Terms and Conditions

Last updated: 3 August 2026 and effective from that date.

1. About these terms

These Terms and Conditions govern your use of the Artistic Minds website and any artist account, profile, artwork listing or exhibition listing made available through it.

This website is operated by David Rutlidge trading as Artistic Minds, 26 Waterloo Road, Waterloo, Liverpool, L22 1RF, United Kingdom. Contact email: dave@artistic-minds.uk.

By accessing or using this website, or by applying for or using an artist account, you agree to be bound by these terms. If you do not agree, you should not use the website.

2. Nature of the site

Artistic Minds is an online gallery and exhibition platform. It provides public artist profiles, artwork listings, exhibition-related content and related promotional activity.

Artistic Minds is not currently an online marketplace processing artwork sales directly through the website. Sales enquiries and commission enquiries are generally passed directly to the relevant artist or exhibition contact, and any resulting arrangement is handled by them.

Participation as an artist on the website is subject to payment of certain fees, including an annual artist fee and one-off charges for artworks, exhibitions, and certificates as described in these terms.

3. Eligibility and artist approval

Artist accounts are available only to applicants approved by Artistic Minds.

Artists must normally be aged 18 or over.
Younger artists may be accepted only in exceptional circumstances and only with appropriate parental or guardian consent. Where an artist is under 18, the parent or guardian who gives that consent is the contracting party under these terms and is responsible for the applicable fees.
We reserve the right to approve, refuse, suspend, archive or remove an artist account or submission at our discretion where reasonably necessary.

Approval of an artist account and continued participation on the site may be conditional on timely payment of the applicable annual artist fee and any per-painting, per-exhibition or per-certificate fees.

4. Artist responsibilities

By applying for an account or uploading any content, you confirm that:

the information you provide is accurate and not misleading;
you are legally responsible for all content you submit;
by uploading an image or other content, you are expressly confirming that you either (a) are the creator and copyright owner of that content, or (b) have all rights, licences and permissions needed from the copyright owner to upload it and to grant the licence to Artistic Minds set out in these terms;
your content does not infringe the intellectual property, privacy or other rights of any third party;
you will provide evidence of your rights if reasonably requested; and
your content is not unlawful, defamatory, obscene, abusive, discriminatory, misleading or otherwise inappropriate for publication;
you give consent for the collection and processing of any personal data given.

5. Account information and profile details

We may require private account details, such as an administrative email address, in order to manage artist accounts and communicate with artists.

Artists may also choose to provide optional public profile information, including public email address, public telephone number, Instagram handle and website link. If provided, this information may be displayed publicly on the site.

Artists may use a pseudonym as their displayed name if they wish.

6. Fees and payment

Participation as an artist on the website is subject to payment of the applicable fees. These fees consist of:

Annual artist fee – a fixed annual fee payable for each calendar year of participation on the site;
Per-painting charge – a one-off fee payable for each painting or artwork listed on the site;
Per-exhibition charge – a one-off fee payable for each exhibition listing or exhibition participation arranged through the site; and
Certificate of Authenticity fee – a one-off fee payable by the artist for each Certificate of Authenticity issued for their work (see Section 21).

The annual artist fee covers a rolling 12-month period that begins on the date the artist confirms the fee terms when adding their first artwork, and renews every 12 months from that date. Each period is a full 12 months, so no pro-rata adjustment applies.

All per-painting charges and per-exhibition charges are one-off payments and are always applicable where the relevant artwork or exhibition is listed or submitted through the site. The Certificate of Authenticity fee is a one-off payment for each Certificate issued and is payable by the artist; buyers and owners are not charged to register, transfer or verify ownership of a Certificate.

14-day cancellation period. You have the right to cancel any charge within 14 days of incurring it (for the annual artist fee, within 14 days of confirming the fee terms; for a per-painting, per-exhibition or Certificate fee, within 14 days of the listing, exhibition or Certificate being created), without giving a reason. To reflect this, no charge is invoiced until its 14-day cancellation period has ended — it appears on your statement as a recent charge in the meantime. If you cancel within the period, the charge is removed and nothing is payable for it; where you cancel a service we have already performed (for example a Certificate already issued and delivered, or an artwork already listed at your request), we may remove the related listing or void the related Certificate on cancellation. To cancel, email us at the address in Section 1 within the 14-day period. This does not affect your statutory cancellation rights, which apply in addition where relevant.

Fees are invoiced manually, after the cancellation period for each charge has ended. Unless otherwise stated on the invoice, all charges are due within 14 days of the invoice date.

The current fee amounts and any applicable taxes will be notified to the artist in advance or stated on the relevant invoice or application materials. We will give at least one month's notice of any change to fee amounts, and no change will apply to a period that has already been invoiced.

Fees are generally non-refundable. However, nothing in these terms excludes any refund or adjustment that is required by law, and Artistic Minds may, at its discretion, make an exception in limited circumstances.

7. Non-payment and suspension

If any fee or charge remains unpaid after the applicable due date, we may, at our discretion and without prejudice to any other rights we may have:

suspend or restrict access to the artist account;
remove, hide or disable access to some or all artworks from the website;
remove, hide or disable access to exhibition details or listings;
decline to publish further artworks, exhibitions or profile updates; and/or
terminate or archive the artist account if the non-payment is not remedied within a reasonable period.

We will normally try to give notice of non-payment and an opportunity to remedy it, but we are not obliged to continue displaying content or providing services where fees remain outstanding.

The artist remains liable for all fees properly incurred before suspension, removal or closure of the account.

8. Uploads and image processing

Artists may upload artwork images and related text such as biographies, artist statements, artwork descriptions and similar material.

Uploaded images may be processed for technical reasons, including resizing, cropping, compression, watermarking and metadata removal, so that they can be displayed appropriately on the website and associated channels.

9. Licence granted to Artistic Minds

By uploading any artwork image, text or other content to the website, you grant Artistic Minds a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to:

host, store, reproduce and display your content on the website;
crop, resize, compress, format and otherwise adapt uploaded images for technical and display purposes;
include your content in newsletters and exhibition communications;
use your content in promotional graphics and materials;
use your content in press and publicity connected with the website, exhibitions or Artistic Minds activities; and
publish selected artworks on the site’s Instagram account and related social channels, together with your chosen artist name or pseudonym and, where applicable, a link to your Instagram account.

This licence continues for as long as the content remains on the site or in related systems, and for a reasonable period afterwards where necessary for backups, records, technical caching, legal compliance or the handling of prior publications.

You remain the owner of your copyright unless you agree otherwise separately.

10. Instagram permission and promotion

Where the upload process includes a checkbox confirming that you want the artwork to be considered for Instagram posting, ticking that box confirms your permission for Artistic Minds to publish that artwork on its Instagram account and related promotional channels.

Any such posting remains at our editorial discretion. We do not guarantee that any particular artwork will be posted.

11. Sales enquiries and commissions

Sales enquiries and commission requests generated through the site are normally passed directly to the relevant artist or exhibition contact.

Any negotiation, contract, payment, delivery, refund, commission arrangement or dispute arising from such an enquiry is between the enquirer and the relevant artist or exhibition contact unless we expressly state otherwise.

Artistic Minds is not responsible for the performance of any contract formed between an artist and a third party through or following use of the site.

12. Content standards and takedown

We may remove, suspend, archive, edit or refuse any content or account where we reasonably believe that:

these terms have been breached;
the content may be unlawful or infringing;
the content creates a legal, reputational or security risk;
the content is misleading, offensive or unsuitable for the site; or
removal is necessary for operational, editorial or moderation reasons.

13. Intellectual property complaints

If you believe that content on the site infringes your copyright or other intellectual property rights, please contact dave@artistic-minds.uk with:

your name and contact details;
details of the work or rights you claim have been infringed;
the URL or clear identification of the material complained of;
an explanation of the complaint and the basis of your claim; and
a statement that the information you have provided is accurate to the best of your knowledge.

We reserve the right to remove or disable access to disputed material while we review a complaint.

14. Deletion, suspension and archiving

Artists have autonomy over their own content and may delete their own artwork or profile information, subject to the technical operation of the site.

Administrators may also delete, suspend or archive content or accounts where reasonably necessary for legal, editorial, operational, security, moderation or payment-enforcement reasons.

Some residual copies may remain temporarily in backups, logs or archives for limited operational or legal purposes.

15. Future comments and community features

The site does not currently allow public comments.

If comments, reviews, messaging or other community features are introduced in the future, these terms will apply to those features together with any additional rules we publish. We reserve the right to moderate and remove user-generated contributions and to suspend access to such features.

16. Third-party services and links

The website may link to third-party websites and services, including artist websites, Instagram profiles and Google Maps. Those third-party websites and services are outside our control and are subject to their own terms and privacy policies.

We are not responsible for the content, availability or practices of third-party sites or services.

17. Website availability and service level

We aim to operate the website with reasonable skill and care and will use reasonable endeavours to keep it available and functioning properly. However, we do not guarantee continuous or error‑free operation, any particular uptime level, or that defects will always be corrected within a particular timescale.

The website may be unavailable from time to time for maintenance, updates, technical issues or reasons beyond our reasonable control. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any loss or damage caused by temporary unavailability or reduced performance of the website. Where a Certificate of Authenticity has been issued, the printed Certificate remains the durable record of authenticity if the online verification service is unavailable (see Section 21).

18. Disclaimer

The website content is provided for general information and promotional purposes only. While we try to keep information reasonably accurate and current, we do not guarantee that all content is complete, accurate or up to date.

Except to the extent that liability cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, Artistic Minds excludes liability for loss or damage arising from use of, or inability to use, the website, uploaded content, external links or third-party dealings made through the site.

Nothing in these terms affects your statutory rights. If you deal with us as a consumer, nothing in these terms excludes or limits our liability for services not performed with reasonable skill and care, or any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 or other applicable law.

19. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Artistic Minds against claims, losses, liabilities, damages, costs and expenses arising out of or connected with:

your breach of these terms;
your misuse of the website;
your uploaded content; or
any allegation that your content infringes the rights of a third party.

20. Privacy

Use of personal data is governed by our Privacy Policy, which should be read alongside these terms.

21. Certificates of Authenticity

This section applies to artists who issue Certificates of Authenticity ("Certificates") through the site, to buyers and owners who register or transfer ownership, and to anyone who uses the site to verify a Certificate. Where this section conflicts with another section of these terms in respect of Certificates, this section prevails.

21.1 What a Certificate is. A Certificate records, and lets anyone confirm, the details captured at the time it was issued — including the title, artist, year, medium, dimensions, edition information and date of issue — together with the artist’s and Artistic Minds’ signatures. A Certificate for an original work states that it is the original. A Certificate for a limited edition print states the specific numbered copy or proof; it is an authorised reproduction and is never described as an original.

21.2 What a Certificate is not. A Certificate confirms what was recorded about a work and its authenticity as declared by the artist and Artistic Minds. It is not a valuation, appraisal or guarantee of monetary worth or future value; it is not a guarantee of legal title, of provenance beyond what the ownership record shows, or of freedom from third-party claims; and it is not a warranty as to the physical condition of the work. The printed Certificate is the canonical record: where the printed and online versions differ, the printed Certificate governs, subject to any correction, void or replacement we make under clause 21.7.

21.3 Verifying a Certificate. Each Certificate carries a QR code and a short verification code. Scanning the code, or entering the verification code on the site, opens that Certificate’s page, which shows the recorded details, the signatures, the issue date and the current status. The verification page is public and reveals only whether a work is registered, never who owns it. Verification confirms that a Certificate with those details exists in our records; it cannot, by itself, prove that a particular physical object is the one the Certificate refers to, and it should be treated as one part of your own due diligence.

