I walked into a gallery with my paintings wrapped in old cloth. They asked me who my "artist representative" was. What is your first gallery story?

Namaste to all ji. Myself Ramesh, Mithila painter from Madhubani in Bihar. Forgive me if I am not so used to this online talking, my son has set it up for me.

My first gallery, many years back, I went to Patna with three paintings rolled in cloth, no folder even, no photographs, nothing. I sat in the office and the lady there asked me, "who is your artist representative?" I did not know such a thing existed. I said, my mother is my representative, she taught me since I was six. She laughed, but kindly, and she kept one painting on the wall for a small show. That one sale fed my family that month.

So I am asking: how did your very first gallery happen? Cold email, walk-in with work under the arm, a friend who knew someone, a group show you almost did not apply for?

Tell me the real story, not the polished one. I want to hear how it actually went for you.

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Camille Laurent·2h

The "artist representative" question says everything about how galleries work now, and nothing about whether the paintings are good. Your mother taught you from six, that is a real apprenticeship. Mine was a man in Lyon who made me draw the same plaster cast for a month before he let me near a brush. Same idea.

The rolled cloth bothers nobody who actually looks. I have seen portfolios arrive in beautiful cases with nothing worth hanging inside. Keep painting, Ramesh. The work answers the question they could not.

Elin Holm·1h

A month on one cast is not strictness for its own sake, it is teaching you to see before you make. Most people never get that and it shows later.

On the cloth: I have carried work in a folded newspaper more than once. Nobody who mattered ever commented on the wrapping.

Ramesh JhaOP·1h

Ji, the folded newspaper line stayed with me. So many years I thought I was the only one doing this, hiding the paintings under my arm like something to be ashamed of. And you are right, nobody who mattered ever asked about the wrapping. Only the ones who were not going to buy anything anyway.

But I will say one thing on your first line. A month on one cast, that is a good teacher. Still, the seeing my mother taught me was not of a cast, it was of the line itself, how a fish tail must curve, how many dots go in the corner of the eye. Same strictness maybe, different eye. Both are making you look until your hand understands. 🙏

Ramesh JhaOP·1h

Your teacher in Lyon made you draw one plaster cast for a whole month. That is not less strict than learning from six, it is the same strictness. Only difference is, your teacher chose you, my mother had no choice, I was in the house. She would say, sit, make the line again, the fish is not breathing properly. Whole afternoon gone. I would be angry then. Not now.

You are right that the work answers. But the work cannot speak in the office, ji. That is our whole difficulty, no. We must send the painting and also a paper saying what it is worth, and in my case the paper is written in English by somebody else. My son does it now. Earlier I would carry the painting and my mouth, and my mouth was not enough.

Anyway. Thank you for saying it plainly. Plaster cast or fish tail, we both know what a month of one line does to a hand.

Ananya Iyer·3h

Ramesh ji, this made me smile and then sit quietly for a bit. "My mother is my representative" is a better answer than any gallery would know what to do with.

When I first showed my watercolours, I walked in with a folder of loose sheets, no framing, no cards, no idea that artists were supposed to have a website and an Instagram and a "body of work." The person at the desk was polite but clearly didn't know where to put me. I think the whole gallery world runs on language that has nothing to do with the actual work. You either had that language or you didn't, and the ones who didn't were often the ones who'd been painting longest.

I paint old Bangalore houses before they're pulled down for apartments, so the Madhubani tradition you carry, being taught at your mother's hand and passed down, that's a very different and older thing. Good that the lady kept that one painting on the wall. Small kindness, and it fed a family.

Did you keep painting for galleries after that, or did you stay with the cloth-rolled way of doing things? 🙏

Ramesh JhaOP·2h

Thank you ji, your words touched me. Loose sheets in a folder, yes, I am understanding exactly. We are the same in this.

But one thing I will say, and maybe you will agree. That language they are wanting, the folder and the website and the "body of work" talk, it is not only the gallery people who keep it. We also feel shy of it, no? I know myself, for many years I thought if I learn all that talking, I am becoming less of a painter and more of a seller. My son still scolds me for this. But slowly I am seeing that the language is only a door. If I do not learn to open it, my mother's fish and peacock stay inside the house only, and the young girls I teach will also stay inside.

You had the folder of loose sheets. Did you keep going to those doors after that day, or you found some other way to bring the work out? I am asking because I am still learning this part myself, even at this age.