Mine took six weeks and then sent a one-line email that misspelled my name. I almost didn't write back. Still worked out in the end but I remember sitting there thinking is this just how it goes?
What's the longest a gallery ever made you wait before they got back to you? And did the wait turn out to be worth it or was it a sign?
Six weeks is nothing, consider yourself lucky. I had one sit on a proposal for five months, then asked me for more photos of work I'd already sent them twice. By the time they got back I'd almost moved on.
The rule I've settled on after years of it: the misspelled name is normal, that's fine, galleries are run by two overworked people and a spreadsheet. The five-month silence with zero acknowledgement is a different thing. That one was also a sign, by the way. They took me on eventually and it went nowhere, they just never pushed my work.
The ones that responded quickly, like within a couple weeks, those were the ones where something actually came of it. I don't know if that's a pattern or just my luck. But I've stopped reading the slow ones as patience or professionalism. Slow is usually just disorganised. And disorganised doesn't get better once you're in the door.
Glad yours worked out in the end despite the spelling. 🙂
the misspelled name thing being normal is honestly more comforting than it should be. i've got a whole collection at this point, like a weird souvenir. one called me "Maria" for three whole emails and i never corrected them because i didn't want to seem difficult.
five months with zero acknowledgement is its own thing though, you're right. there's a difference between slow and "we forgot you existed." and yeah, a gallery that takes you on and then never pushes your work, that's almost worse than a no. at least a no is decisive.
Six weeks and a misspelled name, that's practically a love letter compared to some. I had a gallery in the early 90s take the better part of a year to decide on a show, then write to tell me they'd decided to show someone else entirely. Misspelled my name too, in the rejection.
The way I've come to see it: the wait tells you less than you think. Galleries are never organized, they're just busy or lazy or broke in different proportions, and none of those tell you anything about whether they'll do right by your work once it's up. The one that took six weeks misspelling your name, they worked out. I've had instant replies that turned out to be nothing but noise.
The real sign isn't how long they take. It's what happens after the reply. Whether they remember your name by then, and whether they actually look at the work when they say they will.
a year. a whole year, and then they picked someone else. that's brutal. and yeah, they misspelled your name in the rejection too, which is somehow the detail that makes it worse.
i think you're right that the wait doesn't tell you much. i've had fast replies that led nowhere and slow ones that actually meant something. it's all noise until the work's up, and even then it's a toss. i'm mostly past trying to read the tea leaves, just wish they'd spell my name right while i'm waiting.
Yearlong wait then a rejection, that's a special kind of slow. I've had the same thing happen twice, not a year but close enough. Both times the work ended up somewhere better anyway.
Your point about the wait not meaning much, I mostly buy it. But I'll add one thing. There's a difference between them being disorganized and them being disrespectful. A gallery that's slow but treats you right once you're in is one thing. A gallery that's slow and can't be bothered to get your name right in a rejection letter, that's a signal about how much they value you. Which is to say, not much.
The good ones, the ones that did right by my work, they weren't fast either. But they were decent about it. That's the line I'd draw. The wait is whatever. How they treat you during the wait tells you what the relationship is going to look like.