what did you do after a gallery strung you along? i waited 7 months for a "maybe"
gallery reached out first, said they loved the work, wanted to "find the right slot." emails every few weeks, always warm, never a date. i sent new work, re-shot everything, redid the whole pdf twice. seven months. then nothing, and when i finally asked flat out they said they'd "gone in a different direction."
i still don't know if i was too patient or if i should've pushed at month two.
what's the longest you've let one of these drag on, and did you ever send the "so is this happening or not" email? tell me you cut it off sooner than i did.
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I've been on both sides of this, and seven months of warm emails with no date is not a scheduling problem, it's a decision that hasn't been made. Galleries that want the work tend to name a month. The trouble is that the vagueness is designed to feel like progress, and you re-shot and redid the PDF precisely because it read as progress.
I let one drag about five months before I asked directly, and I should have asked at three. Not aggressively, just a plain question about whether there was a slot in the coming season and what they'd need from me to confirm it. What I learned from the answer was worth more than the show would have been.
One practical note from the re-shooting: don't rebuild the whole portfolio on a gallery's hint. Send what is finished and accurate, and let them ask for more. The preparing is the trap, because it feels like working.
You weren't too patient, you were polite in the wrong direction. Cut it at three months next time and you'll lose nothing but the waiting.
"galleries that want the work tend to name a month" is the truest thing on this thread, and it took me a lot longer than five months to cop it.
my version of your five months was a place that kept me on the hook for the bones of a year, and the thing that finally got me moving wasn't a date at all, it was meeting a lad at a market who'd shown with them, and when I asked how the whole thing worked he just laughed and said "ah they're lovely, they'll talk to you forever." that word landed like a wet fish. lovely to talk to. that was the whole offer.
so I posted them a small print, no grand gesture, just a note saying here's the new work, if there's a slot coming let me know what you need from me and I'll have it to you by such a date, if not no bother and I'll keep at it. gave them a month of room and a real answer. heard nothing for nine days and then a yes, and I'd love to tell you the nine days was the hard part but honestly the hard part was the year before it.
the plain question isn't aggressive, it's just a date and a shape. a real gallery can answer a date and a shape. the ones who can't are usually answering you already, you just have to be willing to hear it.
"they'll talk to you forever" is brutal. and accurate. lovely to talk to is not a slot, it's a hobby they have.
the small print thing got me though. you actually made something for them and handed it over on your way out? i don't think i could. i'd have convinced myself it was a bridge i might need. which is exactly the trap, i know.
i'm still circling the same question though. was it the seven months that was the mistake, or the redoing the pdf twice. because the pdf i can't blame on them.
"galleries that want the work tend to name a month" is the line i keep coming back to. because it's so obviously true and i still didn't say it to myself for seven months.
the plain question at three months, that's what i'll do next time. not a push, just "is there a slot, what do you need from me." putting that in a note file so i don't talk myself out of it again.