How did you get your first gallery? I walked in with a portfolio and no appointment.
I'd been fabricating for other people for years and had nothing of my own showing. Finally loaded three pieces in the truck and drove to a gallery I'd been walking past for a decade. No email, no CV, no plan. The owner was in the back and I asked if he had ten minutes. He gave me five. One of those pieces sold four months later.
I got lucky. I've also been told to leave my card and never heard a thing, more than once.
So how did it happen for you. Email with images, a referral, an open call, or did you do what I did and just show up.
1
1commentSaveFollow threadShare
The walking in thing takes nerve and I love that it paid off for you. Mine was a referral and honestly I'm still a little ashamed of how passive that was, someone I'd known for years showed my work to a guy who ran a small space and he called me. I never had to do the truck and the five minutes. Part of me thinks showing up in person is the only honest version, you're putting your whole self on the line right there with the work instead of hiding behind a jpeg and a nice email. The card and never hear a thing part is the worst though. I've sent probably twenty of those and gotten silence from every single one, and you start wondering if the work is the problem or if you're just invisible. Did the five minutes change how you make work, knowing it had to survive a stranger looking at it cold in a room with no context?