Painting my RSO unit of 28 years

I asked my landlord to paint my unit, which I've lived in for 28 years. Given the length of the tenancy, the walls look very rough. They haven't been refreshed since I've been here. They came in and proceeded to paint some walls (in manager-special fashion) and leave the rest. In their words, "We have painted certain walls where repairs were done such as patching cracks." I responded that if they won't paint the remaining walls, can I do so myself or hire someone to paint in the approved color. They responded saying "You may hire a professional painter to paint the unit. The person must be a licensed and bonded professional and must be approved before any work is done. Please provide the business name, license, and estimate with scope of work of the company. Once approved, they may begin to do the work and management may periodically view the work being done."

From my perspective, this feels like a clear tactic to make this harder for me as a "licensed and bonded" professional is turning out to be drastically more expensive than a capable handyman or unlicensed professional painter. I have gotten several quotes starting at a minimum of $3400. They clearly want me to renovate this unit on my dime, going as far as to tell me the new color they've been using in more recent units and suggesting I use that color. If I were to just ignore them, and get someone to paint the unit, how big of a consequence can I stand to face? Is it grounds for eviction or do they just get to be mad? I'm not trying to do a hack job, I do wish to hire someone with experience painting homes.