He’s on FB. Why not ask the same question there?
The same kind of clearcoat used for cars you say? Would it be the same clear coat that has peeled off of every one of the cars I’ve ever owned? Interesting. Lends credence to the idea that this guy is using inferior materials.
I looked at the site and thought the artist’s work was pretty incredible. I thought that I’d kinda like to have one of his pieces myself. I’ll pass after hearing how he treats his customers.
He seems like a jerk to me. Artists are usually proud of their work and include instructions on how to care for it properly. Who wants people hanging their stuff so it looks horrible? Unless he told you ‘hang it this way, in these conditions, and clean it like this’ and you didn’t do that, I would be pissed too. (Barring outright abuse or leaving it out in the rain or something.) His website doesn’t seem to say anything about how to clean or care for it, in fact, he outright brags how enduring his pieces are are how metal will ‘last a lifetime’. That’s pretty crappy that he won’t even give you a suggestion on how to fix it, especially since you are willing to pay shipping.
I can’t even find anything on his site about what materials he uses except ‘metal and paint.’ Do you know for sure what it is made of? It does sound like he used a bad top coat.
Unfortunately I don’t think there is much you can do with this guy except calmly let him know plainly how disappointed you were with your purchase. (And tell him to get another font for his website…ouch my eyes! His color choices there are horrible, I hope his art looks better than his website.)
I haven’t seen a website of that calibre since Geocities was shut down.
Broomstick: Wouldn’t you know my luck, the paint is peeling of my new car.
Broomstick’s Friend: The hell you say. What are you going to do?
B: What can I do? I mean, I’ve kept the car clean and garaged, but the paint just peels off.
BF: Take it back to the dealer!
B: [chuckle] Oh, silly, what’s he going to do? I’ve had this car for months! If no one else has complained about peeling paint, then he’ll just assume I’ve done something wrong. Amirite?!?
BF: Yeah, I guess your right. If only car manufacturers would warrant against such defects. Too bad.
To the OP, could it be that your locale (are you near the Gulf) could have something to do with the reaction on your piece of art work?
While we are calling this “art” and him an "artist’ it’s effectively cheap, decorative modular sofa art and I’m almost willing to bet he does not do this himself, but probably has these pieces made elsewhere, and has no idea how to “fix”, much less create, these pieces which is why you are getting the aggressive pushback. I think he’s just retailing this stuff.
Look at his awful web site. He can’t even be bothered to spell check his content. I don’t get the impression there a lot of professional pride of creation going on here, and appealing to that aspect is barking up the wrong tree.
got to agree. this seems to fall more into the category of decoration
Huh - so they are.
Well, so ignore that part then - dude overcharged you by double and is laughing all the way to the bank, or you got an original but based on the info on his website, I doubt it.
Sorry you got screwed - I would still take it to an art restorer and see if they can fix it.
Further, I hope you’re not offended by the folks in this thread dissing your purchase - it may not be my cup of tea, but you obviously like it which is the important thing. FWIW, he does claim on the site that he does all the work himself and they’re all originals, although he does seem to be slipping in and out of the first and third person which is a bit weird.
Wow, what great responses (most of you :dubious:). Thanks everyone. First of all, I just want to say that I posted this on behalf of my brother. I wrote this out with all the “my brother” did this and “my brother” did that, and it turned out all the “my brothers” made the post hard to read. So I changed them all to "I"s for the sake of simplicity. Hope that doesn’t ruin my credibility. Still, makes me a good sister, right? 
I realized that the pieces are all listed at $289 too, so talked to my bro, and it turns out he bought TWO pieces from the guy. The 1st piece is the one having real issues (that’s the one I saw meself), but it turns out the 2nd piece is now starting to bubble up in the same way. Issues, man! Not cool. And also, when my bro bought them, the “artist” wrote to him to say that his equipment was broken, but he would get the pieces to him as quickly as possible. And he did. But I don’t know, perhaps something wasn’t quite right with the “equipment,” perhaps he didn’t polish the painting enough before putting the clearcoat on, perhaps he was waiting on the shipment of artwork to come in from the original artist so he could re-sell it… I don’t know. Any way you slice it, it really stinks!
Also, no certificate of authenticity or warranty was issued, nor was a warranty implied. Presumably, bro bought it directly from the artist - it was bought directly from "thee-iron-artist"s eBay account. So, whether he’s the original artist or not definitely remains in question at this point.
This was exactly my point, and my brother’s point, btw. If he was an upstanding example of independent artiste who stands behind his work, this wouldn’t be happening. My bro feels the compulsion, not necessarily to sully this guy’s name completely, but to let people who are purchasing the art know that it could look pretty crappy in a few months, and they might want to reconsider their purchase. And thanks Jules Andre, for your validation.
As far as where the pieces are located in my brother’s house: they’re out of direct sunlight (the patio is shaded, sun doesn’t rise or set on that side of the house, and it’s on the interior of the door, with no other windows or doors opposite), and very little humidity would reach it as A/C is on all the time, and it’s quite high above the door. I really don’t think that’s the issue, but appreciate your inputs nonetheless.
PunditLisa, we saw his page on Facebook. Not sure how to post something on there though without "like"ing him or friend requesting the guy (and I doubt he’d approve a friend request from me or my bro). He does still have quite a lot posted on eBay. So perhaps there’s some avenue through eBay we could pursue.
Anyway, it sounds like a hard lesson learned. Thanks a lot all of you for responding - I knew I could count on you!
On a side note, I (myself) bought a book exactly 6 months ago at London Heathrow, and when I got to page 11, the page fell out, and every consecutive page since then started falling out. The book is “The Snow Tourist” by Charlie English, published by Portobello Books. So, um, beware. 
And just one last pretty unrelated thing, Broomstick, I don’t care what you say, you’re still one of my favorite posters because you’re a lady pilot, like me.
PS - I can’t help but notice that on several occasions “thee iron artist” refers to himself as “us.” … Hmmmm :dubious: