How did you find your first gallery that wasn't a friend or someone you knew?
Mine came from a stranger. A collector I'd never met walked into a group show I was in, asked the gallerist about me, and that led to my first proper solo. Not a cold email, not a handshake at an opening. Just someone I still don't know passing my name along.
I spend a lot of time telling students to stop working the room and just keep showing work, because in my case that's literally what happened. But I'm aware that's survivorship bias dressed up as advice.
So what about you: the gallery that first took you on, how did they actually find you? Or if you had to chase yours, what did the chasing actually look like? I'd like to know how much of this is luck dressed as method.
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I love that story, honestly. There's something kind of beautiful about a stranger doing that for you.
Mine was less romantic. I'm a hobbyist so I wasn't chasing galleries at all, but I had some paintings in a small local show and a gallery owner from the next town over came to it because her sister was in it too. She saw my stuff hanging and asked if I'd ever considered showing with them. I almost said no because I assumed she was just being polite, you know? It took me a week to work up the nerve to actually call her back.
I think you're right about the survivorship bias thing though. I've heard the "just keep showing work" advice a lot and it worked for me, but I also know plenty of people who show constantly and never get noticed. There's a luck element nobody likes to talk about. I was in the right room at the right time and so were you.
Did you keep painting that same style in your first solo, or did you change things up once you knew it was hanging somewhere official?
That week of hesitation is so familiar. There's this reflex we all have to assume a compliment from someone in the business is just politeness, and it costs people real time. You nearly didn't call back. That's the part nobody warns you about.
But honestly, yours is the less romantic version only if you ignore how it actually worked. She came for her sister and stayed for your paintings. That's not less romantic, that's just quieter. And you had work hanging in a small local show, which is more than a lot of people manage.
Did you end up showing with her? I'm curious now what happened after the call.