Departures

There are certain jobs in the art world that operate on the principle of the revolving door. Art handler, a position that entails the crating, uncrating, installation, etc. of artworks is one of them.

If you're an art handler at a gallery, museum, or auction house, you're probably an aspiring artist who wants to bring in a steady paycheck (with medical benefits), while spending eight hours a day around creative types and art, and nursing the dream of showing your work to your boss and having him recognize its canonical importance (or, at least, that he can sell it).

While the comings and goings of art handlers from art market outpost to art market outpost are frequent, they're not usually as highly publicized as those of their superiors (which is just about everyone in the art world). But today, Gawker, the "daily Manhattan media news and gossip" blog, brings us the departure of a disgruntled employee from none other than "the world's leading art business," Christie's.

"Jason Cuvelier, a six-year veteran of Christie's auction house in New York who began as an art handler and preparator and became a union shop steward in recent years, has resigned," Gawker reports, and then links to a screenshot of a parting e-mail Cuvelier sent to colleagues that found its way to passiveaggressivenotes.com. It's bitter, alright. "...I would like to thank this bold and majestic company for taking someone who actually liked the business — someone who could have seen themselves staying here, give their all and making them feel totally miserable to the point where they had to send an email like this before they left," he writes. Two of his complaints about the auction house: "Thinking outside the box is liken to heresy" and "favoritism is thicker than water."

At least Cuvelier got some exposure for his work before he left: Two photographs and a painting he did were included in Christie's "Insider Art," and exhibition of pieces made by the auction house's employees that came down last week. And with an M.F.A. from Yale's School of Art, an incubator for big shots like Chuck Close and Richard Serra, Cuvelier's sure to find gainful employment elsewhere, right?