BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Agnès Penot, a Ph.D. in art history from the University of Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne, is the Director of Research for Gallery 19C, the only gallery in the United States specializing in the 19th century. One of her roles there is to oversee the development of the Catalogue Raisonné of the painter Jules Breton. She is also the owner of Art World Appraisals, where she advises collectors and appraises artworks, from old masters to contemporary art. Her work on
provenance research and the history of the art market in the 19th century has earned her numerous awards from institutions such as the Getty in Los Angeles or the Frick Collection in New York. Her talks in international symposiums and publications including a book titled LaMaison Goupil: The International Development of an Art Gallery in the 19th Century, attest to her contribution to the global artistic discourse. Her new book focusing on the history of art galleries in France from 1840 to the present day has just been released.

Michael is enthusiastic about fine art and collecting. In 2017 he opened the Law Office of Michael Heumann in the greater Los Angeles area where his clients include art collectors, museums, galleries and artists in matters pertaining to title, provenance, authenticity, condition of works of art, purchasing, selling, lending, insuring, planned giving, and the disposition of collections. A major part of Michael’s current work is assisting collectors and their heirs in selling valuable art or voluminous collections of valuable objects for highest obtainable net return. Michael has spoken on topics such as “When the Collecting is Over: Property Disposition and Estate Planning,” “Best Practices for Art Collectors,” and “The Psychology of Collecting.” He was a Los Angeles partner at Nossaman LLP (1991-2016; nationwide Managing Partner, 2007-2013). Michael received a Juris Doctorate degree from Berkeley Law School (UCB), an MBA degree from Stanford University, and BA (Economics) and BSE (Engineering) degrees from Princeton University. Michael served on the Southwest Museum’s Board of Trustees (1989-2003; President,1995-2003), and has been an Autry Museum trustee since 2003. He chairs the California Club’s Art Committee, and is a board member of the California Art Club, the Ethnic Arts Council, and the Century City Arts Council. Michael is a knowledgeable and proficient collector of Native American Indian art.

Aucileia Rosa was born in Itapuranga, Brazil. She has also lived in Europe, the Middle East, and she currently resides in Los Angeles, California. She currently holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from UCLA, in Labor Studies. Her interest in art started when she was in third grade. She enjoys creating figures, abstracts, and landscape oil paintings. Her art education includes Canada College, San Mateo College, Santa Monica College, and private art studios. She is fascinated with Renaissance period artists, especially Leonardo DaVinci. Her favorite subject is figure as she put it, “we are such an amazing machine.” Aucileia took art classes with Noah Buchanan, Dmitry Grudsky, Linda Dulany, Rebecca J. Alex, and more. Aucileia recently worked for New York Life Insurance Company, in Glendale. At the moment, she is pursuing professional financial services licenses. During her free time, she designs outfits to be worn during the photo shooting for poses she envisions for her painting, and then she paints it. Some of her paintings are integrated in the storylines of a book that she is writing. She is a published author.

Kara Koerner is a private wealth services attorney in Holland & Knight's Century City office. Ms. Koerner advises individuals and families on complex matters, including international and domestic wealth and asset transfers,
pre-immigration and expatriation planning, international corporate tax matters, structuring and reorganizing multinational businesses to minimize worldwide taxes and foreign investment matters in the United States.
Ms. Koerner's skills include handling complex matters involving the global art market, and navigating California property tax reassessment issues arising in business succession matters.
Ms. Koerner uses decades of personal and professional experience to design and implement tax-efficient strategies for cross-border individuals and families, as well as corporations with a global footprint. Her practice focuses on helping clients with matters inherent to living and transacting business globally, including international and domestic wealth and asset transfers. As a former U.N. attorney, Ms. Koerner is fluent in French and has worked across the cultures of more than 100 countries.
Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Ms. Koerner served as counsel at a boutique private wealth services law firm in Los Angeles. Previously, Ms. Koerner designed gift and business succession planning strategies for international families, including the transfer of ownership interests of real estate in California. She also represented entrepreneurs in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions, real estate developers in negotiating commercial loan and development agreements, art collectors in litigation regarding fraudulent transactions and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris regarding treaties aimed at protecting art from illicit trafficking and armed conflict.