21.4 Registering ownership. Each Certificate carries a private registration code concealed under a panel on the printed card. This code is a bearer token: whoever holds it can register the work, so it must be kept private and revealed only on taking ownership. On registering, you provide the code together with your name and email, and you confirm your agreement to these terms as stated on the registration form; you are then recorded as the current owner, the Certificate’s status becomes registered, and the registration code is rotated — the code printed on the card stops working and a new transfer code is shown to you once, on screen. Save it; you will need it to transfer ownership later, and it is not sent by email or stored in a form we can show you again. You are responsible for the accuracy of the details you provide and for keeping your transfer code private. Acting reasonably, we may decline, reverse or investigate any registration or transfer we reasonably believe to be fraudulent, mistaken or made without the right to the work; where a registration or transfer is reversed, the previous recorded owner is restored, the code held by the person whose registration was reversed stops working, and we will notify those affected. If you wish to contest a registration, transfer or reversal, contact us at the address in Section 1 and we will investigate before making any change.

21.5 Transferring ownership. When you sell or give the work to someone else, ownership is transferred using your current transfer code, which you pass to the new owner. The new owner enters it with their own details; they then become the recorded owner, you are released from the record, and the code rotates again to a fresh transfer code shown once to the new owner. Each transfer invalidates the previous code, so a former owner cannot re-register a work they have parted with. The ownership record is a convenience and an aid to provenance; it is not a guarantee of legal title, and Artistic Minds is not a party to, or guarantor of, any sale between owners (see Section 11).

21.6 Owner information and privacy. The only personal data a Certificate holds is the current and former owners’ names and email addresses, stored to maintain the ownership record and to send the notifications described in this section. Public pages never show owner identity — only whether a work is registered; owner names and history are visible only to Artistic Minds. We send email notifications on registration and transfer (to the new owner, to the previous owner when ownership is transferred away from them — so an unauthorised transfer surfaces immediately — and to Artistic Minds as a safeguard against fraudulent re-registration), and when a Certificate you own is voided, replaced, reported lost or stolen, reissued a new code, or has a transfer reversed. You may exercise your data-protection rights, including erasure, at any time. Because a provenance chain with a gap in it is worthless, erasure is carried out by pseudonymising your ownership records — your name, email address and email hash are removed, while the anonymous link in the chain is retained; after pseudonymisation, nothing in the ownership record identifies you. Requests are handled through the site's personal-data tools or by contacting us (Section 1). IP addresses used to limit repeated attempts are stored only as a one-way hash. This clause supplements our Privacy Policy (see Section 20).

21.7 Lost or stolen works, correction, void and replacement. A current owner, the artist or Artistic Minds may report a Certificate’s work as lost or stolen, which places a visible notice on its verification page; a reported work remains registered to its owner, and prospective buyers should contact us before proceeding. Making a knowingly false report is a misuse of the site. We may void a Certificate that was issued in error, is fraudulent or must otherwise be cancelled; a voided Certificate stops authenticating anything and its page says so. Where a Certificate is compromised, we may replace it — the original is marked as replaced and points to the new Certificate, which carries a fresh code. We will act reasonably and, where appropriate, notify the recorded owner.

21.8 Online verification, availability and the printed Certificate. The online verification and registration service depends on the continued operation of the website and is subject to Section 17. We may change, suspend or discontinue it, and we do not guarantee uninterrupted access. If the online service becomes unavailable, the printed Certificate remains the durable record of authenticity; this is by design, and is why the printed card, not the web page, is the canonical record (clause 21.2). If we ever permanently discontinue the online service, we will use reasonable endeavours to either keep read-only verification available or provide artists with an export of their certificate records, and will give reasonable notice where practicable. Subject to that, and to the extent permitted by law, we are not liable for loss arising from temporary or permanent unavailability of the online service, and you should retain the printed Certificate accordingly.

21.9 Fees. Certificates are issued on behalf of participating artists, who are charged the Certificate of Authenticity fee set out in Section 6. Buyers and owners are not charged to register, transfer or verify ownership.

22. Changes to these terms

We may amend these terms from time to time by updating this page. For minor changes (such as clarifications or corrections that do not affect your rights or obligations), the updated version applies from the date it is posted on the website. For material changes, we will give artists at least one month's notice by email before the change takes effect; if you do not accept a material change, you may close your account before it takes effect, and the change will not apply to fees already invoiced.

23. Governing law

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. Any dispute arising in connection with these terms or the website shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales, unless mandatory law requires otherwise.