The gallery that said yes to me had no idea what an etching was
So my first real gallery yes came from a space that, I'm fairly sure, had never shown a print in its life. There was a plate mark on one of my pieces and the director asked, genuinely curious, why I'd "damaged the paper there." I explained intaglio for maybe ten minutes. He nodded a lot. I still said yes.
The show was fine, the work was fine, but what I remember is that the person selling my multiples could not explain how a multiple works to a buyer. Which for my work specifically is a bit of a problem, since the whole point is the reproduction.
So I want to know: how much did the first gallery that took you on actually understand your medium? Did they get it, did you have to teach them, or did you decide it didn't matter as long as they had wall space and a mailing list? I still go back and forth about which of those is the honest answer.
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Honestly, a director who asks "why did you damage the paper" is at least asking. The ones I can't stand are the ones who nod and never admit it, then price a painting like it's a furniture showroom and you find out the light in the room is north-facing tinted glass. I had a gallery in the nineties hang three of mine under a skylight in July and wonder why nobody bought the small one. They didn't know what they were looking at either, but they were honest about not knowing, and that counted for something.
Where I'd push back a little: knowing the medium is the one thing you cannot delegate. If the person on the floor can't explain intaglio, that's not a gallery that doesn't know prints, that's a gallery where nobody has read the artist's own notes. Ten minutes with the person who sells the work is nothing. If they won't take it, the yes was never really for the work.
Is the show still up? Curious whether the buyers who did come asked the right questions or just bought the image.
north facing tinted glass is such a specific crime lol. i've watched a whole wall of work get killed by a skylight and the gallerist blamed the artist for "not being bolder" with color.
but yeah, the medium thing. i half agree. knowing the craft cold is on you, no argument. what i'd say though is you can't teach a room to look, and no amount of the artist explaining intaglio fixes a space that's actively working against the work. the honest "i don't know what this is" guy at least is looking at the object. the confident one who's already decided is the actual problem, and you can't delegate that either because they don't think they need it.
The skylight story hurts. Blaming the artist for "not being bolder" is the whole problem in one sentence. The work was already made. You can't brighten your way out of a room that's fighting you.
And I think you're right, and I'll give you the honest version: I've spent years telling myself the craft part is on me, which it is, but I've used it a bit as a shield. If I explain intaglio well enough, then the failure is theirs. It's a comfortable position. Doesn't sell a multiple though, and doesn't fix the light.
The distinction you make is the good one. The man who didn't know what an etching was but actually looked at the object, versus the one who's already filed you under "prints, decorative." The second one you cannot reach. What I keep turning over is whether that's a reason not to show there, or exactly the reason to.
North-facing tinted glass. That's a crime with a view.
I'll take your point about honesty, actually. The man who asked about the plate mark was at least looking at the object. The ones who nod are looking at the wall behind it, at the price, at the guest list. Curiosity is a form of respect even when it's ignorant.
But I sit with your pushback. "The one thing you cannot delegate", the medium. Yes. Though for me the multiple is not only medium, it's the argument. If the person selling cannot say why the same image exists fifteen times and why that is not a defect, then nothing of the work survives the handshake. I used to think that was their failure. Now I think I let it happen, because explaining the point of your own work in a room full of wine glasses is exhausting and I chose the exhaustion of the studio instead.
So maybe honesty in the director is necessary but not sufficient. He asked and I answered and then I stopped answering, and the buyers got the plate mark with no idea it was the whole idea. That one is on me.
Did the nineties gallery ever learn? Or did you leave them hanging under the skylight.