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I had a small gallery reach out last month, first one that ever seemed genuinely interested, and they wanted a six-month exclusivity agreement for my city. I panicked and said I'd think about it, and now I've been going back and forth for weeks. Part of me thinks, it's just one city, and it's a foot in the door. The other part thinks I'm too small to be locking myself into anything. I ended up not signing. Maybe I was too cautious, I don't know. Has anyone here actually done an exclusivity deal? Did it help you or hold you back? I'm trying to figure out if I made the right call or if I just talked myself out of something good.

A gallery about an hour from me offered representation last year on condition of exclusivity within a fifty-mile radius. I turned it down. It felt too limiting for a first relationship, and I wasn't convinced they could sell enough of my work to make it sensible. I still wonder whether that was the right call. Has anyone here signed an exclusive agreement with a gallery and found it worked well? Or regretted it? I would be interested to hear how you decided.

Had a gallery ask me for exclusivity in my city. I said yes because I was young and flattered. They sold one small piece in eight months and got quiet when I asked about showing elsewhere. Anyone else signed an exclusive that went nowhere? Did you stick it out or break it off? I stayed too long and I'm still not sure what the right call was.

I had a gallery a few years back, small, good space, seemed to get my work, and they wanted exclusivity for my city. Not just that they'd represent me, but that I couldn't sell to anyone else in Thessaloniki at all. Even off my own studio floor. I said no and we parted ways. Still wonder if I was right or just territorial. What's your line on exclusivity? Signed one, turned one down, regretted either way?

A gallery I was in conversation with last year asked for exclusive representation of every single piece I produce, including work they would never exhibit or sell, studies, private commissions, teaching demonstration pieces. I told them no, and the conversation ended rather quickly. Has anyone else run into this kind of exclusivity clause? Where do you draw the line? I understand a gallery wanting commitment on what they show, but ownership of everything that leaves your brush seems a step too far to me.

I had a gallery last year that wanted first right of refusal on everything I made. Which felt kind of flattering at the time, until I realized they'd sold exactly nothing of mine in six months and I'd basically just parked my work in their back room. I get that exclusivity can be a thing, especially with bigger galleries that actually move work. But I've had three separate small galleries ask for some version of it and none of them could point to a single sale they'd made for any artist. Am I wrong for thinking you gotta earn that? Like maybe sell a piece first before you ask me to stop talking to other spaces? What's the earliest a gallery has asked you for exclusivity, and did you say yes?

I had a gallery once that asked me to stop selling on my own, even prints, even at open studios. "It dilutes the brand," they said. I agreed because I thought that's how it works, right? They'll do the selling for you. Six months later I'd sold maybe two small pieces through them and my own sales had completely dried up. Anyone else had a gallery want exclusivity and then just... nothing? How do you even tell early on whether it's a real opportunity or they're just collecting artists?

Had a gallery approach me years ago, all enthusiasm. Wanted first right of refusal on everything I made. No other galleries, no direct sales. I was young enough to be flattered and stupid enough to say yes. Nine months. They sold nothing. Not one piece. And I'd turned down two other opportunities because of the exclusivity clause. Anyone else get burned by a gallery that wanted all your loyalty but couldn't deliver a single sale? How long did you stay before you walked?

so i had this gallery hit me up a while back, really wanted to rep me, but they wanted first right of refusal on everything i made + i couldn't sell anything elsewhere without their okay. cool. fine. except in the six months we worked together they sold exactly one small piece and i turned down like four commissions because of the contract. i get that exclusivity is standard for some folks but at what point is it just them tying you up so you can't build momentum anywhere else? i pulled out and felt guilty about it for a week and then realized i was being an idiot. anyone else had the "we want all your work but we won't sell any of it" experience? how long did you stick it out before you bounced

Had a gallery years back that wanted first look at everything I made. Said no showing anywhere else, no selling direct, no side commissions. Shook on it. Then they took eighteen months to sell one piece and got quiet every time I asked for a timeline. Never again without a contract. If they won't put it on paper, they don't mean it. Anyone else get burned on a handshake deal with a gallery? Or am I the only one old-fashioned enough to have thought a handshake meant something.

I keep thinking about a contract I was offered years ago from a small gallery. It asked for 50% commission, exclusive representation within 200 miles, first refusal on everything I produced for two years, and the right to reproduce my work for their promotional use in perpetuity. I did not sign it. The owner seemed genuinely surprised. What is the worst contract term you have been presented with, and did you walk away or negotiate?

There was a gallery early on, small city, they liked the work. The contract wanted 60% and exclusive rights to everything I made for three years. I was young enough to think maybe that's just how it works. I didn't sign it. But I wondered for months if I'd made a mistake. What's the worst proposal you've actually seen, the one that made you laugh or made you walk?

okay so I have this little palette that I use exclusively for scraping off, like when I've mixed too much of something and I don't want to waste it down the sink, I scrape it onto this sad little ceramic dish. And I've been doing this for maybe a year and a half now? It's just layer after layer of dried gouache and watercolor crust, all these colors smooshed together into this weird marbled sediment thing. I keep thinking I should clean it off and start fresh but honestly it's kind of beautiful?? It's like a geology core sample of every painting I've done since I went full-time. I scraped a warm grey off it today and it had these tiny veins of ultramarine running through it from something I painted in like March and I just sat there staring at it for a solid minute. My partner thinks I'm insane for keeping it but they also touched it once and said "oh that's actually kind of pretty" so. I'm keeping it.