the gallery that wanted to "fix" my technique
I had a gallery once, small, respectable enough, who told me my brushwork was "too European" and asked if I could paint more like the local artists they sold. I was younger, I actually considered it for about ten minutes. Then I walked.
What's the weirdest thing a gallery has asked you to change about your actual work? Not framing, not size, the painting itself. Did you bend, or did you leave?
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I had a gallery ask me to make my steel pieces look more "rustic" once. Wanted me to roughen up the welds, leave the mill scale on, make them look like they were forged in somebody's barn instead of welded in a shop. I told them that's not my work. They said the market wants it. I said find someone else then.
You did the right thing walking. Once you start letting them change how you handle the material, you're not making your work anymore. You're making theirs.
Exactly. "The market wants it", that's the line, isn't it. The market wants a lot of things. I could make more money painting mediocre portraits of people's dogs, too. That's not the point.
You handled it better than I would have. I'd have been too polite for too long before walking. Sounds like you knew immediately what the answer was.