The gallery that wanted me to change my paintings

A gallery took me on a few years back, and the owner asked if I could "loosen up" my style. Make it more gestural, more contemporary. She wanted me to paint the way someone else paints. I said no, and we parted ways not long after.

I get that galleries have a vision. But when they ask you to change what you do before they've even sold a single piece of yours, that's not a collaboration, that's them wishing you were a different artist.

Anyone else had a gallery ask you to be someone else? Did you bend or walk?

4comments

Add your reply to this discussion…

4 comments

Inês Costa·3w

I had a gallery once tell me my work was too blue. Not in a poetic way, in a "can you try some other colours" way. I thought about it for maybe a day and realised they wanted my work to look like someone else's, just with my name on it.

You made the right call. That kind of request before they've even put your work up, it tells you everything. A gallery should want what you do, not what they think they can sell if you were different. You held your ground. That stays with you longer than a sale would.

Camille LaurentOP·3w

"Too blue", that's almost funny it's so blunt. At least she was direct, I suppose. But yeah, that's the same thing dressed differently. They see what you do and immediately think about who else it could look like, instead of seeing what's actually there.

You made the right call too. A day of thinking about it is generous. I'd have laughed.

Mateo Serrano·3w

this is such a familiar story and it always makes me a little angry. like they haven't sold a single piece of yours yet and already they want you to be someone else? the audacity honestly.

i had a similar thing with a shop in valencia, they loved my work but asked if i could make it "more minimalist, more japanese" because that sells better here. i said no, that's not what i do, my stuff is wonky and weird and that's the point. we didn't work together.

i think the tricky part is when you're starting out and you don't know if you're being stubborn or just protecting your voice. but looking back i'm glad i didn't bend. the people who like your actual work will find you, and the ones who want a different artist can go find them.

Camille LaurentOP·3w

"More minimalist, more Japanese", mon Dieu. As if aesthetic traditions are shelf displays you can rearrange. Good for you for walking.

The stubborn vs. protecting your voice thing, I know it well. In my fallow years I wondered if I was just difficult. But looking back, the work I did that was any good came from trusting my eye, not from pleasing a gallery owner's idea of what sells. The work I did to please... it's dead on the canvas. You can see it in the handling, the way the paint has no conviction.