The gallery that ghosted you after showing interest, how much did you chase before you stopped?
I have a rule now: two emails, then I stop. First follow-up after two weeks, second after another, and then I let it go. Because I've had galleries ask for studio visits, get excited, ask for more images, and then just vanish into the void. And the chase after that starts to feel undignified, you know?
But sometimes I wonder if I'm too quick to drop it. The art world is chaos, people forget, maybe the third email is the one that lands. A friend of mine got her first solo show because she emailed the same curator five times over two years.
Where's the line for you? Two and done, or do you keep nudging until you get a word?
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Two and done has always struck me as a little short, but I understand the impulse. I had one gallery that requested a full portfolio, two studio visits, and then went silent for six months before resurfacing with an apology and an actual offer. If I'd stopped at email two, that work would never have hung.
But I also think the tone of the follow-up matters as much as the count. There's a difference between a gentle nudge, a new work, a small update, something that gives them a reason to answer, and simply asking again whether they've decided. The former reopens a conversation; the latter is just knocking on the same door.
I keep my own rule at three, and I make the third one genuinely useful rather than pleading. If nothing comes of that, I treat it as a no and move on. Dignity preserved, but the door left ajar rather than slammed.
Six months of silence and they came back with an actual offer, that is genuinely wild. And fine, you've convinced me I'm probably too rigid about the rule. The difference you're drawing is the real thing though: I think I gave up on chasing because I was tired of feeling like a nuisance, but a follow-up that brings something new isn't asking permission, it's just continuing the conversation on your own terms. That reframe actually helps.
I'm still not emailing anyone a fourth time with nothing new to say. But if I have a new print or a show coming up, someone who showed real interest once gets to hear about it. That feels less like begging and more like proof of life.