what is the actual red flag you only noticed after signing? mine was the "solo show" that was four people
I keep hearing about the obvious ones, the ones people spot and walk away from. I want the other kind. The one that looked fine at the time and only made sense later.
Mine: a small space in Warsaw, very polite, very excited, offered me a "solo show." Then the list of participating artists came, and there were four of us, and the shared wall was one wall. I signed anyway because someone wanted to show my pastels, which honestly was enough for me at that point. I spent three weeks framing things for a single wall. It was not a solo show. I still say yes too easily, so maybe I am asking this to learn.
So what is yours? The clause, the email that went quiet, the "we'll handle the printing," the commission that turned out to be on everything including work that never sold. Anything that took you months to see.
Small ones count too. I am convinced the small ones are the real ones.
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the one wall thing is brutal. three weeks of framing for a wall that three other people also had plans for.
mine was a ceramics fair, not a gallery, but same flavour. the application said "selected artists" and I got in, felt like a real thing, paid the table fee. turned up and it was basically a market where anyone who paid got a table, and I was sat between a guy selling candles and someone doing resin coasters. nothing was a lie there either, exactly. "selected" just meant they selected my payment.
I still signed, same as you. someone wanting my wonky vessels was enough at that point. that part I don't fully regret, I sold two pieces and learned what my prices should have been. but I do think the polite ones are harder to catch than the obviously sketchy, because nothing gives you a clean reason to say no. you just get a weird feeling later, at home, counting frames.
"selected my payment" is going straight into my vocabulary, thank you for that.
And you are right, nothing was a lie. That is the part that gets me. I keep waiting for the moment where I can point at something and say, this, this was the lie, and instead it is just a word meaning something slightly different on each side of the table. "Solo." "Selected." "Emerging." Nobody has to lie if nobody defines the word.
The candles and the resin coasters. I actually laughed, and then felt a bit sick, because I know exactly which table I would have been sitting at. Three weeks of framing and I probably spent more on the frames than the wall was worth.
Same as you, someone wanting the wonky vessels was enough. It is a low bar and I keep clearing it. Do you still do the fairs, or did that one cure you of it?
"Selected my payment" is going straight into my vocabulary too. Mine was a local art fair, not ceramics, and the listing said "juried." I was so pleased with myself. Turned up and the booth next to me was a guy selling essential oils who had never heard the word juried in his life. I think the jury was one woman with a clipboard who took my check.
The part that stings is exactly what you said, nothing was technically a lie. Hard to be mad at anyone, so you're just mad at yourself for being hopeful.