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I sent a proper email in March, polite, ten images, no reply at all. Not even a no. Then last week I walked into a small gallery here in Kraków with a folder of pastels under my arm, no appointment, and the woman at the desk actually looked through them. Nothing came of it but she talked to me for twenty minutes, which is twenty more than the email got me. So now I don't know which way is right. Email feels safe and then it just disappears. Walking in feels rude and also seems to be the only thing that works. My partner says I should stop overthinking it and go in again. Which one worked for you first, email or walking in cold? And does anyone actually get replies from the emails, or is it only me who hears nothing back? Sorry if this has been asked a hundred times 🙏

Right, settle this for me because I've had two very different experiences and I'm still not sure which was the fluke. First gallery that ever showed my linocuts, I walked in off the street. No appointment, no email, just a folder of prints under my arm and a fair bit of neck. The woman behind the desk was mid-something, clearly not in the mood, and I near talked the ear off her about a hare. She gave me four minutes and a "leave the folder, we'll ring you." I thought I'd blown it. She rang me eleven days later. Since then I've sent maybe nine or ten properly composed emails with the website link and the nice photographs and the polite paragraph about my practice, and I've had two replies. One of them was a no. So my honest theory is the walking in did more for me than every tidy email since, and I'm not sure if that's because of the neck or because a print you can actually hold does something an attachment can't. Could also just be I write a desperate email. What's yours? Did you get in the door by emailing, walking in, or the third thing nobody admits to, which is knowing somebody? And if you're an emailer, tell me what you put in the subject line because mine are clearly being eaten alive.

okay real talk, cold emailing galleries. do you actually do it? i've sent maybe three in my life and two of them never even opened the email (thanks, tracker). the one that did open it never replied lol. meanwhile i see people talking about "oh yeah i emailed 50 galleries last month" and i'm like... who ARE you. are you real. teach me your ways. my best gallery connections have come from instagram dms or meeting people at markets, not formal emails. maybe that's the way? or maybe i'm just bad at emails. what's your ratio? do you cold email and get replies or is it mostly a waste of time?

I spent two years emailing galleries proper intro emails with images, links, the whole polite package. Got maybe three replies, none went anywhere. Then one day I was in a town for a funeral and walked into this small space with my portfolio under my arm, totally unplanned, and the owner actually looked at it. Didn't take anything but she remembered my name when I came back. I don't even know what to make of that. Was the email a total waste of time or was it laying groundwork? People who've landed a gallery showing, did it come from a cold email, a referral, or you just showed up somewhere? Because I'm genuinely wondering if I should stop polishing the emails and start being more annoying in person.

Alright. So the way I got my first show was basically an accident. A guy saw one of my charcoal pieces sitting in the back of my truck outside a coffee shop, asked if it was for sale, turned out he knew a gallery owner. That is the entire story. Zero strategy, pure dumb luck, and I still feel weirdly guilty about it like I skipped a line. So now I'm trying to do it the actual way, on purpose, and I have no idea what I'm doing. There's a space near me I really want to show in. I sent an email with like 40 images attached (was that too many? probably too many) and I've heard NOTHING for three weeks. Meanwhile a friend keeps telling me to just walk in with a piece under my arm and ask to talk to someone, which sounds insane to me but also kind of right? So tell me how you actually do it. Email with a link first? Walk in cold? Instagram DM? Show up to openings and wait for someone to talk to you? And how long do you wait before you follow up, because I'm at the point where I'm refreshing my sent folder like a lunatic. Bonus points if you tell me the one thing you did that actually worked, vs the thing everyone tells you to do that did nothing.

I got my first no from a gallery last month and honestly I'm still thinking about it. They wrote back in about four lines, very polite, "not for us at this time." Fine, vale. But then a friend told me she prefers to just walk in because a no to your face is cleaner, you can see the person, you can ask what they didn't like and learn something. I did not learn anything from my email except that they have good stationery. So which is it for you, do you want the rejection in person where you can ask questions, or by email where you can close the laptop and go throw something at the wall? And I'm curious too if anyone ever got a real answer out of a no, like actual useful feedback, or is that just a story we tell ourselves.

I'll go first, and it is not flattering. The only gallery that ever said yes to me, I got because I walked in during a quiet Tuesday afternoon with three cyanotypes in a folder, still smelling faintly of salt, and the woman at the desk happened to be the one who hung the shows. She looked at them for maybe forty seconds and asked where the sea was. That was it. Every careful email I ever sent, with the PDF and the artist statement and the polite paragraph about my practice, got a no or nothing at all. So I am genuinely unsure if I got lucky or if I have been doing the emails wrong for years. Which one actually works for you, the email or the walking in? And if it is the email, tell me what you put in it, because mine are clearly not landing.

