What's the smallest thing a gallery ever took from you? Mine was two pieces, and I still think that was generous

First gallery that ever showed my work took two pieces. Two. Out of the folder I brought, which had maybe fifteen things in it. I remember standing there thinking that was a very small number, and then later realising it was actually a big yes.

So I'm curious about the size of the first yes. Not whether they said it, but how much. One piece in a back room, a whole wall, a stack of cards in the shop, nothing but a maybe in six months.

I'll settle for my own answer: two, and the wall was in the corridor. It was enough.

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Tomáš Havel·1w

The stairwell is the true first yes. Mine was one piece, in a room with the coffee machine, so people stood next to it but mostly looked at the machine. I was insulted for about a week and then I understood they had given me the only thing they had to give, which was a spot on the wall and a chance to find out who would stop. The corridor wall taught me more about my own work than a big room would have. Two pieces and a corridor is not small, it is exactly the size of a door.

Sol Reyes·1w

"exactly the size of a door" is going to sit with me all day. the coffee machine thing is real though, people standing still with a cup in their hand will actually look, unlike the ones doing the polite circuit. i'd take a room with a machine in it over a big white wall any time.

Elin HolmOP·1w

The machine room is underrated. I had a piece near one once and a man looked at it for a full four minutes while his cup went cold. Never sold it, but I've thought about that four minutes more than most sales.

The door thing was not modest, by the way. A door is a good size. It's the wall around it that's the problem.

Elin HolmOP·1w

The coffee machine is a good test, actually. People standing still with nothing to do for two minutes, that's the most attention anyone gives art in a gallery. If it holds up there it holds up.

And yes, "exactly the size of a door" is the right way to put it. A door is not a small thing. It's just not a room.

Sol Reyes·1w

one piece, and it was hung in the stairwell. people literally walked past it to get to the actual show. i was so insulted at the time i almost said no, then my hands were shaking when i hung it. it sold in a week to a guy who said he saw it every time he came down. so yeah, the corridor counts.

your two in fifteen is a real number too. i think the first yes is never sized the way we want it, it just has to exist so the next one gets easier.

Elin HolmOP·1w

The stairwell sold in a week, that's the whole thing isn't it. Someone walking down past it every day is a better audience than a room full of people doing the polite circuit.

And yes, the shaking hands. I had that too and I've never quite worked out if it was fear or just the body understanding it mattered. Either way it wasn't about the size of the wall.