Michelle Bello Fine Art Consulting

We give Michelle Bello the highest possible recommendation. Michelle has been our art consultant for over 20 years, offering her professional guidance to help build our personal collection. Some pieces were acquired as late as 2014. Her in-​depth knowledge of contemporary art is second to none, and she conducts her business with the highest standards and integrity. Over the years she has introduced us to both emerging and established artists whose work reflects our own passions and aesthetic. Now some of these same artists can be found in major collections and museums. We found that Michelle in not only talented when it comes to introducing her clients to great works that speak to them in meaningful ways, but she has an incredible eye when it comes to art placement and framing. It is an honor to have worked with her over the years. If you are truly passionate about art, Michelle is a found treasure. Bravo Michelle!

Be forewarned, Michelle Bello is not an honest person with morals or very good taste in art. In late April of 2014, I met with her at my home to discuss my art needs. A few weeks later, we met again at my house and she had about 10 pieces of art delivered for my consideration. I chose to keep 2 of the pieces in my house for a few days while deciding whether to buy them, which is standard procedure. I eventually chose to buy one of them and returned the other when I found mold and evidence of water/​humidity damage on the back of the canvas, which explained why the new painting was sagging on the wood frame. Ms. Bello explained to me the sagging was «no big deal» and could «easily be fixed by re-​stretching the canvas» to tighten it up. She failed to inspect the piece of art and diagnose the cause of the sagging or, perhaps, knew exactly why it was sagging, but wanted to sell it to me anyway. Whatever the case, I’m lucky I took it off the wall and moved it to another location and inadvertently noticed the mold growth all over the back of the canvas. I saved myself a lot of money since it costs 20K, which would have been wasted on a damaged piece of art that couldn’t be fixed and would have been virtually worthless, with little or no resell value. After that experience, I was leery about buying the other piece of art from Ms. Bello that had been left at my home. I did so anyway because it seemed to be in good condition and I was fairly desperate to have more art on the walls before a charity event that I was hosting at my house in a few weeks time. The piece of art that I purchased costs 15K and 3K of that amount was Ms. Bello’s commission, which was fine with me. During the month of June and early July, Ms. Bello contacted me several times about considering more art, but I didn’t do so since I was busy renovating a part of my home, traveling out of the country, and the mold incident was still a source of annoyance. I’m not sure if I would have asked for her assistance in the future, but she probably didn’t think so and, perhaps, out of retaliation, she e-​mailed an invoice to me in late July for her past consulting hours in the amount of 6K!!! I was shocked at the high price because we had only met twice for a total of 5 hours and she was billing me for a whopping 38 hours at a rate of $ 150/​hour. I knew for a fact she did not spend an additional 33 hours of her time in her office on my behalf, and when I questioned her about it, she was rude and indignant. Since she was being unreasonable and vague, I asked her to itemize the invoice and be specific about how she was billing me, which is a justifiable request since I was being asked to pay such a large amount. The invoice should have been itemized in the first place, but she refused to do so in spite of my request, most likely, because she had no way of justifying those 33 hours. Next, she threatened to sue me in small claims court if I didn’t pay up, so I made her a very generous offer of 3K for 20 billable hours of her time, which is still more than she earned and deserved, especially after trying to sell me a piece of worthless, molded art!!! Additionally, Ms. Bello charged me $ 1,720 for the professional delivery and hanging of art at our second meeting, which I had already paid in full. She also charged me $ 350 to return the used, cheap black frame that held the 15K piece of art that I purchased from her. I had not previously been told I would have to pay for its return and was not obligated to do so, but I did anyway in good faith to encourage her to be more honest and fair about settling the matter of her outrageous 6K invoice. She also charged me $ 450, half of which included the pickup of the molded art, and when I complained, she reduced that price to just $ 390. Even though that wasn’t fair to me, I sent her a check for that amount, which she has yet to cash. I suppose, she wants to be able to tell a small claims court judge that I haven’t paid for 2 of her bills, instead of just the one that we can’t agree on. At this time, the matter still isn’t resolved and we are headed for small claims court, which is infuriating to me because it is a huge, unnecessary waste of my time that is a result of her greed and bad judgement. Long story short, do yourself a favor and consider my experience as a cautionary tale, because if you employ Michelle Bello, you may find yourself at the receiving end of her sloppy accounting, price gouging, moldy art, mediocre talent, and overly litigious nature. I wish someone had warned me about her.