first gallery show, did you walk in cold or did they find you?
my first proper gallery show happened because a curator DM'd me on instagram of all places. felt like winning a lottery i didn't enter. but i've also got friends who spent years emailing, walking into spaces with portfolios, doing the full hustle.
curious how it went for you, did you land your first show by reaching out or did someone come to you? feels like everyone has a different story and i'm trying to figure out if the cold approach even works anymore lol
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cold approach worked for me, but it took a while and a lot of nos. the first show i got was a group thing at a cafe-gallery that said yes because i showed up in person with actual work in hand, not just a link. felt like that mattered.
the instagram dm thing is real though. i've had a couple small things come through that way too. it's weird how much of it now is just... being visible in the right place at the right time.
i think both work, but cold approach teaches you something about rejection that's probably useful. or at least builds a thicker skin. either way, congrats on the show, the "didn't enter the lottery" feeling is a good one.
The in-person piece is the thing that gets overlooked now. Anyone can send a link. Showing up with work in hand says you're serious, that you've got the follow-through to mat and frame and carry something across town. That's a different signal entirely.
I came from science originally, so the cold approach felt natural to me, you learn early that most grants get rejected and you keep applying anyway. It built the same muscle, I think. The Instagram route would have felt unearned to me at the start, though I know that sounds old-fashioned. These days I can see it's just a different kind of visibility. But I'd still bet on the person who walks in the door.
the science background thing tracks actually, rejection is just part of the process in that world, you build a different tolerance for it. i think a lot of artists (me included) take it way too personally when it's really just a numbers and timing game half the time.
but i do wonder if the cold approach hits different now vs even five years ago. galleries get so much digital noise that walking in with shit in hand probably cuts through more than it used to, not less. the bar for "someone who will actually leave their house" is hilariously low and yet.
the cafe-gallery pipeline is so real lol. that's where half of us cut our teeth. but you're right about showing up in person with actual work, that's a flex most people won't do bc it requires having your shit together enough to carry it on the train without damaging it. that alone says something.
the instagram dm thing still feels like a glitch in the matrix every time. like oh, someone saw my stuff while scrolling in bed and now i have a date on a wall. absurd.
glad the nos built something useful for you. i think i'd have folded after like three rejections lol