GEORGE “JO JO” MARENGO - The WORLD ART FOUNDATION (WAF) – WORLD ART EXPO 2009

[Brajanne]

I received this mail from the facebook art group "Fantastic Art" written by Christian De Boeck:


Our advice to artists is to have nothing to do with Marengo and the World Art Foundation (WAF) and World Art Expo 2009. After having his membership of this group deleted he has joined again in order to spam the group with his sales pitch for the foundation and expo. He has now been permanently banned from this group. Anyone wishing further information as to why is welcome to contact us.

What pretender Marengo has done is phish all the artists from my and other friends and their friends lists on Facebook, MySpace and elsewhere in order to send them the same standard laughable sales letter. He then, when he hasn’t even looked at your art, sends you the same insultingly stupid message: ”George Marengo wrote at 10:34pm Heiz [sic (actually, my friends name is HEINZ)], your work is amazing. I am happy to invite you to join the World Art Foundation“, when he clearly hasn’t bothered to look at your work or even spell your name correctly. (But you call this “professional”.) The bottom line is that his awards would be vanity awards with no standing in the serious art world. His magazines are also vanity publications filled with fluff pieces, i.e., thinly veiled advertorials for the party that the article is about. I would be embarrassed to be associated with such a project and no reputable established artist will be associated with it, and neither should you.”

Read the “fine print” in World Art Expo “Exhibition Rules” http://www.worldartfoundation.org/ExhibitRules.html, for example:
“1 – Accomplished artists with a limited budget but wish to exhibit. You may exhibit at the World Art Expo by sending ONE PIECE of artwork. You will receive all the proceeds (100%) if your art is sold during the expo. Unsold art, however, will be donated to the world Art Foundation’s Museum Fund*. (See more information at the bottom of this page.)”

So what incentive has Marengo got to sell your work when you have already paid an exorbitant fee (minimum $2,500 non-members $1,500 members if you commit this December) to exhibit and he gets to keep your work if it isn’t sold. This is simply criminal and scandalous.

BTW. The Hyatt Regency Irvine has been approached by several friends of mine to make enquires about the World Art Expo, which brought to light the fact that the hotel knows nothing about this event and hasn’t been booked for it. The first WORLD ART EXPO was supposed to take place this year. It didn’t…wonder why!?

And have you read this shit which, besides his bad taste, ignorance and stupidity about art and artists, reveals all the other money making scams he has in mind: http://www.worldartfoundation.org/Contest.html

To date not a single artist I now and am friends with has signed up for membership of the WAF or the WORLD ART EXPO – and if they have they will now most certainly have second thoughts.

Octavian Florescu wrote: “I checked out his website http://www.worldartfoundation.org/ and so far I found everything as being very professional, including the selection of artists. I would be happy to see more websites at this level of professionalism.”

Christian De Boeck wrote: "The website might look “professional”, so do millions of others and thousands promoting scams of one kind or another. And what “selection of artists” are you talking about? When you click on the links nothing comes up. The WAF has no members. So why don’t you show us all the way and become the first to join!?"

The facts: when I first clicked on the links to artists nothing came up, so Marengo must have got his web designer out of bed to quickly update the site with some artist’s pages under Artists, Surrealists, Masters. None of my artist friends are members of the WAF and will not be attending the WORLD ART EXPO 2009, should it take place, which we very much doubt. It’s all a thinly veiled scam to make money out naïve, up-and coming artists. Also, just by the way, none of my friends consider themselves “surrealists”, which goes to show just how much Marengo knows about art.

I had a look at Florescu’s website http://www.florescugallery.com/ and see why he might have a problem getting his work shown by a legitimate gallery. His work is the worst kind of amateur kitsch no respectable gallery would be interested in. This is the kind of shit any other artist will become associated with that is so naïve as to sign up for Marengo’s expo should or should it not eventually take place, once he has your money in his bank account.

[Brajanne]

Dear George,

I knew you would find your way to this place. One of the reasons of being a member of so many art societies in different networks is to share information: good or bad, with fellow artist, to the benefit of all artists. First I didn’t spread any lies about you or WAF. I already decided not to participate in your WAF and world expo 2009 before I received this information from the facebook group “Fantastic Art”. Because we artists have to face many frauds/bad contracts/abuse in the art world/market, we have to careful. That is the reason I opened an open discussion where everybody, also you, has the opportunity to tell his/her side of the story. I invite other artists to share their experiences, good or bad, with you, so that we can clear up the situation as it really is. If you are honest and true, this debate will strengthen your reputation and you have nothing to fear. The future will reveal the truth, as always, and also the bad or good karma of you and me!

