A gallery in Basel asked for 14 000. I said 9 500 and heard myself do it.

Six weeks ago a gallery in Basel asked what the large one would be, the 190 by 150, the one with maybe forty layers of wax in it. They had a number ready, I think. I said 9 500 euros and heard myself say it, and by the time the sentence was finished I knew it was wrong.

Not wildly wrong. Just wrong enough. The stretcher alone was 380. The wax and the oil, another 600 over the months, and I don't count the hours anymore because the hours are obscene and I know it. But the number I gave was the number I would have given in 2016, and I gave it because a voice in me still thinks a painting that is only colour should cost less than one that looks like something. That is the whole thing, laid out. The market did not teach me that. I taught me that.

They said yes immediately, which is the part that stays with me. No counter, no hesitation. A gallery that says yes that fast has just told you the price was too low.

I have another one going now, 170 by 140, deep green over a warm grey ground, and I have decided the number before anyone asks. 13 000, and I will say it without a hedge or a small laugh after it. Whether I actually do it, ask me in March.

2comments

Add your reply to this discussion…

2 comments

Mira Vey·38m

the number you would've given in 2016 is the part that got me. i've done that, quoted someone out of the person i was five years ago and only clocked it halfway through the sentence. forty layers of wax is not a cheap thing to make and it's not a cheap thing to look at either. the stretcher and the wax are just the receipt, they're not the price. i don't think you undercharged because you don't know your value. i think you answered before the part of you that knows the hours had a chance to speak.

Margaret Hsu·20m

The part I recognise is giving the number before you've finished deciding it. Prices get set by habit, and habit lags reality by years.

I'll take a slightly different line on the rest, though. Materials are the easy part to account for, and in your medium they're honestly a small share. The forty layers are the number that matters, and you have to be able to say it out loud without flinching, because the person across the desk can hear the flinch. I've quoted editions and class fees low for the same reason, and the low number never came back as goodwill. It just became the number.

One practical thing that helped me: decide the figure before the conversation, write it down, and treat anything under it as a decision to make tomorrow rather than in the room. If they asked once, they'll ask again.