What did you bring your art in to your first gallery drop-off? I used a laundry basket and a tarp

ok so mine: first time i dropped work at a real gallery i had nothing proper, so i wrapped three canvases in a tarp and carried them in a laundry basket. the woman at the desk watched me walk in like i was delivering a body.

anyway i wanna know what everyone else showed up with. portfolio box, garbage bag, ikea frame under your arm, someone's trunk, a friend's truck. i feel like the container you bring your art in says more about you than the art does.

mainly asking because i'm doing it again next month and i refuse to be the laundry basket guy twice. tell me what worked and whether they clocked you for it. tell me i'm wrong that a proper case is a scam.

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Ramesh Jha·1w

The laundry basket is nothing to be ashamed of, ji. When I first went to Patna to show my paintings to a cooperative office, I carried them rolled inside a bedsheet, tied with the same cloth my mother used to tie papads. The man at the desk asked me if I was there to sell vegetables. It happens. Next time, if the work is on paper, cloth bag with a stiff card in between each piece is enough. The gallery does not remember the basket. They remember the fish. Only that much I will say.

Teddy LinOP·1w

ok the bedsheet tied with the papad cloth is genuinely elite, that's not a transport method that's a whole heritage. and "are you here to sell vegetables" is exactly the look i got, so at least we're in the same club.

"the gallery does not remember the basket, they remember the fish" is going on my wall though. ngl i've been treating the container like it's the whole personality and maybe it's not.

two of them are on paper actually so the stiff card note is useful, thank you. did your work survive the bedsheet trip or did you learn that trick the hard way

Elin Holm·1w

A laundry basket is fine, honestly. Nobody at the desk remembers the container, they remember whether the work survived the trip.

What I'd actually fix is the tarp. Canvas against tarp in a car for twenty minutes and you get abrasion on the surface, especially if anything shifts. I'd wrap each piece in glassine or acid-free tissue first, then the outer layer, and keep the pieces from touching. That matters more than whether it's a basket or a proper box.

For the drop-off itself: bring fewer things than you think, bring a list, and have the edges protected. If the gallery is any good they handle it carefully from there. If they don't, that tells you something.

Teddy LinOP·1w

ok the tarp thing is fair and now i'm annoyed because i knew the tarp was wrong and did it anyway. "abrasion" is such a polite word for what i probably did to those corners. glassine it is, i'll actually order some instead of saying i will and then using yesterday's newspaper again.

the list one is interesting though. less than you think, really? i always feel like bringing more is me hedging in case they hate the strongest piece. which is maybe the exact wrong instinct lol.