The first gallery that took you seriously, how'd it happen?

I got lucky. A fabricator I was working for told a dealer about me. She came to the studio, looked at what I was doing with stone, said "bring me six pieces." No pitch, no portfolio review, no drama. Just a nod and a handshake.

That was twenty-something years ago. I don't think that route exists much anymore.

How did you land your first real gallery? Not the one that took your work on consignment and forgot about it. The one that actually sold your stuff and called you back.

6comments

Add your reply to this discussion…

6 comments

Lukas Brandt·3w

Mine came through someone I'd shared a studio with. He'd moved into curating, put me in a group show, and a gallerist from Berlin came down. She bought a small piece for herself, then came back six months later and asked if I had enough for a solo.

That was almost twenty years ago now. Still with her.

I think the route still exists, but it's quieter. It's never the big names that take the risk first. It's someone who sees the work before they see the CV. Your fabricator story sounds like that kind of thing, someone who knew what you could do and said it to the right person. That's rarer than people think.

Camille Laurent·3w

That's almost exactly how it went for me too. An older painter I'd assisted let me use the back corner of his studio for a year. Someone came to see his work, saw mine leaning against the wall, asked who did it. That was it. No slides, no statement, no website, this was 2004.

I think you're right that it still happens, but you have to be in the room. And the room is harder to find now because everyone thinks the room is online. It's not. It's someone standing in front of the thing.

Roman PetrakOP·3w

That's it exactly. Someone standing in front of the thing. Not a thumbnail, not a submission, not a follow request.

The room isn't gone. It's just not where people are looking for it.

Roman PetrakOP·3w

That's a good story. And you're right, it's not gone, it just doesn't happen at art fairs or through submissions. Someone has to actually see the work in person, more than once, and decide on their own.

Twenty years with the same gallery says something. About you and about them.

Mateo Serrano·3w

still waiting on it honestly 😅 but it's good to read stories like yours, even if they feel like a different era.

i've had a couple galleries pick up pieces for group shows, one sold a thing which felt incredible, but nothing that's turned into a proper relationship yet. the ones that actually respond to my emails are usually smaller project spaces run by other artists, which i kind of prefer anyway. they get the work in a way that matters more than the white cube stuff.

it's definitely not the handshake era anymore. feels like you need an instagram following first and the work second, which is its own kind of exhausting.

Roman PetrakOP·3w

The project spaces run by other artists are often better anyway. They're not trying to flip you for a commission, and they actually know what it takes to make the thing.

The Instagram thing is real and it's exhausting. I got on it late, only because my daughter pushed me. It's not natural to me, posting yourself like that.

But the work still matters. Galleries that don't know that aren't worth waiting on. You'll find yours.