dodgy. Most likely has a deal with a factory in China to reproduce the paintings at a low cost.
Rubbish, we all know you aren't painting on these prints.
I am confused. So you are questioning if Leonid Afremov is real, then you are questioning the address of the business and then you are insulting the family? I don't blame the Afremov's for not posting their address on the Website as they have to protect themselves from people who want to hurt their family business. I don't think certain things were purposely done in regards to the phone call, I just don't think Leonid wants to speak to many people while he is focusing on creating his art, just as an artist myself. When I am in the process of creating and a phone call comes in, many times I ignore it or let it go to voicemail because once my creativity is interupted, that's it! I can't continue.
I am sorry, but you are the who started talking about the location and expressing doubts in the first place .
Me and my sons have been reading your comments and laughing so hard, thank you for making our day! I feel like I have become three times as famous for the past few days with all the noise.
Leonid.
Copy the address below in your browser, I tried to add a hyperlink in the previous comment, but it didn't take it.
http://sunbiz.org/scripts/cordet.exe?action=DETFIL&inq_doc_number=P09000001406&inq_came_from=NAMFWD&cor_web_names_seq_number=0000&names_name_ind=N&names_cor_number=&names_name_seq=&names_name_ind=&names_comp_name=AFREMOV&names_filing_type=
Chris your rants about Leonid Afremov are getting completely rediculous. For starters why would the artist want to talk with you, that is why he has customer service reps or his family members handling the phone calls. I have worked closely with Leonid for the past 4 years and I can guarantee you that he is the real thing. Leonid does not live in Orlando, he lives in Boca Raton. He obviously doesn't want to let people know where he lives, exactly for this reason, so that crazy people can't harass him at his home. If you ever purchased anything from him you would see that they are shipped from Boca Raton or Deerfield Beach. The Orlando address on the website is an old address, and they will be added a new address to the site that things are shipped from deerfield beach. If you ever took the time to look up the address for the company Afremov Inc. which is in public records you will see that the actual company address is located in Boca Raton. Of course it wouldn't make sense if he lived in Orlando and things were being shipped from Boca Raton. Here is a link to the corporate filing
Hello, Chris.
I am really tired of your "smart"comments, insted of creating new painting I need to replay to your Nonsens.
1 Yes, I live in Boca Raton my warehouse located in Deerfield beach, Florida, and If you bought one of my paintings you would see that our return address is Deerfield beach; in Orlando is where the headquater is, we also have offices in different countries.
2. The video was made years ago, and what do you think: I live in USA almost 8 years and I run large company, and you think I don't know how to wright English? If you ever learned a second language you would have known that speaking and writing on other language are two different things where you might be good at one and not so good at the other at the same time.
So please let me come back now to my art so I can surprise my dear art collectors and fans with something new. and I am sorry If you don't hear from me anymore, I am not supposed to proof myself to anyone, you in particular.
Dear Users,
I have been collecting Afremov pieces for many years. I am also an artist. I read this comment made by this first user and it disgusts me. Its like hollywood with people harassing you all the time. I can understand wanting to know who creates your artwork, but It crosses a fine line when you disrupt an artist's creative state of mind. There is better way to go about finding out if an Artist exists than harassing him during work. Try the internet for example. I found many articals about Leonid and videos as well of his process of creating his "giclees". Every piece i have recieved from Afremov I have been FULLY satisfied with and I will continue to support his beautiful artwork. Shame on you!