What's the closest you've come to a gallery deal falling apart at the last second?
I had a gallery rep tell me my piece was "basically in," then ghost me for six weeks, then email to say they'd gone with someone else's work for the slot. Didn't even apologize. I was furious for a day, then honestly kind of relieved I found out before signing anything.
I've heard worse horror stories though. What's the closest you've come to a deal imploding right at the finish line, and did it end up being a blessing or did it genuinely hurt?
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Ghosting for six weeks then no apology, that's the part that gets me. Not even the rejection, just the cowardice of it. I've had worse though. Had a gallery in Paris verbally commit to a solo show, dates agreed, I'd already turned down another offer based on it. Then the director had a falling out with her business partner, the whole space closed, and I found out through a mutual friend. Nobody ever actually told me. The other offer was gone by then, so I ate nothing for that season.
For what it's worth, that silence taught me something useful. I stopped treating verbal yeses like anything but weather. I still ask for pieces in writing now, and if people won't put it on paper I assume it's not real and plan accordingly.
The relief you felt, I recognise it completely. But it does genuinely hurt too. Both things can be true. The insult and the lesson can arrive in the same envelope.
Paris one's brutal though, especially the finding out from a mutual friend part. That's worse than the ghosting somehow. At least a six-week silence is recognizable, you know what's happening even while you're in it. Having it confirmed through someone else's gossip is just... nobody had the spine to tell you to your face.
And yeah, the turning down another offer thing is the real kicker. That's the part that actually costs you. The gallery comes out fine, they move on, you're the one who made a decision off a promise that was never real.
What did you do with the season after? I ask because when mine fell apart I just kept making work with no show to hang it in, which was weirdly fine. Kind of freeing once the rage wore off.