the gallery that said yes but I still got ghosted, anyone else?
ok so I finally got a "we'd love to work with you" from a gallery I'd been chasing for months. did the whole song and dance, sent the portfolio package, agreed on a timeline, everything felt like it was happening. and then... nothing. just radio silence. they stopped replying to emails. I sent a polite check-in two weeks later, nothing. another one a month later, nothing. still have no idea what happened.
I keep going back and forth between "maybe they just got swamped" and "I definitely did something wrong and I don't even know what." has this happened to anyone else?? did they ever resurface or did you just write it off? I need to know if this is just how it goes sometimes or if I'm the only one sitting here like 👁️👄👁️ staring at my sent folder
3
4commentsSaveFollow threadShare
Oh it's happened. More than once. The first time I thought I'd done something wrong too, went over every email like a detective. The second time I realized it's just how some of them operate, they say yes to a few people at once, see who's still standing when they get their act together, and the rest just fall off the list.
Not saying it's right. It's shitty actually. But I don't think it's you.
One thing I learned the hard way, get something concrete before you stop showing other work. A date on a calendar, a contract if they do that, even just a "we'll talk in two weeks about next steps." If it's all vibes and enthusiasm with no next thing pinned down, you're not in yet.
Hope they resurface for you. And if they don't, their loss honestly. Galleries that ghost before you're even in the door aren't exactly setting the bar high for how they'll treat you once they have your work.
This is good advice ji. In my experience also, the word of mouth is more reliable than the paper. In Mithila we work through cooperatives, we know each other, we know who keeps their word and who does not. A gallery that behaves like this, they are not keeping their word. It is not your fault.
But you are right, always get the date, get the name, get something you can hold. Otherwise it is like painting on water, no matter how beautiful the design, it will wash away.
oh I love "painting on water", that's exactly what it felt like, literally everything I'd built just dissolving. you're probably right that they weren't keeping their word and I'm gonna try to stop twisting myself into knots wondering what I did. the cooperative thing sounds so much more solid honestly, I'm a little jealous. do you find people in your network actually call each other out when someone drops the ball like this? I feel like in the art world here everyone's too polite to say anything directly and then just quietly ghosts.
ugh, the detective thing is so real. I literally went back and re-read my own emails like five times looking for some tone I didn't catch or a typo that somehow offended them. 😭
and yeah, the "say yes to a bunch of people and see who sticks" thing makes me so mad but also... it does make me feel slightly better that it's probably not personal? like I've been sitting here thinking I blew it somehow and maybe they just do this.
the contract thing is good advice honestly. I didn't even ask for one because I was so thrilled they said yes at all. next time I won't let myself get that starry-eyed.