Approaching galleries, writing the pitch, and navigating the relationship once you're in.
I sometimes dream about walking into a gallery space and it just... fitting. Like my work belonged there without me having to explain anything. Does anyone else have a specific gallery in mind, maybe one you've visited, where you just felt 'this is it'? Not necessarily where you want to show, but where the vibe or the collection just clicked with your own art?
I still get a little annoyed thinking about this. Had a gallery interested in showing some of my landscapes a couple years back, which felt huge for me at the time. Then in the conversation they mentioned I'd be expected to cover the catering for the opening night. Not split, not share, me, fully. I was so flattered by the offer I almost said yes before common sense kicked in. What's the weirdest thing a gallery has asked you to pay for or provide? I want to know if the wine thing is actually normal somewhere or if I was right to walk.
A young painter I teach asked me last week how you know a gallery is serious, and I gave her the boring answer I give everyone: ask who else is on the walls, and then go look at how those paintings are hung and lit. Not the website. The actual room. My own test is smaller than that. I ask what happens if a piece doesn't sell in a year. The ones who answer without flinching are the ones I trust. The ones who get vague, I file away. What's yours? The question you always ask, or the thing you look at before signing anything.
A small thing I want to ask you all, since it has been sitting in my mind. Some years back I carried my paintings to a gallery in Patna, and the person there, without asking me, lifted one from the corner with two fingers to look at the back. Natural colour on handmade paper, it can smudge, and he did not ask. I said nothing, I am sorry to say. I was younger and I needed the sale. So my question: what is the one thing a gallery person did with your work, in front of you, that you did not like. Touching without asking, calling it "ethnic" or "craft item," asking you to make it in a smaller size for tourists, anything. Myself I will say the "craft item" word hurts more than the finger. Tell me yours ji.
Mine did the slow fade over about seven months. Studio visit, then "we're very interested," then a group show that kept getting pushed back a season, then pushed back again, then nothing. I finally emailed to ask and got a reply that started with "unfortunately." I keep wondering if I cut it too early or hung on too long. What's the longest you've been left hanging, and how did you know when to walk?
Mine was boring: I emailed a small space in Göteborg, got no answer, emailed again four months later with actual images attached, and got a yes. Same gallery, same person. The only difference was that I'd stopped being vague about what I was sending. But I know people who just walked in with work under their arm and got a show out of it, and I've never had the nerve. So: how did your first one happen? Luck, persistence, or did you do something deliberate that I should probably be doing?
I emailed four galleries last winter with a link and a short letter, and got one reply, which was a no. Then in March I walked into a small place on a Tuesday afternoon with two pastels in a paper folder, mostly because I was in the area and felt brave for about ten minutes. The woman at the desk actually looked at them, and we talked for maybe twenty minutes. Nothing came of it in the end, but she remembered my name the next time I came by. So I think walking in worked better for me, which is annoying because emailing is so much less frightening. What actually got a reply for you? And if you email, how long do you wait before you assume it's a no?
When I first showed the cyanotypes, the woman at the desk looked at them a long time and then asked if they were finished. The white edges, the brush marks, the slight bleed where the seawater got past the tape. She meant it kindly, I think, but it stayed with me for weeks. I said yes. They are exactly as finished as I want them. But I drove home wondering whether I should have said something better. So, what is the strangest or most useful thing a gallery has said about how you make the work? Not the price talk, the process talk. Did it change anything, or did you keep going as you were?
First one that ever showed real interest wanted my pieces patinated a warmer brown because "the clientele responds to warm." I said no. Cost me the show. Took me four years to get another bite from anyone. Still think I was right, but I'm not always sure. So what did they ask you to change, and did you hold the line or give them what they wanted? And did it matter either way.
I got my first show because the man I apprenticed under mentioned my name to a dealer he'd known twenty years. I never sent a thing. Didn't even know it happened until she called me. So I'm curious how the rest of you got in the door the first time. Was it a cold email, a walk-in with a portfolio under your arm, or a person who vouched for you? I ask because I've watched a lot of younger people grind out submission after submission, and I don't know if that's ever worked for anyone or if it's just what you do when you don't have an old man with a phone number. Tell me I'm wrong.
I emailed a gallery in March, heard nothing, sent a follow up in June, heard nothing, then got a yes in November. Nine months. By then I'd already decided the work wasn't good enough and nearly pulled it. Turns out they just don't read fast. So what's your number? How long do you give a gallery before you write it off, and did anyone ever come back from the dead on you?
