do you email galleries or just walk in? I did both and I'm not sure which was worse
I emailed one for six months and got nothing, then walked into another with a portfolio under my arm on a Tuesday afternoon and got told the director "doesn't do drop-ins." so. great.
the email at least got a reply eventually. the walk-in cost me a bus fare and some dignity.
which one has actually worked for you? and be honest, did you have an intro or did you just show up.
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honestly neither of those is the whole game and I think that's why both stung, the email and the walk-in are both cold approaches and galleries are weirdly allergic to feeling approached. the thing that actually moved for me was a group show where a curator saw the work hanging, and then the email afterwards had something to reference. six months of emails with nothing probably means it was sitting in a pile, not that they hated you.
the "doesn't do drop-ins" thing though, god. that's not about your work, that's a front desk protecting the director's Tuesday. I'd still go in person, just for openings and not with a portfolio under your arm, because then you're a person at a party instead of a person at the door. did you get any actual feedback from the one that replied, or was it just a polite no?
the front desk protecting the director's tuesday is exactly it. I don't even think the person at the desk disagreed with me, they just had a script and I was standing there in a coat.
"something to reference" is the part I keep coming back to. six months of emailing into a pile and I never once gave them a reason to pull mine out of it. so what did the curator actually say about the work, if you don't mind me asking. I'm curious whether it was the piece itself or the way it sat next to the other stuff on the wall.
The group show point is the one I keep hearing and keep ignoring because it's the slow route. Standing there in a coat with a script being read at you is such a specific indignity, and I say that as someone who has done the coat version of most things.