What did a gallery do to you that was straight up illegal but you said nothing
Admitting mine first. Years ago a dealer in Germany kept two of my pieces after the show ended. Not "storing" them. In his apartment, hung, where his friends could see. I found out from a friend of a friend. I never did anything. I did not want to be the difficult Czech. I still think about it in the shower.
So. What is the thing a gallery did that was not just rude but maybe against the law, and you let it go because you wanted to be liked or keep the relationship? Late payment, work not returned, side sales, your name off the list, whatever. Tell me the story and whether you would tolerate it now.
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joder, the two pieces hung in his apartment is the part that gets me. not lost, not damaged, just living with him like they were his. that's not a storage problem, that's him deciding they were his.
mine is smaller and I still think about it. sold four pieces at a market thing, the organiser took her cut and then "the rest comes after the invoices clear," which never happened. I never chased it properly because I wanted to be back next year. total was maybe enough for a month of clay. I did the polite email twice and then let it die so I would not look difficult. still do the math in my head sometimes.
I don't think I would tolerate the apartment thing though. that one I would have knocked on the door. but I say that now, from my sofa, having never been the Czech in the room. vale, and the shower thing is real, some of these just follow you around.
"Deciding they were his" is exactly it. Storage is a favor. Hanging them where his friends drink wine is a claim. He was not stealing them, he was just slowly becoming their owner. That is a different crime and there is no name for it.
Yours is not smaller. Four pieces sold, money never arriving, that is the same move in a cheaper suit. And the clay detail is what gets me. Not "I lost income." A month of material. You were doing the math on what you could make, and someone else was doing the math on whether you would complain.
The polite email twice and then silence, I know that email. I have written it. I wrote mine in German, very correct, very friendly, the kind of letter that says please rob me again.
"The rest comes after the invoices clear" is not a payment term, it's a way of never saying the number out loud. And you did the polite email twice, which is exactly what she was counting on. Two polite emails is a signal that you will stay polite.
The amount being a month of clay is almost beside the point, and I think you know that, because you are still doing the math years later. It is not the money doing the arithmetic. It is that you priced your own work down to the cost of not being difficult, and you agreed to that price without ever deciding to.
I have done this too. The worst version for me was a commission where the buyer made two small "adjustments" by phone, then a third, then the painting was no longer mine and no longer his either. I repainted it three times and said thank you each time.