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I've only ever approached galleries by emailing first, and honestly most of them never even reply. A friend of mine who does pottery swears by just walking in with a few pieces and asking to talk to whoever does the buying. That sounds terrifying to me but she's landed two shows that way. Have any of you just walked in somewhere cold? Did it go well or did you get the brush-off? I feel like I've been hiding behind email forever and maybe that's why nothing sticks.

I've done the email thing but never actually walked in somewhere with my portfolio. Does anyone have any tips for making a good first impression or just like, what do you even say when you get there? I'm so worried I'll just freeze up or say something dumb. It's a local place I really admire but omg my palms are already sweaty just thinking about it haha. Any advice is SO appreciated!! 🙏

I want to ask something narrower than the usual "how do you approach galleries." I walked into one last month that had a beautiful roster, good light, and I knew within about ninety seconds I would never approach them. The woman at the desk never once looked up from her screen, and there was a framer's label on the back of a piece in the rack showing it had been re-framed in a way I would call cheap. Both of those told me plenty before anyone said a word to me. So: what is the first thing you actually notice when you walk into a gallery you're sizing up? Mine is whether anyone working there seems to know the work on their own walls. Tell me I am being too harsh about it, but I have found it a reliable signal.

Namaste to all ji. I want to ask one thing from those who have approached galleries. My own case: a gallery in Delhi asked for my work, and I sent the Mithila painting as it is done in our family, natural colours, fish and peacock, the old stories. They replied saying it is "very traditional" and asked whether I also do something more modern. I did not change. I said this is the work, this is what my mother and grandmother did. Nothing came of it. But I am still thinking. Some people told me I should have sent a mix, old work plus some new style, so they see the range. Others said no, if a gallery wants you to become someone else, that is not your gallery. So my question to you: when you went to a gallery the first time, did you show your real work or the work you thought they wanted? And how did it go for you. Tell me honestly, I will not feel bad. 🙏

Hey everyone! Okay so I'm still pretty new to this whole gallery thing and trying to get a feel for timelines. Like, after you started seriously submitting or approaching galleries, how long did it actually take you to get that first real 'yes' or even a solid offer? Was it like months, a year, longer?? I'm trying to manage my expectations haha. My first approach felt like a total shot in the dark and I'm still waiting to hear back, so just curious about what others' experiences have been! 🙂

I keep seeing the war stories piling up in here, and I've got a few of my own. But I'm curious about something more basic. When you were starting out with gallery outreach, how many did you approach before one actually took you on? Mine was 22. Twenty-two polite rejections, non-replies, and one very confusing meeting that went nowhere before a small natural-history museum gallery in the Pacific Northwest said yes. That yes changed everything for me, but I nearly gave up at about number 15. I've had students ask me this and I never know what to tell them. What was your number? And was it worth the ones that said no?

Had a gallery approach me years ago, all enthusiasm. Wanted first right of refusal on everything I made. No other galleries, no direct sales. I was young enough to be flattered and stupid enough to say yes. Nine months. They sold nothing. Not one piece. And I'd turned down two other opportunities because of the exclusivity clause. Anyone else get burned by a gallery that wanted all your loyalty but couldn't deliver a single sale? How long did you stay before you walked?

Something I'm still turning over. When I first started approaching galleries again after my long pause, I came in with a physical portfolio, prints in a proper box, the way I was taught. The gallerist barely opened it. He wanted to look at my phone. I had to scroll through photos I'd taken badly in my studio with a lamp in the way. So I'm curious how the rest of you do it. What do you actually put in front of a gallery at that first real meeting? A box, a tablet, a printed book, a link you send after? I've landed on a small printed book of about fifteen works plus a QR to the rest, but I don't know if the book even matters anymore. Tell me what you hand over and whether it worked. I want to know if I'm the last one still carrying paper.

Had a gallery reach out to me recently, or rather, someone claiming to scout for one. Seemed excited, asked for my portfolio, then came back with a list of things I should change before they could "consider" showing the work. Make the palette warmer. Fewer buildings, more people. Can I add more "local flavour", their words. I didn't know whether to laugh or be offended. You haven't even seen the work in person and you already want me to be someone else? Anyway I politely declined. But it got me thinking, has anyone else had a gallery approach you and then immediately start asking for changes before they've even taken the work? Where do you draw the line between feedback and them wanting you to fit a mould?

I'm thinking about reaching out to a couple of galleries soon. Do you prefer to email first, or has anyone had success with an in-person visit to introduce yourself and your work? I'm curious about what feels most effective.

I've been at this long enough to have done both, and I still can't say which one is right. My first real gallery I got by walking in off the street with slides in a folder, which tells you how long ago that was and also that I had no idea what I was doing. It worked, somehow. Every gallery since then I've approached more properly, and I think it's been worse for it, honestly. The official route does nothing for me. Maybe I just got lucky the once and I've been reading the tea leaves wrong for twenty years. So tell me: when you're approaching a gallery you don't know, do you email, or do you go in? And which one has actually ever gotten you a yes?

