Porthminster Gallery — Attraction in St. Ives

The Porthminster Gallery is run by David and Dee. In my opinion, both are absolute charlatans, but David must receive extra credit for being a snivelling weasel to boot. If only there were a facility to leave a negative number of stars. Why? About 13 years ago we visited the Adze Art Gallery in York run by David and Dee. They approached us and asked if we had any specific interests, to which we sheepishly replied that we were looking for an investment piece rather than any particular work by any specific artist - fully admitting that we were about as far from being art officianados as you could probably ever get. They were, of course, extremely friendly and 'helpful' and David took the lead; directing us towards a Tony Scrivener oil on canvas piece. He made a convincing case as to why this would be a good investment piece and even said that they often buy their pieces back. Therefore, we followed David's advice and purchased the Tony Scrivner painting. Cut to 13 years later and the time has come for the aforementioned painting; which has never been displayed for obvious reasons; to go. Obviously my first port of call was the Adze Art Gallery, but that doesn't exist anymore, so with the help of Google and my amateur sleuthing skills, I found out that David and Dee now run the Porthminster Gallery. I, therefore, made several calls requesting that David contact me with regard to selling the piece, but no reply ever came. Each phone call brought a new excuse from whoever it is who answers the phone, as to why he hadn't contacted me. I then sent an email, which was responded to 3 weeks later, informing me that they were sorry that nobody had been in touch but that David would contact me soon - he's always incredibly busy preparing for exhibitions apparently O.o. I responded to say that I looked forward to hearing from him and was just relieved that he was indeed too busy to speak to me as I had begun to worry that he might actually be avoiding me. I wonder if the sarcasm was noted. Quelle surprise! Yet again, the promised phone call never materialised. Unfortunately I don't DO shrinking away into the background, so it was time for me to ring the gallery...again. To my shock and awe, it was Dee who answered the phone. She knew all about my contact, saying, "Oh yes, yes, the Tony Scrivener...no...we wouldn't be interested in buying that". And that was it! No further comment. No no further suggestions or advice. Just 'no'. I went on to remind her exactly why we had initially visited the gallery and how we had come to purchase this particular painting, at which point she did offer some rather 'helpful' advice as to how "one should only ever buy art that one loves", etc. It was I who then asked whether they could actually exhibit the piece rather than buying it directly from me. It turns out that they can - for a small fee. However she could offer no advice as regards to art couriers or any particular companies that they use etc. When I then researched this myself it was prohibitively expensive to send the painting from here in the North West down to Cornwall, so it is still languishing in the attic. Absolute pair of charlatans, who have conducted...

Probably only second to Tate as a gallery in the area that has both big names and some of the best local and other artists. Been hear a few times and the staff are always friendly and knowledgable. The prices very fairly reflect the high quality of work - they are part of the Own Art scheme. A hour hour spent here is great fun, thought provoking and educational. I would have loved to own almost everything on my...

I purchased a Terry Frost print for £3,040. After their courier delivered it I found that it had not been properly mounted. I was told this had occurred before due to incorrect tape being used, but my picture was not checked. I was expected to wait five weeks before the item could be repaired and returned. Simply...