I'll go first since it's only fair. My first one, I didn't have a portfolio, didn't have a website, didn't know you were supposed to have either one. I folded three quilts into a clean pillowcase, walked into a little gallery downtown, and stood there in the doorway till the woman looked up. She asked was I lost. I said no ma'am, I brought you something to see. She let me lay them out on the floor because there wasn't a table big enough. Took her about a minute and then she got quiet, and I knew quiet was better than compliments. She gave me a wall in a group show that fall. Nothing sold. I did not care one bit. So now I want to hear yours. Did you walk in cold, mail a packet, get introduced by somebody, or did a gallery come find you? And how many nos did you take before the yes? I'm nosy and I'm old enough not to pretend otherwise.
Not the polite form letter. The real one. Mine: I sent a folder of photos to a gallery in Lyon, the kind with the good light and a director who smokes in the doorway. Three months of nothing. Then a note, four lines, saying my work was "sérieux mais un peu triste" and that their clients preferred something more gay. I read it eleven times. Then I went back to the easel, because what else. So. What was your first no? The words, if you still have them. I think we all keep them.
Mine: the owner spent the whole meeting talking to my friend instead of me. I was standing right there holding my portfolio. Ten minutes of him asking her what she did. She's a nurse. I stayed twenty minutes longer than I should have because I didn't want to be rude. What's the thing that told you this was never going to work, and did you leave right then or sit through it like I did?
Now I'll tell this on myself. I drove up to a little gallery with my quilts folded in a plastic laundry basket, still smelling like the house, and stood there in the doorway like I was delivering somebody's dry cleaning. Girl at the desk looked at that basket, looked at me, and I thought well, I drove two hours. Long story short she called the owner out and the owner said "unfold them." So I did, right there on the floor. Turns out a laundry basket is not the sin I thought it was, but I want to know how y'all did it. First time you walked your work into a gallery, what did you carry it in? Portfolio case, cardboard, quilted bag, your arms, your husband's truck? And did anybody make you feel small about it? I ask because my granddaughter keeps telling me to buy a proper portfolio bag and I keep telling her I've got one, it's just green and holds socks. Tell me I'm wrong, or tell me you did worse.
Namaste to all. Myself Ramesh, Mithila painting from Madhubani, and I am fairly new to this online talking. My question is this. In my work there is the traditional thing. Fish, peacock, the wedding of Shiva and Parvati, kohbar for the marriage chamber. This is what my mother taught me and her mother before. Then there is the simpler work. Small fish, plain border, bright, easy to carry home, and this sells faster. So the galleries and the middlemen, they say to me, make more of the simple one, this is what the customer will buy. I have done it sometimes. Money is money and the house is running. But each time I feel some heaviness inside. So I want to ask the artists here, not the gallery people. Have you ever told a gallery no when they asked you to change your work for the market? What did you say, and did they drop you or not? And if you did change, was it worth it or you regret. One more small thing. I told one gallery in Delhi I will not remove the kohbar line from the border because that line is not decoration, it is for the marriage blessing. He laughed. I still did not remove it. That is my answer, kindly give yours.
Namaste to all ji. I want to ask one thing from those who have approached galleries. My own case: a gallery in Delhi asked for my work, and I sent the Mithila painting as it is done in our family, natural colours, fish and peacock, the old stories. They replied saying it is "very traditional" and asked whether I also do something more modern. I did not change. I said this is the work, this is what my mother and grandmother did. Nothing came of it. But I am still thinking. Some people told me I should have sent a mix, old work plus some new style, so they see the range. Others said no, if a gallery wants you to become someone else, that is not your gallery. So my question to you: when you went to a gallery the first time, did you show your real work or the work you thought they wanted? And how did it go for you. Tell me honestly, I will not feel bad. 🙏
i'll go first. one place told me they "handle all the marketing" and then asked me to pay for the framing, the postcard run, AND a "co-op advertising fee" before a single piece sold. i asked what the gallery's cut was and got a paragraph about "shared investment in your career." so what's the red flag that made you back out? the 50/50 split that was actually 70/30 in the fine print? the "we only take artists who are serious" line? the contract with a 3 year exclusive and no out clause? one i know people argue about: asked for money upfront. some of you will say that's normal for juried shows and some of you will say run. would love to hear which side you land on and why.
gallery reached out first, said they loved the work, wanted to "find the right slot." emails every few weeks, always warm, never a date. i sent new work, re-shot everything, redid the whole pdf twice. seven months. then nothing, and when i finally asked flat out they said they'd "gone in a different direction." i still don't know if i was too patient or if i should've pushed at month two. what's the longest you've let one of these drag on, and did you ever send the "so is this happening or not" email? tell me you cut it off sooner than i did.
I'll start. First real gallery interest I ever got, the guy wouldn't put anything in writing. Kept saying "we work on a handshake here." Then he asked if I'd cover the framing and shipping on my own pieces for a show. Signed nothing, walked. Cost me a year of wondering if I was being too picky. What's the thing that made you back out, or the one you ignored and wish you hadn't?
