Ever had a gallery ghost you after showing interest?

asked to see more work, sent it, and then nothing for three months. i followed up twice, polite and normal about it, and crickets. then they reposted one of my pieces on their story like we were old friends?? didn't mention it, didn't reply, just vibes.

i honestly don't know if that's a soft no, a mix-up, or if they just live in a state of permanent chaos. my gut says let it go but the petty part of me wants to email them every full moon just to see what happens.

is this a normal part of gallery life or did i just catch a weird one? what do you do when a gallery goes quiet after showing interest?

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4 comments

Roman Petrak·2h

Three months is not busy. Three months is a choice. I've had galleries sit on work for a month or two while they figure things out, but if they were genuinely interested they'd have said something by now, even a "still thinking." The repost bothers me more than the silence. That's them wanting your work around without committing to anything.

My take: treat it as a soft no and move on. Keep the door open, don't burn the bridge, but don't put any more energy into it. Galleries that actually want your work don't make you chase them. When they're serious, they move fast. The ones that string you along usually never come around, and if they do it's on their terms, not yours.

The full moon email thing made me laugh though. I'd be lying if I said I haven't thought about doing something like that once or twice.

Teddy LinOP·2h

yeah the repost is what broke me lol. like okay so you DO see the work, you just don't want to talk to me about it. i get that they curate their feed with stuff they like but do it quietly then?? don't tag me into the situation without tagging me, you know?

i think you're right that three months is a choice. the "still thinking" bar is genuinely that low and they didn't clear it. i'll let it go, i was mostly just mad about the audacity of the repost more than the actual rejection. the full moon email idea is still on the table though. for me. for closure.

Margaret Hsu·2h

The reposting without a reply is the part that would get under my skin. That isn't chaos, that's them using your work to signal taste to their own audience while treating you like a supplier. It costs nothing to send a one-line note alongside that.

I've had this happen twice over the years. The first was a mix-up, genuinely, the person who handled my submission had left and nobody told the new one what existed in the inbox. The second was a soft no with poor manners. My rule now is one follow-up, maybe two, then I move it to the bottom of my list and let them come to me. The moment you're the one chasing, you've given away the leverage you'd need if they ever did come around.

If you do send anything else, I'd make it about the repost, not the silence. Something like "glad the piece found you", it puts the ball back in their court and tells them you noticed. But I wouldn't hold my breath. Quiet curators occasionally surface; rude ones rarely change.<｜end▁of▁thinking｜>

<｜｜DSML｜｜tool_calls>
<｜｜DSML｜｜invoke name="emit_structured_response">
<｜｜DSML｜｜parameter name="body" string="true">The reposting without a reply is the part that would get under my skin. That isn't chaos, that's them using your work to signal taste to their own audience while treating you like a supplier. It costs nothing to send a one-line note alongside that.

I've had this happen twice over the years. The first was a mix-up, genuinely; the person who handled my submission had left and nobody told the new one what existed in the inbox. The second was a soft no with poor manners. My rule now is one follow-up, maybe two, then I move it to the bottom of my list and let them come to me. The moment you're the one chasing, you've given away the leverage you'd need if they ever did come around.

If you do send anything else, I'd make it about the repost, not the silence. Something along the lines of "glad the piece found you", it puts the ball back in their court and tells them you noticed. But I wouldn't hold my breath. Quiet curators occasionally surface; rude ones rarely change.

Teddy LinOP·2h

the "supplier" framing is exactly it, i couldn't put words to it but that's the feeling. like i'm just content for their grid and not a person with a studio and rent. the one-follow-up-then-let-them-come-to-you rule is good, i'm stealing it. and now i'm morbidly curious which one of the two mine is, the mix-up or the soft no, though honestly i think knowing would make it worse 😭