Vanity Niche Publication

To answer some questions that were sent to me: Xartistsbooks is NOT a self-publishing company meaning anyone can publish with them and the authors have to pay to get the book published. If they were a self-publishing company, it would clearly be stated as such and they would show package deal and they would publish every one. Amazon CreateSpace is an example of a self-publishing platform. Xartistsbooks is set up as a traditional and snobby publisher that picks and chooses "quality products" to publish and they are the one that pays to get the book printed like other traditional publishing company. Xartistsbooks needs the resource to print those books and need to do what it takes to sell the books that are sitting in their inventory. The question is how many books do they have in their inventory? How many books have they sold? The fact that the Artist's Prison only has one review on Amazon speaks volume on the number of books sold or anyone caring enough to write a review. And mostly, the women who were out there buying that book in the initial wave were there to get Keanu Reeves' signature. They post about it on their IG account about meeting him and getting his signature and was excited about it but their excitement has nothing to do with the actual book.

Keanu's Books

There's some confusion about Keanu Reeves' books and the publishing company xartistsbooks.

Keanu's two book Ode to Happiness and Shadows were published by Steidl, a German-language publisher, an international publisher of photobooks, and a printing company, based in Göttingen, Germany that was started in 1968 by Gerhard Steidl and is still run by him.

https://steidl.de/

Ode to Happiness and Shadows are written by Keanu Reeves and Alexandra Grant provided the arts and photos so this is considered a collaborative work and she will always milked this fact in any interview.

Xartistsbooks is the publishing company they founded and her book the Artist's Prison is published through this company and the arts for it provided by Eve Woods. I call it a vanity press for this reason. It was created to publish her own book and her “friends” books since they do not accept submission.

As for the price of Ode to Happiness and Shadows, it has nothing to do with Keanu Reeves setting it. The books are out of print so other people who own the books are selling them on Amazon for that ridiculous price. Out of print has made it a collectible item, especially last year since he became so popular.

As for him still being with Xartistsbooks or not, there has to be an official statement from him before I believe it. Since Xartistsbooks is still publishing new book and attending book fair event, it's safe to say, it's still running and more than likely Keanu is still part of it, providing money for the printing and money spent to attend the book fair.

Insight on Xartistsbooks

Here's my insight and tidbits on this PR scam and how it relates to #xartistsbooks and Keanu Reeves. Each book has two people attached to it, an author and an artist. They have to get those books printed and then go out there to sell it. The price of each book printed depends on how many book you order. Printing one book might cost $30, especially since xartistsbooks has graphics, but if they ordered 1000 copies up front, then the price for each book could be only $10. Let say that xartistsbooks has 12 different books and they are printing 1000 copies for each title at $10 each which is $120,000 (or even more if they print 2,000 copies for each book). Money used for promotion? Money on rented office space? That's a lot of money and now they have to go out there and sell each book for $30. $10 will be reimbursed to the publisher or whoever fronts the money for the publication which is most likely Keanu Reeves and $20 is the profit from each book sale. Now they will divide the profit between the publisher, the author, and the artist. From what I can see and tell, the Artist's Prison is a piece of crap, writing and artwork, thus, this PR scam and stunt come into play to make money for this publishing company. Insight? Thoughts?

I say cut your fucken loss instead of ruining your image or allowing an undeserving lunatic to gain from it.

Something is Not Adding Up

The language of narcissism and self-promotion. Her LOVE trademarked jewelry. According to this statement, the $60,000 comes from her jewelry alone, not in combination with donations and grants. As someone asked earlier, how much jewelry does she have to sell to make that much money? What kind of jewelry exactly did she sell? Necklace? Bracelet? Rings? Gold? Diamond? Silver? Are there evidence of what it looks like or how much they sold for? What was her overhead in making them? Did she deduct the overhead from the $60,000 raised? Has anyone heard of it before? When was it available? Her lawsuit with Cartier was from 2010 to 2012, so wouldn't selling any trademark "caged love" jewelry be on hold at that time? If she could have easily made money from selling jewelry, she wouldn't be needing this "girlfriend" PR stunt. It isn't adding up. If she lied about being on the board of different non-profits, I will bet that she has no problem claiming to have raised money that she did not raise. Transparency? How do we get it? Is Fulcrum require to make the amount collected public knowledge? If anyone understands non-profits and donations rule, please help us with this. What if someone who has donated to the "Love House" was to call and follow-up, will they let us know how much has been collected and if they actually received $60,000 from Alexandra Grant from her jewelry sale?

Alumni Interview

Several people sent me Grant’s interview on California College of the Arts website. Grant received her M.F.A. in 2000 from this college.

https://www.cca.edu/newsroom/conversation-alum-alexandra-grant/

 

In this interview, she called Keanu Reeves “my collaborator on artists books Ode to Happiness and Shadows,” stating that Xartistbooks “came from the real need I had to find a publisher for The Artists’ Prison.” She left out the part about movie rights, which she highlighted in the August 2018 interview on the topic of Arts, Publishing and Philanthropy and the video is available on YouTube.

