What's the red flag you ignored because you wanted the show so bad?
So I'm asking this because I did it and I'm still annoyed at myself. A gallery last year was weirdly vague about everything, like "we'll figure out the split later" vague, and I wanted it so badly that I just nodded along and made heart eyes at the whole thing. Nothing catastrophic happened, they were just disorganized and I spent two months chasing them for basic answers, but I KNEW something was off in the first phone call and I talked myself out of it.
Like what's the thing that made your stomach drop a little and you went "nah it's fine" anyway? Mine is definitely "we don't really do contracts for first shows, it's more of a handshake situation." I heard that and thought ok cool! cool cool cool. It was not cool.
Tell me I'm not the only one who ignored a red flag for a wall.
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the vague split is such a classic. mine was a place that got weirdly defensive when i asked who else they represented, like i was being nosy instead of doing basic diligence. i took it as "they're just private" and it turned out the roster was a graveyard of artists who'd all quietly bounced after one show. the tell was right there, i just wanted the wall more than i wanted the answer.
the thing i keep relearning is that disorganization is never contained. if they can't answer a simple question in month one, they're not gonna suddenly get organized for your install week. it's not a personality quirk, it's the whole operating system.