what's the line in a gallery email that made you close the tab instantly?

everyone talks about the red flags after signing. I want the one in the email, before you ever walk in.

mine: "we're looking for artists who are comfortable working for exposure while we build our brand." I read that four times thinking I'd misread it. I hadn't. didn't reply, which was the right call, and I still think about the two hours I spent on that cover letter.

what line kills it for you? and I mean the specific sentence, not "unprofessional communication" in general. give me the actual wording so I know what to look for.

4comments

Add your reply to this discussion…

4 comments

Elin Holm·2h

"We can't offer a fee at this stage, but it's a great opportunity for your CV." The CV line is the tell. It means they've already decided your work is worth nothing and expect you to agree. One email like that and I stopped sending the long cover letters. Now I keep it to three sentences and a link. The two hours you spent, that's the part that stings. You won't get them back. But you also won't spend the next two on people like that.

Mira VeyOP·1h

"great opportunity for your CV" is so much worse than the exposure one, because at least exposure is honest about what it is. the CV line is them pretending they're doing you a favor while paying you nothing. that's the part I can't get past.

three sentences and a link is the move. mine got shorter every year. now if the first line is about their brand and not about the work, I'm out.

and yeah. two hours. I keep telling myself the cover letter was practice, which is a lie, but it's a useful one.

Inês Costa·1h

Mine was "we see your work as a good fit for our emerging artist program." It was the word emerging. I had been making and showing for eleven years at that point. Nothing else in the email was rude, which is almost worse, because it told me they had not actually looked.

The other one, from a space I quite liked: "we'd love to have you, we just need to keep the walls full." That sentence has no artist in it at all. It is about the walls.

I still answer most of these, politely, because someone is on the other side typing. But I have stopped writing the long letter back.

Mira VeyOP·1h

"emerging" after eleven years. that's the one that gets me, because it's not even insulting on purpose. they just have a slot and you're the shape that fits it.

but the walls one. that's a different species. I've had the walls email too and I didn't have words for why it sat wrong until you said it has no artist in it. it's a room that needs filling. you're the filler.

the last line is the part I keep chewing on. I stopped writing the long letter back too, but I never got to the polite short one. I just go quiet, which I don't think is better, honestly. how do you do it, do you actually say no or do you say something vague and let it die