I've never approached a gallery, honestly. I've only ever done local art fairs and a couple of small cafe shows. I keep telling myself I'll send some work out but I don't even know where to start, and part of me is scared of being laughed at with my little landscapes lol. I'd love to hear how your first one actually happened. Did you walk in cold? Send an email with photos? Get invited somehow? And how long had you been painting before you tried? I'll take all the stories as encouragement to finally do it. My plan was to email a small local gallery with three images and see what happens, but I've been sitting on that draft for two months 🙃

ok so I finally worked up the nerve to approach a gallery I've been following for ages, sent them my portfolio, got an actual reply, felt like I was floating. then they asked if I could "mute my palette a little" to fit their space better. my whole thing is color!! I paint the same window in my apartment over and over partly because I love watching how the light changes the color. they wanted me to basically be a different painter. I said no obviously but I'm still second-guessing myself like was that stupid, should I have compromised?? I feel like the right gallery will want what I actually make but also maybe I'm being precious about it idk anyone else had a gallery ask you to change your work? did you bend or hold your ground? I need to know I'm not alone here lol

A young painter asked me last week how to approach a gallery and I realised I had no honest answer for her, because I have never once sent a cold email in my life. Every gallery I have worked with, I walked in. Literally. In the nineties in Leipzig you went to the opening, you stood there with a glass of bad wine, you talked to whoever was at the desk, and somewhere in the following two years something happened. My first real representation came out of a group show I nearly did not enter, and the rest came from people who had seen the work in a room, not on a screen. Now everyone tells me the walk-in is dead. Curators do not have time, the door is a website form, the portfolio is a PDF that gets opened on a phone in a taxi. So I want to know how it actually went for you. Did you email, or did you go in person? And if you emailed, what was the thing that made it work, because I genuinely do not know. I'm half expecting to be told I'm living in the past. Tell me.

I keep reading that you're supposed to build relationships, email first, get on their radar. But I've never once had the nerve to actually walk into a gallery with my portfolio and just ask. I've sold at local fairs for years and people keep saying I should approach the galleries in town, but the thought of it makes me want to crawl in a hole. So who here has actually done it? Walked in cold, no email, no connection, and just asked? How did it go? I need to know if it's as terrifying as I've built it up to be in my head, or if gallery owners are actually just normal people who don't mind someone asking.

Got approached by a gallery last year that wanted me to cover the cost of shipping both ways, the opening catering, and a "marketing fee" before they'd hang my work. Told them I'd pass. Never sat right with me. What's the worst "you pay us" pitch you've gotten? I'm trying to figure out where the line is between normal and predatory.

ok so I've been going back and forth on this for months and I want actual opinions from people who've done it more than me. When you're cold approaching a gallery you've never talked to, do you just walk in with a portfolio and hope the person at the desk is in a good mood? Or do you email first and wait three weeks for a reply that never comes? I did the walk-in thing once. Drove 40 minutes, hyped myself up in the parking lot, walked in, and the woman at the front was SO nice and then told me the owner "handles submissions" and to email. Which I did. Never heard back. And then I sat in my car for like 15 minutes feeling like I'd been rejected by the receptionist, haha 😭 But honestly I still think the walk-in might be better?? Because at least they've seen your face?? Or is that just me being naive and wasting gas money. Tell me your actual method and whether it worked, because I'm 0 for 2 right now and starting to think I'm doing it wrong. also if you're a "walk in and ask to see the space first, talk about the art later" person, I need to know why, because that scares me more than anything

Landed my first gallery by walking in off the street with three paintings under my arm. The owner barely looked at me, took the work, said "come back in a month." I thought I'd been dismissed. Turns out she framed one and sold it before I even returned. I got lucky, but I've also got friends who did the polite route, the residency route, the friend-of-a-friend route, and it worked just as well. I don't think there's one way. But I know plenty of painters who've been waiting years for the "right moment" to approach a gallery, and I think that moment never comes. Did you knock on the door yourself, or did yours find you?

I'm asking because I nearly died of shame at this. First gallery I approached, they said send your artist CV, and mine was a blank page with one group show from 2019 and my day job on it. I panicked and wrote two paragraphs about "my practice" instead, which I'm fairly sure nobody read. Now I have a bit more and honestly the blank-CV years are still the thing I dread talking about. So: what did you actually do? Did you send the empty one, pad it out, leave the art out and just talk about yourself, or say nothing and hope they didn't ask? Tell me I'm not the only one who googled "artist CV no exhibitions" at 2am 🙂

I'm always so careful, but the stories I hear! The last gallery I approached, they had my contract in a Word doc with tracked changes from 2007 still visible. Voila, a bad sign. What's the most obvious red flag you've spotted, the one that made you run?