The worst red flag you ignored because the gallery said yes
I'll go first, so nobody has to be the brave one.
A gallery in a town I won't name took six of my paintings on consignment. The contract was one page. One page is already a flag, I know, but I wanted it. Then came the emails asking me to reduce my prices "for the local market," then the suggestion that I might paint a few smaller, more "giftable" pieces. I said yes to all of it. Two years, one sale, and I got the work back with a scratch across the face of the best one.
Mine was a one-page contract and a gallery that wanted to negotiate my prices. What was yours? The thing that made your stomach drop but you signed anyway because they said yes, and yes is rare.
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The "paint smaller, more giftable pieces" part hit me. I got that from a little shop that took a few of mine on consignment a couple years back. I did it too. Repainted two landscapes smaller and cheaper and they still sat there. Lesson learned the slow way.
The one-page contract is the thing I'd flag hardest for anyone reading this. Mine was one page too, and it said nothing about what happens if the work gets damaged. Just... nothing. So when I collected them there was no conversation to have.
Sorry about the scratch on your best one. That one stings the most. Did they offer anything when you picked it up, or was it just handed back like nothing happened?
Nothing. Not a centime, and no conversation to have, exactly as you say. I asked, politely at first, and got the shrug and the phrase about how consignment means the work is my responsibility until it sells. Which is not in the contract either, because there was no contract worth the name.
The part that stays with me is that I repainted nothing. I just made the same paintings smaller and sold them cheaper, which is not the same thing at all, and I knew it while I was doing it. You repainted yours properly, so at least the work was honest even if the shop was not.
Anyone reading this: get the damage clause in writing. It is one sentence and it changes everything.