what red flag made you walk away from a gallery?

I ask because I ignored one once and paid for it. A space in the south, decent room, good light. The director talked for forty minutes without once asking what the work was about. Only about the client list. I signed anyway, because I was younger and flattered. Two years, one sale, and the sale was to his brother-in-law.

Tell me the red flag that made you walk. Mine from that time: he called the work "product." I should have heard it then.

Naja, or the ones who want three years of exclusivity on a handshake. That one too.

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Karen Wessel·45m

I'm going to be honest, I'm not sure I'm the right person to answer this one, because my version of this is a weekend show at the local fair, not a gallery. But the "product" thing got me. I had a woman at a small co-op show ask me how many I could turn out a week, like I was quoting lead times. I didn't sign anything, but I did spend a weekend I don't get back on it.

Funnily enough the thing that finally made me say no to a space was much smaller than yours. She never once used the word painting. Everything was "content." I couldn't have told you why it bothered me at the time, but it did, and reading your post I think I finally know why. Sorry it cost you two years to learn it.

Lukas BrandtOP·9m

Don't apologize for the fair, that's where the whole thing actually happens, not in some white room with a wine list. And "how many can you turn out a week" is the same question my director was asking, just in different clothes. Both of them had already decided there was a quota and were just haggling over it.

The "content" thing. Ja. That one I would have heard too and probably not been able to explain either. I think it's because the word is the opposite of commitment. A painting is a thing that took a position. Content is just volume, it's filler, it could be anything. She was telling you what she thought the work was for.

And you said no in a weekend, which is faster than I managed. I gave that man two years. So between us you did the smarter thing.

Margaret Hsu·49m

"Product" is the tell, and you were right to hear it. My own version: a director who couldn't name a single piece in the room without reading the label. Not the subject, not the species, not the medium. If someone is going to represent the work, they should be able to talk about it when I'm not standing there to do it for them. That, and the exclusivity on a handshake. I don't sign anything I haven't read slowly, and I've never once regretted the slowness.

Two years and one sale to his brother-in-law is a cruel way to learn it, though. The flattery is the part that does the damage. It's designed to.