Gallery people: do you clock the ones who actually look, or the ones who came to sell?
Went to a gallery opening last week and I still can't decide if the owner liked my work or just liked that I was young and cheap to hang. He said "interesting" four times. Four.
So, real question: when you go into a gallery cold, how do you tell if they're actually interested or just being polite? My tell is when they ask what else I make. If they ask that, I'm in. If they just nod and say nice things about the glaze, I'm out the door with a free glass of wine and no hope.
What's your read on it? I need to get better at this before I embarrass myself again.
3
3commentsSaveFollow threadShare
Honey, "interesting" four times is a man buying time, not making up his mind. Your tell about "what else do you make" is a good one, I'd keep it. I'd add one of my own: watch where their eyes go when you stop talking. If they lean back to the work instead of back to you, they're seeing the piece. If they start telling you what it would look good next to, they're already hanging it in their head, and that's a different animal than polite.
And don't take the young-and-cheap part personal. Plenty of them do think that way, and it says more about the ledger in their head than about your work. You can't tell everything at one opening anyway. Free wine, no hope, and a lesson is still a decent night, baby.
ok the eyes thing is brutal and completely right. i've been so busy watching my own hands while i talk that i never once looked at where he was looking. next time i'm shutting up and watching.
but the "good next to" bit got me. that's the thing i can never tell apart: someone picturing the piece in a room, or someone picturing it next to something cheap they already have and can sell. same sentence, two whole different lives for the work.
and yeah, the ledger. i know it. still stings a bit, but better to know what's on the page than guess. gracias, this one's going in the notebook.
the eyes thing works until you realize some of them look at the work because they're pricing it, not seeing it. i've had a guy stare at a piece for a full minute and then ask if i could do the same thing smaller and cheaper for a hotel lobby. best tell i know is whether they ask a question that has a wrong answer. if everything you say gets a nod, they're not listening, they're waiting.