VANCOUVER — A sa国际传媒 artist whose work has been seen, handled and owned by millions of Canadians, is suing a gallery operator, claiming her sculptures were damaged when they fell like dominoes at a show in 2022, according to a notice of civil claim filed in sa国际传媒 Supreme Court.
Artist Susanna Blunt, whose depiction of the late Queen Elizabeth II graced Canadian coins, is suing Benjamin Lumb, who runs the Benjamin Lumb Art House, now on East Hastings Street.
Blunt, 83, created the profile of the Queen drawn without her crown, which was chosen to be stamped on sa国际传媒’s coins in 2003. Blunt filed the lawsuit following a show at a shared gallery space Lumb operated in June 2022, in West Vancouver.
Blunt alleges in the lawsuit filing that one of her sculptures was stolen from an earlier exhibition Lumb curated, and that Lumb was apologetic and promised he would pay her its value, “but to date has failed to do so.”
Neither did he make reasonable attempts to recover it, she said. Lumb failed to report the theft to police, despite a promise to do so.
Lumb said, when contacted by text, he was “shocked” to learn of the lawsuit, and said Blunt hasn’t spoken to him about any reparations.
“It’s really upsetting to me that she’s making these claims, and there has been zero communication to me.”
He said the theft of the sculpture, which he said was from a 2021 exhibition, was “super unfortunate” and “we both just chalked it up to experience. We were both devastated.”
He said he never promised to compensate her for the sculpture or to report it to police. He and she had talked to a North Shore reporter in an attempt to bring attention to the theft so people could be on the lookout for it in anyone’s home, but the story never ran.
For the loss of that sculpture and losses during the 2022 show, Blunt is seeking damages for breach of contract and breach of duty “in an amount to be assessed,” according to the claim.
The contract for the solo exhibition in June 2022 was “partially verbal and partially in writing,” and Blunt alleges Lumb breached its terms, which included handling her pieces with care, after, for example, damaging one of her sculptures by drilling a hole into it during setup.
Lumb also caused a plinth displaying one of her sculptures to fall over, which led to a “domino effect, knocking over and shattering numerous” sculptures, the claim said.
“That’s totally false,” Lumb said by phone. He said they were working on the display together when one of the sculptures fell and was damaged.
Blunt had told Lumb she would pack up the pieces, but Lumb “proceeded to carelessly and negligently” pack them himself, “causing damage to various of the pieces,” the claim said. He also failed to return an expensive blanket she used to wrap one of her artworks.
The contract was also breached by improperly installing the artworks, improperly displaying them, and failing to display Blunt’s history, biography, previous collections and exhibitions, and achievements, it said.
Lumb failed to send out invitations on time for the show and didn’t inform visitors that Blunt’s own studio would be open on request for viewing of other artwork not at the show, the claim states.