Kamila M. Korbela is a Los Angeles–based paintings conservator in private practice and the founder of LA Art Labs LLC (LAAL), a leading art conservation laboratory providing specialized conservation and restoration services for paintings, sculpture, and mixed-media works. Serving private collectors, museums, and cultural institutions throughout California and beyond, LAAL is known for its thoughtful integration of technical rigor with deep respect for the creative intent of each artwork. The studio employs innovative conservation strategies that unite traditional methodologies with advanced technologies. With more than two decades of professional experience, Kamila has conserved artworks in major encyclopedic collections across Europe, the Americas, and Asia. She holds graduate degrees in Art Conservation from Germany and has held professional appointments at institutions including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Balboa Art Conservation Center, the National Gallery of Denmark, and various German government agencies. Her practice encompasses both local and international projects, including an ongoing U.S. Department of State–funded conservation initiative at the Bengal Foundation in Dhaka, Bangladesh. In addition to her hands-on conservation work, Kamila is deeply committed to fostering collaborative relationships among artists, collectors, art professionals, and institutions to support the long-term preservation of cultural heritage. This commitment extends to disaster planning, preparedness, recovery, and collection risk management. Under Kamila’s leadership, LA Art Labs has become a trusted resource for addressing complex conservation challenges. The studio is particularly recognized for its expertise in contemporary art conservation, as well as emergency response and disaster recovery for large collections, including fire and water damage remediation.

Michael Douglas Carlin is an award winning director. His film Minnesota! The Modern Day Selma won 18 Film Festival Awards including three best director awards.
For ten years Michael Douglas Carlin has been investigating the murders of Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. (Biggie Smalls). He completed the documentary Larger Than Life: The Suge Knight Story (2016). His look into the Rampart Scandal and ties to Death Row Records continues. Since 2004, Carlin has been the editor of Century City News and he uses this platform to continue his investigations.
Carlin collaborated on two books with former LAPD Lead Detective Russell Poole. Russell was known for his investigations of the Ennis Cosby case, the shooting death of Officer Kevin Gaines, the Rampart Scandal, and the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. Tupac:187 about the murders of Tupac and Biggie was released first. Carlin and Poole continued to investigate and wrote Chaos Merchants next. Russell Poole died mysteriously in a meeting with the LA County Sheriffs about reopening the cases as he presented new evidence that he felt would bring the killers to justice.
Previously, Michael Carlin directed American Federale (2013) about the only American ever to serve as a Mexican Federale. The film chronicles the corruption in border Mexico. Lobo was the Federale that killed drug lord Pablo Acosta. During the post production of the film, Lobo was shot twice and survived but subsequently died in El Paso Texas.

Candace’s passion for art began as a college student when she acquired her first original piece—an intriguing pen-and-ink sketch discovered in a small shop in Boston. Later, meeting the artist in person, solidified her love of collecting and engaging with the art world.
After earning a B.S. Communications Media, Candace embarked on a career in Los Angeles in entertainment, media, and special events. While serving as Marketing Director for Trammel Crow Co. in Century City, she commissioned artist Seeroon Yeretzian to paint "Angel of the Century" as part of a citywide program where angel sculptures were auctioned to benefit a children's charity. While working for the Century City Chamber of Commerce, she curated the “40 Year Photo Retrospective of Century City.”
Candace further honed her business acumen by earning an MBA from Loyola Marymount University. Her resume includes a coveted position at the gallery of iconic pop artist, Kfir Moyal, in Miami.
Now a distinguished real estate professional, Candace leverages her extensive network and expertise to guide clients through the strategic acquisition and disposition of high-value properties. Candace remains connected to the contemporary art scene. She collaborates with Art Spectrum and promotes Los Angeles-based artists, while continuing to expand her own vibrant art collection.

Maxwell Votey is a practicing attorney, provenance researcher, and independent scholar of art law based in Los Angeles. His recent published scholarship includes an examination of the growth of the international illicit antiquities trade on social media platforms and a critical response to the mid-twentieth-century trade of Himalayan antiquities in South Asia and North America. He also writes on the impact of emerging technology on the arts and Central and South Asian art history.

Maxwell currently sits on the Steering Committee of the American Bar Association's Art and Cultural Heritage Law Committee and is a legal fellow at the Center for the Digital Future at USC Annenberg. He has previously practiced at Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Ellis George LLP. He received a JD from the New York University School of Law, an MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a BA from Wesleyan University.pre-immigration and expatriation planning, international corporate tax matters, structuring and reorganizing multinational businesses to minimize worldwide taxes and foreign investment matters in the United States.

