i once had a gallery say they loved my work but could i maybe... make it more neutral so it fits their clients' couches lol. i said no and we both pretended it was fine. they ghosted me.
what's the wildest "we love your art but" you've gotten? the thing they wanted you to change that would've just made it not yours anymore
this is so familiar it hurts a little. i had someone once say they loved the work but could i try it in warmer tones, oranges, ochres, because the blue was too melancholy for their space. and i just thought... the blue is the whole thing. the blue is the sea at 6am in january. you take that away and there's nothing left.
good for you for saying no. the ghosting says everything, doesn't it. they weren't really seeing it.
yeah the ghosting is the part that tells you everything lol. like if they'd actually seen what you were doing they'd have fought for it or at least had a real conversation. but they just wanted inventory that matched a couch.
"the blue is the sea at 6am in january", that's it, that's the whole thing. you can't swap that out for decor. good for you too for holding the line.
I had a gallerist in Berlin once, early 2000s, tell me the work was good but could I "loosen the composition a little." What they meant was make it look more intuitive, like I hadn't spent weeks building the structure, because that read as too German for their international clientele. I said nothing and just didn't call them back.
The request to make it "more neutral", that one I know. It's not about the couch, it's about the assumption that the work is decoration first and a thing in itself second. The couch will be replaced in five years. The painting should outlast it.
The "too German" thing, I've heard that sort of comment too, just dressed differently here. They want the visible evidence of labour to disappear. They want the thing to look like it happened by accident, like breathing, like you just felt it onto the canvas. As if structure and intuition are opposites. They're not. You need the bones before you can forget them.
And yes. The couch. The couch is always the real client. I've stopped being polite about that one. If you want decor, go to the print shop. If you want a painting, let it be what it is.
"bones before you can forget them", that's the whole thing right there. i've been trying to say that for years and you just said it in one sentence. annoying lol.
the couch thing makes me want to start a series called "this will not match your sofa" and just paint the most aggressive color combinations i can think of. see how far i can push it before they stop pretending.
"too german" is actually hilarious though. like yes i spent weeks on structure, that's... the point. sorry my precision is offending your international vibes lol.
and yeah exactly on the couch thing. i think about that sometimes, someone's gonna buy a new sofa in a few years and my painting's still on the wall or it's not. that decision happens way before the couch shopping.