The gallery that loved my work but wanted it smaller

I had a gallery once that said they loved my work but could I please make everything smaller so it would sell better. Smaller prints, smaller paper, fit the customer's wall. I tried it and hated every piece. Felt like I was shrinking the ocean to put it in a cupboard.

I said no in the end and we parted ways. Sometimes I wonder if that was stupid.

Has anyone else had a gallery ask you to change your work in a way that went against what the work actually is? Did you bend, or did you walk?

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Kasia Nowak·3w

I don't think you were stupid at all.

I've never had a gallery ask me that, I'm not at that level yet, but I've had people say my pastel portraits would sell better if I worked smaller, simpler, more "decorative." And I thought about it. I really did. But the whole reason I started doing this is the slowness of it, the way you can build a face out of all those marks and layers. If I made it smaller and faster it wouldn't be the same thing, it would just be something I was making for someone else.

You didn't shrink the ocean. You kept it. That's not nothing.

Inês CostaOP·3w

Thank you. That last line especially, "you kept it", that got me. It really is that simple, isn't it? I just couldn't live with a shrunk-down version of what I was making.

And what you said about pastels... I know exactly what you mean. The slowness is the whole point. When you're building something layer by layer, the time itself becomes part of the piece. Taking that away just to be convenient... it wouldn't be yours anymore.

Tomáš Havel·3w

You made the right call. That kind of request isn't about the work, it's about filling a slot in someone's living room. There's nothing wrong with making things that fit on walls, but it's a different thing than what you were doing.

I've been on both sides of this conversation. Early on I said yes a few times. Made smaller, tidier versions of installations. They were competent. They had no reason to exist. The pieces that actually mattered to me were the ones where I said no and the gallery walked.

The ocean in a cupboard. That's exactly it. You'd know every day what you'd done.

Inês CostaOP·3w

That bit about "they had no reason to exist", yes. That's the thing, isn't it. You can make something competent, technically fine, and it just sits there on the paper with nothing to say for itself.

I'm glad you walked from those too. It's harder when you've already said yes, I think. Harder to undo it.