Susan has signed the beam in topping-out ceremonies of some of Los Angeles County’s most prestigious projects. She has helped shape some of Los Angeles’ most significant cultural landmarks. Susan served on the founding building teams for the Autry Museum of the American West, The Aquarium of the Pacific, the Getty Center and Getty Villa. As a board director of the Long Beach Public Library Foundation, she helped raise millions to build the Billie Jean King Main Library and the Michele Obama Library. On the executive board of the Long Beach Museum of Art Phoenix, she chairs Art Education. Susan is a past board director and long-time educator for the Museum Store Association. Through her practice, DeLand Consulting, she guides museums and mission-driven businesses in turning underused potential into actionable growth strategies and building collaborative cultures that sustain innovation. Her career spans prestigious cultural institutions and small business coaching, giving her a rare blend of strategic insight and hands-on operational experience. Susan is the author of several artists’ biographies and is currently writing a book about art forgers. Educated at the University of Florida with a fellowship at Claremont Graduate University, Susan is a native Californian, passionate about the cultural fabric of Los Angeles, volunteering widely in support of the arts.

FOUNDER

Jean is an international fine art dealer, art market specialist, and consultant to collectors. As the owner of Gainsborough Fine Art, he is recognized for his access to high-quality works from private international collections, rigorous provenance research, and deep expertise in global market dynamics. Jean’s earlier career was in international finance, holding executive positions with global U.S. institutions in New York, Paris, London, and Los Angeles before establishing his own investment advisory practice. In 2009, he founded the Arts Council, serving as its Chair for 14 years. Building on his financial background, Jean established his art advisory practice part-time in 2013, transitioning to a full-time fine art dealer in 2017. A frequent speaker and writer, he is the author of the forthcoming international financial and art crime thriller, OFF$HORE DECEPTION, scheduled for publication this Summer—a narrative inspired by his decades at the intersection of high-value art and offshore finance.
(https://gainsboroughart.com/other/offhore-deception-a-novel-by-peter-talbott/)

ADVISORS to the BOARD

Isabelle (Gillet) Mattar, Ph.D. (University of Michigan, 2023), is an art historian specializing in nineteenth-century French art and museum interpretation. Based in Los Angeles, she works as a curatorial and research consultant to a private collector, advising on acquisitions, market developments, and the art-historical framing of the collection. She is the founder of The Museum Label Project, an independent research initiative examining how institutional language shapes visitor interpretation across Los Angeles's 800+ museums. In parallel, she serves as an expert witness in art-related legal cases, contributing specialized analysis on artistic reputation, interpretive significance, and cultural harm.

Peter Frank is a New York-born, Los Angeles-based art critic and curator. Associate Editor of Fabrik magazine and art critic for the Huffington Post, Frank has served as Editor of THEmagazine Los Angeles and Visions Art Quarterly, and as art critic for the LA Weekly, Village Voice and SoHo Weekly News. He has organized exhibitions for Documenta in Kassel, the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid, and New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, among other venues, and served as Senior Curator at the Riverside Art Museum in California. He has written extensively for books and periodicals around the world. Past ICI curated exhibitions include: Artists' Books USA co-curated with Martha Wilson (1978); Mapped Art: Charts, Routes, Regions (1981); Indiana Influence (1984); and Line and Image (1988).

Leonardo is a spiritual artist, poet and seer-in-training from Los Angeles, California. The first spark that led to his artistic journey was the leopard. As a child, the power of this mysterious creature so intensely pushed him to learn the art of drawing. Since then, the panther’s spirit has been the ambassador to his artistic fire.
For over 35 years, he has expressed himself in various disciplines: drawing, painting, design, animation, evolutionary biology, spirituality and psychology. That is until two ‘twin flame’ relationships that resulted in a spiritual awakening. The ethos behind his work is called the ‘Leopard’s Paw.’

Melissa A. Passman is an attorney based in Los Angeles with a focus on the intersection of tax and art law. In her legal practice, she is an advocate for nonprofit organizations, guiding clients through complex tax laws to unlock creative solutions. Drawing on her experience as both outside and in-house counsel, she collaborates with principals and founders to launch impactful initiatives. She is passionate about supporting working artists and arts professionals and has worked both personally and professionally with artist-driven organizations.
Melissa is a graduate of UCLA School of Law and holds an L.L.M. in Taxation from New York University.

About Us

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

FOUNDER

ADVISORS to the BOARD

The Arts Council of Los Angeles