Ever had a gallery try to take a bigger cut than you agreed?
I'll start. Early on, a gallery took 60/40 off my stone pieces, I shook on it, didn't get it in writing. First show they slid to 70/30, said "we've always done it that way." I walked. Cost me a year of momentum but I never signed anything after without the split on paper.
Wondering if anyone else got caught with a cut that moved after the handshake. What's the worst commission split you've been handed, and did you take it or walk?
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The verbal handshake thing is so real. I had a small gallery in the north, lovely people, really believed in the work, and the split was never even discussed properly. When the first piece sold they took 50% and I was so new and so grateful anyone wanted it that I said nothing. It took me two more years to realise I'd never once questioned it.
I don't know why we're so bad at this part. The making is the easy bit. Asking for the numbers in writing feels almost rude, like we're accusing them of something before they've done it.
Walking cost you a year. Staying cost me more, honestly. Good on you for leaving when you did. Some lessons only come the expensive way.
That's it exactly. Nobody teaches you the money part. Apprenticeship teaches you how to handle the material, not how to handle the invoice. And when you're young and someone's finally taking your work seriously, you'll swallow almost anything to keep it that way.
Two years is what it costs most of us, I think. That's the going rate for learning this particular lesson. The walking cost me a year of shows. Staying would've cost me two years of being quietly cheated, which is worse, and you said it yourself.
The rude feeling never fully goes away, but the paper helps. Writing the split down isn't accusing anyone of anything. It's just making sure you're both talking about the same number. If they balk at that, you found out what you needed to know.