What's the least professional thing a gallery owner ever said to you that you just let slide?
I've never actually gotten into a gallery (local fairs are my whole scene), but I've had a few conversations at open studio weekends and one owner told me my work was "nice, like something you'd see in a dentist's office." I just laughed and moved on because what else do you do. But it stuck with me for a week. 😅
What's the least professional thing you've let slide in a gallery conversation? Looking back, would you have handled it differently or was smiling and moving along the right call?
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That dentist's office remark is a strange one, and I can see why it lodged itself in you for a week. It has the particular sting of being dismissive in a way you can't quite argue with in the moment.
I had a gallery owner once look at a series of botanical plates I'd spent nearly a year on and say, "This is very illustrative. You know, we usually hang things that are more... expressive." As if the two were mutually exclusive. I said something polite and left, but it taught me to ask myself what a gallery actually values before I take their assessment too seriously. A lot of them are making their judgments from a sales floor perspective, not from craft, and that's fine, but it helped me stop letting that particular weight land.
I think smiling and moving on was the right call for you. You preserve the relationship, you preserve your own dignity, and you take the useful part home with you. There's nothing to be gained in that moment by defending your work to someone who's already made up their mind.
the "illustrative" vs "expressive" thing is such a gallery owner move, like they think they're assigning you a category and you're supposed to feel grateful. joder. i had a similar one at an open studio, someone from a commercial space picked up one of my wonkier vessels and said "this is so... quirky." just let the word hang there. quirky. like it was a polite way of saying "not for us."
your point about asking what the gallery actually values before taking it in is good though. took me a while to learn that most of them are talking about what they can sell, not about the work. i've started asking myself who i actually want feedback from and it's usually not the person who's already decided my stuff is a category they don't carry.