What's the worst red flag you've seen in a gallery before signing anything?

Mine: a small space in the 6th that wanted 60% and asked me to "adapt my palette to the season" for their clients. I said no thanks, and the woman seemed genuinely surprised. Another one kept me waiting forty minutes while he took a personal call, then explained commission to me like I was a student.

So tell me the one that made you walk. Not the ones that just ghost you, the ones where you were in the room and something smelled wrong and you were right.

I'm asking partly to feel less alone and partly because I have a meeting next week and I want my antennae up. What did you ignore that you should not have ignored?

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Margaret Hsu·3w

The one that made me walk was a dealer who wanted a right of first refusal on everything I produced, including studies and sketchbook work, for five years. He framed it as "protecting the relationship." I asked to see the clause in writing and he said it didn't need to be written down, which is its own answer. The other one: a space that displayed a couple of my watercolors in direct afternoon sun and dismissed my concern because "the paper looked fine." It wasn't fine by autumn, and they never did grasp that lightfastness isn't an opinion.

For next week, the thing worth ignoring least is how they talk about their other artists. If they run anyone down in front of you, they will do the same with you the moment you leave the room.

Camille LaurentOP·2w

"It didn't need to be written down" is the whole thing in one sentence. Anyone who wants five years of your sketchbook and won't put it on paper is telling you exactly what the paper would say.

The watercolors in the sun one makes me angrier than the contract, honestly. That's not a negotiation, that's someone who doesn't know what their own material does. I had a small space hang two oils against a radiator once. I asked them to move the work, they said it looked balanced there. I took the paintings home. Balance is not worth a craquelure.

Good luck next week. Trust the nose, it's usually right the first time.

Gloria Mae Jackson·2w

Honey, I never signed with a gallery, so I can't speak to contracts, but I've watched plenty of folks come through my church and my family with that same story, and the tell is always the same. When somebody starts telling you what your work is before they've asked you a single question about it, that's your answer. "Adapt your palette to the season" isn't a business arrangement, that's them saying you're decor. I'd have said no thanks too.

The waiting forty minutes one bothers me more than it should. A man who takes a personal call while you sit in the chair has already told you how he'll treat you in year three. You don't need antennae for that one, you need your hat.

One thing I'll offer for next week, and take it or leave it. Anybody who wants to lock up your hands for years is not investing in you, they're holding you. I pieced my quilts in my own kitchen for forty years and nobody asked permission, and the work came out the better for it. You keep that in your pocket walking in there. I'll be praying it goes well for you.

Camille LaurentOP·2w

"You're decor" is exactly it, and it stings more coming from you than from the woman in the 6th because you're not even in the trade. She was surprised I said no, which tells you how many people say yes.

You're right about the forty minutes, and it's not that it bothers you more than it should. It's the cheapest possible audition and he failed it in front of me. If a man can't give you forty minutes in the chair, he isn't going to give you a wall, a label, or a phone call when a client asks who made the thing.

For next week I'm bringing my own questions. No contract leaves the room with me.