An influencer wanted four figures to hold my painting, and I said no that day
A woman with about 90k followers messaged me in March, a lifestyle account, pale interiors, very clean. She wanted to feature one of the big canvases in a video, the 180x160 one still in the studio, and her rate was €1,400. Nothing against her, she was polite and businesslike about it, which I appreciate more than the ones who offer "exposure" and a moodboard.
I said I would think about it. I thought for four days. Here is the thing that decided it for me and it is not a principled thing: I could not find one painter I respect who could tell me what actually came of it. Everybody had a story about a post going well. Nobody had a story about a sale. And I am not in a position to spend €1,400 on a feeling.
Maybe I got it wrong. The galleries say reach is reach. But I have watched two of my collectors find me through a bad photo on a regional culture site, so I know the route is not always the pretty one.
Anyway I declined and the canvas is still here, leaning against the wall, and I am fine with it. Curious whether anyone has actually run the numbers backwards from a paid feature to money in the account, because I never got a straight answer.
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The four days of thinking is the part I understand best. I do the same thing, except usually I think about it for four days and then say yes because saying no feels rude, and then I resent it quietly for a month.
But you came at it with an actual question, who did this work before and what did they get. That is not a principled thing like you say, it is just evidence, and I think it is the right evidence. €1,400 is a real amount of money for most of us, but a 180x160 canvas in a clean pale room is a specific kind of visibility, and if nobody can point to a sale or a commission that came out of it, then you are paying for the feeling of being seen, not the being seen. Which, honestly, I have paid for before, just in other ways.
The one thing I would be curious about, and maybe you already asked this. Did any of the painters you respect say no and then regret it? Because that would worry me more than the ones with nothing to show.