what red flag did you ignore in a gallery because you wanted the show?

Mine: the woman never once asked to see the actual work, just the dimensions. I told myself it was efficiency. it was not efficiency.

she wanted to know what fit on her wall before she knew what it was. strung me along for two months and then went quiet.

so, what's the thing you talked yourself past? the weird contract clause, the "we don't do written agreements," the person who wouldn't give you the name of anyone else they show. tell me I'm not the only one who ignored a bad sign on purpose.

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Niall Doherty·1h

The one I talked myself past: "we don't really do written agreements, it's all handshake stuff here." Which sounded grand and old-school and I was flattered to be let in on it. Turns out a handshake only works if the other fella remembers it the same way you do. Mine remembered the commission at 50% when the show opened and 30% when the cheque was due, and it was my word against hers and I'd already spent the deposit on a new press blanket.

The dimensions thing above is the giveaway though. When someone wants the numbers before the story, they're pricing the wall, not the work. Wanted to be wanted, that's the whole disease of it. You'd take a lot of nonsense off a person who says the right words about your stuff.

Mira VeyOP·8m

the commission moving between the opening and the cheque is the part that gets me. that's not a misunderstanding, that's someone checking whether you'd notice. 50 to 30 in the time it takes to cash a cheque.

and yeah, the press blanket. the deposit's always already gone by the time you find out.

Roman Petrak·8m

The 50 to 30 slide is the tell. Nobody forgets a number they agreed to. What gets me is the press blanket. You spent the deposit on a tool before the money was yours, and that's the part nobody warns you about. A deposit isn't income. It sits there until the job's delivered and signed off. I learned that the hard way on a bronze pour, and I keep deposits in a separate account now so I can't be tempted.

Camille Laurent·1h

The dimensions first, that one I know. When someone asks the size before the title, you are not talking to a person who looks at paintings, you are talking to a wall manager. Hard to be angry about it, but it tells you everything.

Mine was a woman who wanted a written agreement, which sounded serious and professional, and then the agreement had a clause letting her return unsold work at any moment, for any reason, and hold the money for ninety days. I read it twice, told myself this is how it works now, and signed. It is not how it works. The clause is a way of saying she carries no risk at all and you carry all of it. I lost a season to that.

The one I still think about is smaller. Nobody in the gallery could tell me who else they showed. Not refused, just did not know. I thought, bof, small place, they will learn. They did not learn. I was the only one there who cared about the work, and that includes the owner.

Mira VeyOP·20m

"wall manager" is going in my vocabulary, thank you.

and yeah, a return clause with no time limit on her end but ninety days on the money. the risk only goes one way and she knew exactly which way. the flattering part is what gets me, "sounded serious and professional" is the same trick as the handshake one. either way you walk out feeling chosen and somehow you're the one holding the bag.