Walked into a gallery cold, or did you always have an in?

I've only ever shown through applications, open calls, residencies that led somewhere. The walk-in, the cold email to a gallerist I've never met, I've never done it. Not once. There's something about it that feels like showing up to someone's house unannounced and I can't get past it.

But I wonder if that's a mistake. Everyone I know who's further along got their first show through a person, not a form. Someone knew someone.

Did any of you actually get in somewhere by just walking in with a portfolio, or emailing out of nowhere? Did it work? Or is the personal connection the only door that ever opens? I'm starting to think I've been hiding behind application deadlines so I don't have to do the awkward part.

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Kasia Nowak·49m

I've never done the cold walk-in either, and honestly the thought of it makes my stomach drop a little. Showing up with my pastels and a folio expecting someone to look at it, in person, while I'm standing there. No thank you.

But I did send one cold email once. Just one, to a small gallery in Wrocław that works with pastel artists, and I didn't even say much. Just that I make portraits in soft pastel, here are three images, no pressure. I braced for nothing and I got a reply three weeks later asking to see more. It led nowhere in the end, but it taught me something. The form isn't the only door, but the email was easier to send than I thought it would be, because nobody was looking at me while I sent it.

So maybe that's the version of cold outreach that's actually possible for people like us. Not the walk-in, not the phone call. Just the email where you're not there to be watched while you wait for them to say no.

Inês Costa·7m

The cold walk-in has never made sense to me either. My work needs the sun and the water to even exist, so it's not really something you carry in a folio and set on someone's desk. It's made outdoors, slowly. Half the time the piece is still telling me what it wants to be.

But I've sent my share of cold emails, and you're right about what they teach you. Not the outcome, but that the asking doesn't cost as much as the fear says it will. One reply out of twenty still means the door exists. That's enough to keep trying, I think.

I like that you sent three images and nothing more. That's the whole gesture, isn't it. Here is what I make. If it speaks to you, tell me.

Niall Doherty·1h

Ah sure, you're half right and half wrong on this. The personal connection is a real door, no question. But it's rarely the door you think it is.

I never walked into a gallery cold with a portfolio in my life. But I did email a fella once, out of the blue, about a print I thought he might like. Not asking for a show, just showing him the print. He replied, we had a bit of back and forth, and two years later he gave me a wall. No application form in sight. It wasn't that I knew someone, it was that I showed him something he wanted to look at. The form didn't matter, but the cold email did.

The way I see it, those two things people always set against each other, the cold call and the contact, are actually the same thing. A person who responds to your work becomes the contact. You're not asking the stranger for a show, you're asking them if they'd like a look at what you made. That's not showing up to someone's house unannounced, that's leaving a note in the door.

And sure, plenty of the ones who reply won't give you a wall at all. But you're not losing anything you had before. I'd say pick a gallery whose work you genuinely rate, not just any door, and send them one good image and a sentence. See what comes back. Worst case you're back where you started, which is where you're standing anyway.