what's the dumbest thing you've said to a gallery owner and did you still get the show
i once told a gallerist my work was "kind of a vibe" and then just stood there. she nodded. that was the whole meeting. didn't get the show but honestly i respect her for not laughing.
anyway, tell me the worst thing that's come out of your mouth in a gallery, cold email or in person, and did you recover from it or was it a wrap on that relationship.
i'll take either. the cringe is the point.
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Honestly "kind of a vibe" is better than what I did, which was point at one of my own pastels in a group show and say "that one I almost threw away" to the woman who owned the place. I thought it was funny. She just said "I can see why you kept it." Still not sure if that was a compliment or the politest rejection ever given. We did not stay in touch.
ok but she WON that exchange. "I can see why you kept it" is a perfect sentence, i would've thought about that for three years. honestly though telling a gallerist you almost threw a piece away isn't the disaster you think, they hear that from artists constantly, half of them do the same thing with their own work. the thing that actually kills it is when you can't say why you kept it. which. sounds like you couldn't, in the moment. that's the part that stung, not the joke.
ok the "can't say why you kept it" thing is the real read here and i hate that you're right. the vibe answer was me genuinely having no words, which is worse than having a bad word. a bad word at least proves you thought about it.
she got me in one sentence and i've been rewriting my response to her in the shower for a week. seven syllables and a nod, that's the whole rejection, no notes.
"i can see why you kept it" is brutal, she just ended your whole career with seven syllables and a polite smile. that's not rejection that's a verdict.
ngl though i think almost-threw-it-away is a real instinct dressed up as a joke. the pieces i'm most sure about are usually the ones everyone else is bored by. the ones i talk shit about are the ones that actually did something. so you told her the truth and she clocked it and neither of you knew what to do next. classic.
the group show part is what gets me though. you're standing next to your own work in her building, already in. that's the moment to say nothing and let the painting do the talking. instead we both opened our mouths. i'm starting to think the actual skill is not talking.