Brajanne

[Otto Rapp]

Everyone in the Artworld would be well advised to approach this whole Marengo Circus with caution. Artists are very vulnerable to the lure of Vanity Galleries, and there are way too many schemes out there trying to make a buck out of the natural exhibitionistic tendencies of Artists.
Check my blog Bogus Art Fairs for links to relevant websites exploring the issue of Vanity Galleries and Fairs.
Cheers
Otto

[Raul Casillas]

Dear Brajanne : I just failed at downloading my text becuase I was trying to also download Art files that were to big, so I'll stick to just text for now but you may visit my website www.RaulCasillas.com for more info & Art.
I was approached by George (aka "JoJo") Marengo to join his group and Art Expo recently and I did, although it all "sounded to good to be true" and I was a bit skeptical about some issues, I still joined WAF & submited my latest Masterpiece Painting "Entanglement on the Verge of Extinction" (In my opinion at least) to participate in George's Event. Since I am also a member of Christian De Boek's group "Fantastic Art", he kindly warned me about George's Scam and his failed attempt at organizing this event last year and so forth. One of the main reasons I submitted my Art was because I noticed that WAF was going to Feature Peter Gric as an Elite Master Artist, (a very respected painter that I look up to & my other Master Artist friend Robert Venosa introduced me to his work - Robert V. also thinks that JoJo's intentions are to take emerging artist money & run... see my facebook wall comments by both ) Peter Gric wrote on my facebook wall that he Never singed or payed for membership in JoJo's WAF Group and that he was never asked to participate or be Featured as a Master Painter as George Marengo is advertising on his site and Christian has confirmed that many other artist that are advertised as being part of the Expo have also never been asked. It seems to me, judging from Peter Gric's comments, that JoJo has been downloading Art off the internet and posting established artist as involved in his expo, with out the artist consent, Jojo insist that Peter Gric emailed him his Art submission & membership request but Peter Gric has NO recollection of this ever !!! I believe Peter Gric & Robert Venosa, my most respected artist !!! Not the Business Entrepreneur !!! I keep wondering why I have never heard of George's 21 luxury magazine's, "The "best" of Orange County", the "best" of .?.... but NONE of the best of L.A. (The HEART & SOUL of the Areas Art- just look up any address of the Mega Museums & highly respected Galleries ) If you know L.A. you know "The Best" is NOT in "Orange County", but I still need to actually judge the Magazine, not by it's "luxury glossy cover" but by it's content & truth. We'll see if I qualify for a magazine in the mail with my "Best-Most Expensive Membership I purchased ".
I was born in Los Angeles, California in 1970 and I lived there for many years & still have many family there, I also worked at The Wenger Gallery in Santa Monica, CA, we represented many established artist like Arman & Herb Alpert,The multidisciplinary artist, Painter, Legendary Jazz trumpet player from "Herb Albert and the Tijuana brass" & co-owner of "A&M Records" who produces "Sting" & "Police" among many others.
For more information about my Professional Experience & Artwork please visit my website: www.RaulCasillas.com
Sincerely, Much Love, Raul

[Otto Rapp]

Raul is 100 percent correct. I had conversations with a number of artists, including Peter Gric, and I can confirm that I was given similar information. Read about Vanity Galleries in my blog, follow the links and form your own opinion.

[Aram Grigoryan]

Thank you Brajanne!

[Christian De Boeck]

Every new word Marengo writes and claims he makes just makes him and his WAF look even more ridiculous than they already do. Regarding the WAFs 2009 World Masters Award http://www.worldartfoundation.org/Contest.html “(Prizes Value + US$ 1 Million*)”. The “entry fees” range from $70 - $150 for non-members and $35 - $75. A few days ago Marengo spammed us with a “Press release” proudly proclaiming they had obtained US$45,000 in sponsorship. That amount would hardly be enough to pay the rent for a half-decent venue, let alone the “US$ 1 Million*” in prizes. So where is this US$ 1 Million going to come from: from the entry and exhibition fees he hopes to collect? I will dissect the rest of the WAFs ridiculous “Contest Rules” when I have the time. But I’ll bet they will have changed by then. Just as Marengo has been forced to change just about everything else since we began to draw attention to him and his WAF. Would you really want your work to hang next to the kitsch you see on these pages? http://www.worldartfoundation.org/ExhibitRules.html and http://www.worldartfoundation.org/Museum.html. The content of the entire WAF website is so embarrassing it beggars belief.

