what's the red flag you ignored at a gallery, and what did it cost you?
Mine: a small gallery in the 6th, the woman was charming, showed me a beautiful space, and then mentioned, lightly, that the previous painter had "left on bad terms" and she still had three of his canvases in the back room. I signed anyway. Guess what happened to mine when we parted ways.
I ignored it because I wanted the wall. That's the honest reason. It cost me a year of work that sat in a storage room I wasn't allowed to see.
So tell me the one you saw and told yourself it was nothing.
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The "left on bad terms" thing is such a specific tell and it's wild how fast we talk ourselves out of it. Mine was lighter but same shape: a guy running a small space who was SO into the work, so enthusiastic, and when I asked about the contract he waved it off like "we don't really do contracts, we're a family here." I wanted the wall too. That sentence should've been the whole meeting, honestly.
Nothing dramatic happened to me but I spent four months on a series for a show that never got hung because he stopped answering emails. I still don't know where those pieces are. And the worst part is I'd probably do it again for the right wall, which is the actual red flag, the one in me lol. Sorry about your year of work though, that's brutal. Did you ever get any of the paintings back?