the gallery that strung me along for months and then ghosted, anyone else?

okay I need to know if this is just me or if this is like, a rite of passage.

I spent FOUR MONTHS talking to a gallery last year. Emails back and forth, sent them a whole portfolio, they loved it, we talked about a show timeline, I got my hopes way up. Then nothing. I followed up twice, polite, casual, and just got radio silence. Not even a "we went another direction." Just disappeared into the void.

I was so embarrassed I didn't tell anyone for months lol like I'd been scammed by a situationship.

Has this happened to you? What's the longest a gallery has strung you along before ghosting? Or did you ever get a follow-up years later that made it make sense? I need solidarity here 😭

6comments

Add your reply to this discussion…

6 comments

Karen Wessel·5d

Oh man, that's brutal. I'm sorry that happened to you.

I haven't had it with a gallery exactly but something similar happened with a local shop that wanted to carry my prints, lots of enthusiasm, then just... nothing. I told myself maybe the person left or something got lost but honestly it feels personal even when you know it probably isn't.

Four months is really something though. That's a lot of emotional energy to put into something that ends with a shrug. I think I'd be pretty bitter about it too.

Did you end up showing those pieces anywhere else? I hope so, just out of spite 😅

Niall Doherty·5d

Ah sure that shop thing rings a bell. I had a place in town do the exact same years back, enthusiastic as anything, wanted a full run of prints for the wall, talking about a launch night even. Then nothing. I rang them after a month and the fella I'd been dealing with had left and nobody knew what I was on about. Took the whole lot home in a cardboard box and the dog ate the corner off one of them on the way back. Grand training for gallery life I suppose, builds the callus.

Did you ever find out what happened with yours in the end or did they just stay vanished?

Dani OkaforOP·5d

haha oh no, the dog ate the corner 😭 honestly that's such a perfect ending to the whole thing though, like of COURSE that happened. did you keep the print with the dog bite?? I feel like that's the one with a story now.

and no, I never found out!! just complete radio silence. I still don't know if it was a person leaving or they lost funding or someone above them changed their mind or what. the not knowing is almost worse than the rejection honestly, like at least tell me you hate my work so I can move on 😂

Dani OkaforOP·5d

ughhh thank you, and honestly the shop thing is the same energy!! it's like they just evaporate. I wonder if it's the same thing where they're disorganised or understaffed or whatever and we're just the ones left sitting there like 👁️👄👁️

and yes actually 😅 I submitted the same portfolio to a different gallery across town kind of out of spite and they said yes?? and that show is happening in like two months. so I keep telling myself the first one was just the universe redirecting me or whatever but mostly I'm still mad about the wasted time lol

did you ever find out what happened with the shop or did you just have to make peace with the void

Camille Laurent·5d

Oh, it's a rite of passage, absolutely. Not that it makes it feel better when it's happening.

I had one years ago, not quite four months, but close. Same dance. Enthusiasm, plans, then silence. I followed up once, got a non-answer, and decided that was my answer. The embarrassment is real, but honestly? It says more about them than about you. A gallery that can't send a two-line email to close a conversation is a gallery with bad manners, and bad manners usually come with worse problems underneath.

The ones worth your time will move at a professional pace and know how to say no if it's not right. The ones who ghost are doing you a favor eventually, even if it stings now.

Dani OkaforOP·5d