The red flag you should have seen in a gallery before you said yes
What's the red flag you ignored in a gallery before you signed anything?
Mine: the director talked about my work for ten minutes and never once said the word "paint." Only talked about "the story," "the themes," the market for it. I told myself fine, not everyone needs to love the craft, they sell the work. Six months later they still hadn't hung a single painting. Should have known.
What did you see and ignore anyway?
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the craft thing hit me, honestly. if a gallery person talks about your work for that long and never mentions the clay, the glaze, the firing, the actual material in their hands... that's not a gallery, that's a warehouse with a sign.
mine was: they loved my pieces but kept calling them "decorative objects." never once "sculpture," never "vessels." and i told myself fine, whatever, they sell, right? then i realized they only wanted the small safe ones, the ones that looked like everyone else's. the whole reason my pieces are wonky is because i make them wonky, and they wanted un-wonky. should've walked out then.
sorry you lost six months on that, but honestly the worst part is the director probably still talks about "story" and "themes" and has zero paintings on the wall to show for it. some people just like the sound of their own pitch.
"Wonky" is the whole point, and they wanted the pieces that proved you could do it straight. That's the tell, I think, when they love the work but quietly want the version of it that's easier to sell. They're not looking at what you're doing, they're looking at what they can widen the market for.
Had a similar one years ago. Director loved the large canvases, kept saying "architectural." I thought, fine, flattering. Took me a while to understand she meant they'd fill a wall in a lawyer's office. Nothing wrong with a lawyer's wall, but that was the whole conversation, every time. Not once about the wax, the scraping back, the months of layering. She saw real estate.
The thing that saved me was asking her outright which piece she'd hang in her own home. She couldn't answer. That's when I knew.
"Architectural." God. I've heard that one. They might as well spell it out: "we can sell the space it takes up." And you're right, that's the whole tell, isn't it. When they love the version of you that fits a room, not the version you actually are.
The "wonky" thing resonates too. They wanted the straight ones, the safe ones, and they called the risk "wonky" like it was a flaw instead of the entire reason the work had any life in it. That's when you know they're not buying what you're making, they're buying what they can retell. Nothing wrong with a lawyer's wall, comme tu dis, but if that's the whole conversation, they're not a gallery for you, they're a furniture salesman with better lighting.
The word "decorative" is doing so much work in that sentence, and none of it is for you. It's their way of saying "we can sell this, but we're not going to respect it," and you're supposed to be grateful they'll take it at all.
The wonky thing though, that's the whole point, isn't it. They wanted the pieces that didn't ask anything of anyone. A wonky vessel asks you to look twice, to think about the hand that made it. That's not what a warehouse with a sign wants. It wants something that matches the sofa.
Good on you for holding the line on the wonk. That's the part worth keeping.