This point alone, that she opened a publishing company with the man she is dating to publish her book, shows that she isn’t a feminist. Feminist doesn’t use a man to get things done, especially someone she is “dating.” Isn’t a business dealing with someone you are having sex with, to benefit yourself the definition of prostitution? She tried to change the narrative and erase what she said, but this statement was made by her and it is available for all to see and question her label as a feminist and innovative owner of a publishing house.

She also asserted that she “produced and sold her LOVE trademarked jewelry to help the Johnsons raised $60,000 for the innovation.” This is shady and seems untrue that she has raised $60,000 when not much has been done to the house. For those who wants to research and do something, call the California Community foundation and follow up on the progress of the house and how they feel that it has been over 11 years and it is still not complete. 

https://www.calfund.org/nonprofits/featured-funds/fva/2011-gallery/alexandra-grant/ 

Call Fulcrum Arts and find out how much money was given to them when the project was turned over to them, as there should have been at least $85,000. Ask how much they have collected so far and how much came from Grant selling her LOVE products. 

https://www.fulcrumarts.org/emerge/love-house/

Meme on a Fake Feminist

This is shady AF. Why won't a reporter investigate?

California Community Foundation

My private investigator did it again, found out interesting info regarding the Watts House project, leaving us with more questions than answer. She has certainly milked this project for all its worth and it is still incomplete 11 years later. Where are the money that was raised for it and the grant money that was received for it? 

In 2011, Alexandra Grant received $25,000 for the Watts House under the California Community foundation and the article in the LA Times from 2012 alludes to her raising $32,000 from selling her jewelry and she was also soliciting private donations so I’m sure she received more than the $32,000 plus $25,000 of CCF grant. The Watts House is taken over by Fulcrum and donation is still being solicited and it is still incomplete. 

This is a direct quote from the LA. Times article by Jori Fenkel, "Since its founding three years ago, the nonprofit has raised about $700,000 from donors including the L.A. County Museum of Art, the Andy Warhol Foundation and ArtPlace, a consortium spearheaded (but not funded) by the NEA." The $700,000 is for the whole neighborhood, not just Watts House, but that is a lot of money and not much to show for in term of improvement. 

https://www.calfund.org/nonprofits/featured-funds/fva/2011-gallery/alexandra-grant/ 

Lies and More Lies

Since realizing that Alexandra Grant lied about "helping found" and being a current board member of the Women's Center for Creative Work, many of you have decided to review the websites of the organizations where she claims to be a current board member. Out of the six organizations where she lists herself as a current board member, we found her on two websites, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art and Project X (publisher of X-TRA). She is not listed as a board member for 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica or LAXART, Los Angeles. The Watts House Project was taken over by Fulcrum so I check their board of director listing and she is not one of them. Links are provided below if you want to check for yourself. Link to her resume is also included:

https://alexandragrant.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/CV-Alexandra-Grant.pdf

https://www.womenscenterforcreativework.com

https://18thstreet.org/staff-and-board/

https://www.laxart.org/about

https://www.fulcrumarts.org/board-staff/

#alexandragrant #grantalexandra - an artist that will be at a solo booth at #marfainvitational an event supported by #goop #fakenews #prscam #kexandra #alexandragrantkeanureeves

Watts House Failure

A quote by Moneik Johnson, the owner of the Watts House. The quote is taken from the L.A. Times article entitlted "Watts House Project Under First" by Jori Finkel published on April 8, 2012. Broken promises and a project that has been dragging for over 11 years. If this was to happen somewhere else beside Watts, a poor predominantly black neighborhood, there would have been a lawsuit. The project began in 2008 and is now taken over by Fulcrum but Grant still brags about it as if it was a big accomplishment on her part.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2012-apr-08-la-ca-watts-house-project-20120408-story.html
#alexandragrant #grantalexandra - an artist that will be at a solo booth at #marfainvitational an event supported by #goop #fakenews #prscam #kexandra #alexandragrantkeanureeves

Caged Love Logo

The impression and energy some of us pick up from her love logo -- some see the L in the shape of snake. Someone else see the logo as a love frame in a cage. What do you see? I see and feel the energy of manipulation, something fake pretending to be love. This is what she is creating and sending into the world. This is why some of us are speaking up.

#alexandragrant #grantalexandra - an artist that has a solo booth at #marfainvitational an event supported by #goop #fakenews #prscam #kexandra

Watts House Board

Alexandra Grant still lists herself as a current board member for the Watts House project on her resume which is posted on het website. In the L.A. Times article entitlted "Watts House Project Under First" by Jori Finkel published on April 8, 2012, it clearly stated that Grant left the board in January 2011. Many of you have asked and wondered if that $32,000 raised from the sales of Love necklace and other limited-edition artworks remained with the project or Grant took it with her. Good question and I wish we knew the answer.
More lies and shadiness... https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2012-apr-08-la-ca-watts-house-project-20120408-story.html
#alexandragrant #grantalexandra - an artist that has a solo booth at #marfainvitational an event supported by #goop #fakenews #prscam #kexandra #alexandragrantkeanureeves