Gallery foreclosure sale canceled

A foreclosure sale of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 First St., has been canceled after the lending company that set the foreclosure process in motion last month and the gallery owner, John Natsoulas, resolved the situation.

Natsoulas referred all questions regarding the notice, and the status of gallery’s financial situation, to his attorney Jim Moewe.

Moewe confirmed that the foreclosure situation had been taken care of, but would not elaborate on the details.

“Whatever the dispute was, or the matters were, they’ve been resolved satisfactorily,” Moewe said.

The Davis Enterprise published two unified trustee’s sale notices over the past few weeks that claimed the gallery was in default. A public sale date was set for Feb. 25 in West Sacramento.

According to the notice, the remaining principal sum of the note secured by the deed of trust is just over $1.75 million.

Under state law, the trustee, a third party not associated with the borrower and the lender must notice any foreclosure sale publicly through local media outlets.

The deed of trust is owned by a Connecticut-based firm called Silver Point Capital, which recently bought the deed from Citibank.

Natsoulas forwarded The Enterprise an email from a representative of Silver Point on Tuesday to confirm that the foreclosure process had been stayed.

“As discussed, all matters have now been resolved and the title company has been instructed to cancel all additional proceedings,” wrote Dan Cooney of Silver Point.

A third publication of the foreclosure sale notice in The Enterprise was canceled Tuesday.

Over the past year, Natsoulas has generated much positive attention for the city’s thriving art scene: masterminding a transmedia art and sculpture walk, coordinating the placement of more than a dozen murals on the sides of local businesses downtown, regularly hosting various music and art shows at his gallery and most recently spearheading a campaign to dedicate part of the downtown as an Arts and Entertainment District.

Natsoulas’ efforts have earned him a nomination by the city’s Economic and Development Commission for the “Extended Excellence in Economic Development” award for 2012. The City Council approved his nomination at its meeting Tuesday.

But the local gallery owner also has found himself on the wrong side of the news in the past.

In 2006, Natsoulas was accused of wrongfully attributing artwork to artist David Park. Earlier, the gallery owner was alleged to have forged the signature on a painting by Henry Villierme in order to represent it as work by Richard Diebenkorn.

— Reach Tom Sakash at tsakash@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8057. Follow him on Twitter at @TomSakash

The John Natsoulas Gallery sits at 521 First St. in downtown Davis. Sue Cockrell/Enterprise photo

John Natsoulas stands in front of “The Signs and Wonders of an Interdimensional Warrior” by Alex Reisfar on the Anderson Bank Building in Tim Spencer Alley during a mural walk in October 2012. Wayne Tilcock/Enterprise photo

Tom Sakash

Tom Sakash covers the city beat for The Davis Enterprise. Reach him at tsakash@davisenterprise.net, (530) 747-8057 or @TomSakash.

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