the gallery that wanted my work "toned down", anyone else get this?
ok so I finally worked up the nerve to approach a gallery I've been following for ages, sent them my portfolio, got an actual reply, felt like I was floating. then they asked if I could "mute my palette a little" to fit their space better. my whole thing is color!! I paint the same window in my apartment over and over partly because I love watching how the light changes the color. they wanted me to basically be a different painter.
I said no obviously but I'm still second-guessing myself like was that stupid, should I have compromised?? I feel like the right gallery will want what I actually make but also maybe I'm being precious about it idk
anyone else had a gallery ask you to change your work? did you bend or hold your ground? I need to know I'm not alone here lol
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You did the right thing. That kind of request never stops at "just a little." First it's the palette, then it's the subjects that are too this or not enough that, and before you know it you're making someone else's paintings and signing your name to them.
I've seen it happen. A friend of mine agreed to tone down her palette for a gallery in the Marais, and within two years she wasn't recognized by her own work anymore.
The window series sounds like exactly the kind of thing that needs to stay itself. Light on the same surface at different hours, that's not a gimmick, that's a real painter's preoccupation. A gallery that doesn't understand that doesn't understand what you're actually doing.
This is it exactly. The first request is always reasonable-sounding. "Just the palette." Then it's the scale, then it's the subject matter, then you're painting what sells in that zip code. I've watched it happen to younger artists more times than I can count.
The window series has a real reason behind it. That's the thing worth protecting. Galleries that want you to arrive half-different aren't looking for you at all.
thank you for saying that, seriously. the "arrive half-different" thing hit me, that's exactly what it would've been. I'd be in the show but I wouldn't recognize myself on the wall and what's the point of that??
god the Marais thing is brutal. that's such a specific example and I can picture exactly the kind of gallery you mean, all white walls and tasteful restraint. and your poor friend, that's literally my nightmare. I'd rather keep painting my stupid little window for my own walls than end up not recognizing my own hand.
honestly the "real painter's subject" thing made me tear up a little, not gonna lie. I've had people be like "why do you keep painting the same thing" and I never know how to explain that I'm not painting the window, I'm painting the light ON the window, and it's different every single time. so thank you for seeing that.