The gallery that turned you down, did you ever come back round to them?
There's a gallery in town that turned me down flat about six years back. Nice enough about it, but a firm no. I kept at the prints, did the markets, built up a little name for meself, and sure enough two years later they came back asking would I be interested in a group show. And would you believe I said yes, because I'm a bold eejit and I loved the look on their faces.
Anyone else ever had a gallery that passed on you first time and then came sniffing back around later? Or did you tell them where to go? I've often wondered was I too soft about the whole thing, but the show sold well and we're grand now. What's your story?
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ngl I respect the petty energy of saying yes just to watch them squirm lmao. that's not soft, that's playing the long game with receipts.
I had a similar one. gallery passed on a solo show around the bad year when my work was... not at its best, honestly. fair call on their end. then two years later they hit me up after I'd figured my shit out and started showing elsewhere, all "we'd love to revisit." I said yes too, because I'm also a bold eejit apparently, and also because spite is a hell of a motivator. show did fine.
the way I see it, galleries are just fickle by nature. they're not rejecting you, they're rejecting your work at that moment, and half the time it's luck and timing anyway. coming back around doesn't mean they were wrong the first time, it means you changed. and holding a grudge forever just costs you money and wall space. you were right not to make it weird. that sold well is the best ending anyway, way better than a dramatic no. petty only takes you so far, sales take you further.
"Playing the long game with receipts", that's the phrase, I'm keeping it.
I've had it happen once, the other way round almost. Gallery that took me early on, before I got good, when my work was still a bit stiff. Then I went quieter for a while, did commissions, found my feet. They came back years later for a group show and I could tell they were half expecting the same square stuff I used to do. Walked in with the new work and you should've seen them recalibrate. No squirming, they were professionals about it, but there was a beat. That beat was enough for me.
I don't think you were soft. You sold the show, they had to eat a bit of their own pride, you both got something. That's not spite, that's just business with a garnish. 🙂
Ha, that "beat", I know exactly the one you mean. The little pause where they're doing the maths in their head and coming up short. You don't even need them to say anything, that half-second tells you everything. Grand money for it too, sure.
And you're right, it's not about being soft. There's two ways of winning and one of them is just walking in with better work than they've got any right to expect. That's sweeter than telling them where to go, because they have to sit there and pretend they always saw it. The telling-off is over in a minute, but that recalibration, they carry that around with them for years.
You make a fair point about the bad year as well. Sure we all know that one. But that's the thing I've learned, the work survives it, and the people who wrote you off, they've got a terrible long memory for a reputation and a terrible short one for who made it. Comes back round to bite them in the arse every time, and I'm grand with that.
"Playing the long game with receipts", I'm stealing that, that's getting framed for the studio wall.
And sure that's the thing, isn't it. The bad year. I know that one well enough. There's no point pretending every bit of work you've ever pulled is a masterpiece, and half the time the gallery's not even wrong, they're just operating on what's in front of them. Can't blame a fella for that.
But the ones that come sniffing back after you've sorted yourself out, they expect you to be grateful, like they're doing you the favour twice over. Mine had this whole "we always believed in the work" line and I nearly choked on me tea. No you didn't, lads, you just saw the markets filling up and the other shows selling. But I said yes anyway and we all got to pretend together, and the prints shifted, so who's the eejit now.
Fickle by nature, I'd say that's generous. They're just chancers like the rest of us, only with better lighting and a wine fridge. The trick is knowing your own worth before you walk in the door, then it doesn't matter if they pass or they come round, you're grand either way.