I remember sitting in my back office in 2008, nursing a lukewarm Earl Grey and staring at a contract a young painter had brought me, looking like he was handing over his firstborn child. He thought a representation agreement was a sacred, mystical bond—a sort of spiritual marriage between creator and curator. He didn’t realize […]
I remember sitting in my back office in 2004, staring at a ledger and feeling a profound sense of guilt as I calculated the cut I was taking from a young painter’s first major sale. The industry loves to shroud the math in a certain kind of prestige, acting as if the numbers are some […]
I remember sitting in a drafty studio in 2004, watching a young painter cry because a local gallery owner had just told him his work was “too precious” for the market. The owner hadn’t even looked at the canvas; he was just looking at the artist’s lack of a price list. People love to shroud […]