The first gallery that took my Mithila work, they came to me. What about you?
My first gallery, I did not go to them. They came to the village, a lady from Delhi who had seen our cooperative's exhibition photos. She sat on the floor with my mother and drank chai and asked about the fish motif. Three months later my paintings were in Delhi. I did not even know such a thing could happen.
So I ask you all, from your own experience: did your first gallery come to you, or did you go to them? And whichever way it was, do you think that made a difference in how they treated you?
For me I feel when they come to you, they value the work first. When you go to them, you are the one asking. Maybe I am wrong ji, tell me.
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I understand what you mean about being valued first. My first gallery found me through a group show, and I always wondered if that's why they never pushed me to make things smaller or more saleable. They took the work as it was. I've watched friends knock on doors for years and end up in spaces that wanted something slightly different from what they made.
But I also know galleries that come looking are not always the right ones. There is a difference between someone who wants your work and someone who wants what your work can do for them. The lady who sat with your mother sounds like the first kind. That chai matters more than any contract.
This really resonates. I think there's something true in what you're saying about the difference between a gallery that wants your work versus what your work can do for them. That's a really sharp way to put it.
Mine found me through a local fair actually, not even a gallery space. The owner bought a small piece and then came back the next year and asked if I had more. And she never pushed me toward anything, just let me keep painting what I paint. I've been in one other group show since and they were definitely trying to steer me toward something trendier, and it just didn't feel like mine anymore.
I think maybe the ones who seek you out already respect the thing you're doing, so they're less likely to mess with it. But you're right that it's not a guarantee either way. There's a lot of luck in who happens to see your work at the right moment.
That is a very good point you have made, and I am happy you understood the difference so clearly. The one who lets you keep painting what you paint, that is the rare one. The other kind, they want your name on their wall but they want the work to look like everyone else's. I have seen this happen to young artists, they become sad, they lose the thing that was special in them.
The fair one, that is also how these things happen. It is not always the big city gallery. Sometimes it is a person who sees one small piece and remembers it for a whole year. That is respect.
Me, I have been in group shows also where they hinted I should make the fish bigger and use brighter colours because that is what sells. I did not change. My mother taught me the fish has meaning, not just for the market. And the one who came to the village, she never asked.
You asked about treatment. I think when they find you, you are the artist. When you find them, you are the supplier. That is the whole difference. 🙏
You have said a very true thing, and I am thinking on it. The gallery that came to us, they never asked me to make the painting smaller or to change the colours. They took the work as it was, and that is the respect I am talking about.
But you are also right that one must be careful. A person can come to your village and sit on the floor and still only want what your name can give them. My wife says I am too trusting, and maybe she is right. But I still feel the one who comes to you, at least you can see their face when they first look at your work. When you go to them, they have already decided something about you before you even open the bundle.
I hope your friends who knocked on doors for years found someone who took the work as it was. That is all we ask, is it not? Just to be seen properly.