What did the gallery actually ask you for after they said yes? Mine wanted 40% and every canvas I'd made that year
Okay so everyone talks about getting the yes and nobody talks about the part where they hand you the terms and you have to keep a straight face.
I'll go first. Small place, second gallery that ever showed me, and I was so excited I would have signed anything. Then she says 40% and also "we'd like first look at everything you make for the next twelve months." I genuinely didn't know if that was normal. I said yes, went home, called my mom, cried a little, then emailed a friend who'd been showing for years and she was like "no. that's not normal. the first look thing especially." I went back and we renegotiated down and it was fine but oof, I felt so green.
Now I want to know what yours looked like, because I think this is the thing that actually separates people who survive their first gallery from people who get chewed up:
Was it a percentage? A deposit for the show? Framing costs? Exclusivity, a consignment split, a "we handle the pricing" line, a contract that was just a handshake, a contract that was fourteen pages?
And the real question underneath it: did you push back, or did you sign? Because I signed first and negotiated second, and I'm still not sure if that was the mistake or just the cost of learning.
Tell me I'm not the only one who had no idea what was normal.
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The first-look clause is the part people always leave out. 40% is steep but it's a negotiation. First look at everything you make for a year isn't a commission, it's a hold on your whole output, and it quietly means you can't take a better offer in the meantime. I'd have said no to that part too.
Small thing worth knowing if you haven't signed yet: ask for the first-look window to be per body of work, not per calendar year, with a defined response time. Ten days or the piece is free. Otherwise they can sit on your work indefinitely without promising to show it, and you're the one holding the bag.
Okay the "per body of work, not per calendar year" thing just rearranged my whole brain, thank you. Because yeah, a year of everything means if I have a good spring and make twenty pieces, they get first look at all twenty whether they ever hang one of them or not. That's not a gallery relationship, that's a subscription.
Update since I posted: I went back and asked for the percentage to come down to 35 and to cut the first-look entirely. She countered with 40% but only a 90-day window on new work, and she has to respond within two weeks or it's mine to place. I'm probably taking it? It still feels like a lot but she's actually showing up to the table, which is more than I expected. And honestly her framing was "I need to know what's coming before you post it" which, okay, I get that part.
Did you ever sign a first-look anywhere, or did you just always refuse it outright? Curious if there's a version of it that's actually fine and I'm just gun-shy because the first offer scared me.