[Christian De Boeck]

The WAF only exists in Marengo’s mind and on the internet on facebook and MySpace:

These are the facebook "Terms of Use" of which Marengo is in flagrant violation of most:

http://www.facebook.com/terms.php?ref=pf

Prohibited Conduct

By using or accessing the Facebook Service, you represent, warrant and agree that you will not:

* send spam or any other unauthorized advertisements or solicitations through or using the Facebook Service;
* harvest, collect or use addresses, phone numbers or email addresses or other contact information (collectively "Contact Information") of users of the Facebook Service without consent from such users;
* provide any false personal information in your profile, create more than one profile, transfer your profile, create a profile for anyone other than yourself or create a page without authorization;
* use your profile (as opposed to a Page) for any commercial purpose;
* offer any contest, sweepstakes, coupon or other promotion through the Facebook Service without our prior written consent;
* intimidate or harass any user;
* do anything that is illegal, infringing, fraudulent, malicious or could expose Facebook or the Facebook Service users to harm or liability; or
* attempt, encourage or facilitate any of the above.

User Content

By using or accessing the Facebook Service, you represent, warrant and agree that you will not Post:
* false, misleading or fraudulent information;
* User Content that is threatening, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive, or that depicts nudity, pornography or graphic or gratuitous violence, or anything else that we may consider offensive.

[Christian De Boeck]

Just read this nonsense:
http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#/group.php?gid=61866347784

“THIS IS A GROUP OF GLOBAL ARTISTS WHO wish and are able to exhibit in professional expos and museums. It is the event arm of the World Art Foundation and it brings the artist and the museum together.

The Exhibiting Connection of this group is inviting a consortium of curators educators, designers, evaluators, and consultants representing museums and other cultural institutions, who will also meet at the World Art Expo in order to exchange ideas and common concerns; share resources, and inspire creativity and action in the museum field. The purpose is to provide avenues for communication and collaboration to the World Art Foundation membership to facilitate those whose wish is to exhibit their art in museums.

“World Art Foundation assists the membership to facilitate those whose wish is to exhibit their art in professional expos and museums”. www.worldArtFoundation.org.”

Let Marengo name just one serious, respectable art critic, art journal, curator or museum that will have anything to do with him, his WAF and expo.

[Raul Casillas]

Raul sends Otto Rapp Much Love for his support, I can't wait to exhibit together maybe collective, or simply just meet for positive interaction & fun.

Regarding Duality and the One:
George Marengo: can you please explain your true intentions by representing your self on facebook under two different names & profile pictures, Did you not read their small print stating that you were braking the rules of your membership on facebook, and just as I reported you, as recommended by fellow cyberfriend Christian De Boek, your other you "JoJo" had already magically disappeared, I hope you don't get into Legal trouble with them as well all at once.
And please don't write lies on my face book lies, Why are you writing to "Rob" & "Stasha" on my wall. If you refer to Robert Venosa as Rob, then let me correct you because he does Not live in L.A. like you state, he lives in Colorado.

[dawn hilton]

I have taken action to banning jojo marengo from the site to protect my members.

After googling his name I saw a lot of scamming articles.

I have seen this type of scam before and I refuse to let these people scam on my site.

I hope you all agree with my actions and I thank Brajanne and Christian for bringing this to my attention.

Be safe and enjoy art.x

Dawn.

[Raul Casillas]

I agree , I also blocked "JoJo" from my facebook friends.

[Christian De Boeck]

Whilst I am a champion of and in favour of free speech - for which I have risked my life in the country I live in - this does not include those like Marengo, who abuse this freedom. So, well done Dawn and respect to you for acting so speedily in this matter. When I can find the time I will ad more to this discussion and do my best to also make a positive contribution in guiding artists in the direction of art fairs and expos that are legitimate. I know from personal experience that even participating in legitimate art events you have to pay for can be a very risky business financially for the impecunious artist and even well established galleries, art publishers, etc., especially in the current economic climate.