Okay so I'm about 8 months into doing this full time and I've sent maybe 15 cold emails to galleries and gotten exactly one reply, which was a no, but a NICE no, and honestly I printed it out?? haha. Here's my actual question: how did you get your first gallery to even open the email. Not the whole relationship, just the door cracking. Did you walk in with work under your arm? Did you know somebody? Did you go to an opening and corner the owner (respectfully)? Did you just send 60 emails until one landed? My own answer: the one no I got came from a gallery I'd actually been to in person first, stood in front of a painting for way too long, and then emailed saying I'd seen the show and here's my work and it might sit next to this one artist's stuff. That's the only one that ever answered me. So now I'm convinced showing up in person actually matters and I want to know if that's real or if I just got lucky once. Tell me yours. Especially if it was dumb or accidental, those are my favorite ones.

So I have only really done this the one proper time. Last spring I took three pastel portraits to a small gallery here in Kraków, no appointment, no email first, just walked in with them wrapped in tissue in a folder. The woman behind the desk was kind, but I stood there explaining my work with my hands shaking and I am sure I said "probably" about nine times. She took my details and nothing came of it, but I did not die, so. Now I am trying to decide if that was brave or just stupid. I keep reading that you should email first with a proper portfolio and a short message, but then I read the opposite from people who say a walk-in is the only way anyone actually looks at you. So which one is it for you. Email or walk in. And if you email, what do you actually put in the first three lines, because mine always end up too long and apologetic. Honestly I want to know if anyone has had a yes from the walk-in approach, because I am not sure my nerves can do it twice 🙂

Ok so this is maybe the dumbest thing I've done this year. I walked into a gallery near me with a physical portfolio under my arm, no appointment, no email first, just showed up on a Tuesday because I'd convinced myself that a cold email gets deleted and a face doesn't. The woman at the desk was SO nice about it and took my card and I genuinely think I blacked out for part of the conversation. I have no idea what I said about my work. I might have said "it's mostly a window." She said "we'll be in touch" and I have been refreshing my inbox like a maniac ever since haha. My partner said I should have emailed first like a normal person. I said the whole point was NOT being a normal person. We're still arguing about it. So tell me. Do you email first and wait, or do you walk in and risk it? And if you've done the walk-in, what did you actually SAY. I need a script because I will absolutely do this again. 🙏

I walked into a small gallery here in Gothenburg with a folder under my arm, no appointment, and asked if they had a moment. The woman at the desk was kind about it and said to send an email. So I sent the email. Nothing came back. I still don't know which was the mistake, the walking in or the email. So: do you email first and wait, or do you just go? And if you go, what do you bring with you, the work itself or photos of it?

ok so I need to know which camp everyone is in because I genuinely cannot decide if I did the right thing. Story: there's this little gallery near me, basically one room, run by a woman in her 60s who has been there forever. I'd walked past it like 40 times. Finally I printed some photos of my work, put on a shirt with no paint on it (took three tries), and just... walked in on a Tuesday afternoon. No appointment, no email first. And she actually looked at the photos, like actually looked, and we talked for 20 minutes and she invited me to bring in actual paintings. Nothing has come of it yet, don't get excited, but she knows my name now and that feels insane. But then I told my partner and they were like "you're supposed to email first??" and now I'm second-guessing everything haha. So which is it. Email or walk in. And if you email, what do you even say in the first line, because mine always turn into three paragraphs about my process and I can hear myself doing it. Tell me your actual approach + the story of how it went, including the times it went badly, because I think I need to hear that part too 🙏

Okay so I want to settle something because I genuinely cannot tell if I got lucky or if this is just how it goes. I walked into a gallery in my neighborhood with like four paintings under my arm. No appointment. I'd bought a coffee from the place next door to look like I had a reason to be there, walked past twice, then went in and asked the girl at the desk if I could talk to whoever looked at new work. My hands were literally shaking. And I'd been emailing galleries for like six months before that and gotten nothing but the "keep you in mind" thing we all know and love. The walk-in got me a real conversation. The emails got me silence. Which makes no sense to me because I did everything "right" with the emails, proper PDF, nice cover letter, all of it. So which one actually works for you?? Do you email first and wait, or do you just show up? And be honest, did you ever do the walk-in and get completely shut down, because I'm half convinced I got lucky and next time someone's gonna be mean to me about it. Tell me your method, I need to know if I should be braver or more polite 🙏

Myself Ramesh, Mithila painting from Madhubani district in Bihar. I want to ask something to those who have dealt with galleries. My first attempt was not by email at all. There was an exhibition in Patna where I had sent two paintings through a cooperative, and a gallery person saw them there and asked who is the artist. That is how my first proper show came, not by applying but by someone seeing the work hanging. After that I tried emailing some galleries in Delhi, and mostly no reply came. So my experience is: the work has to be seen by eyes. But I know many artists now send portfolio by email only, and some gallerists say never come without appointment. So tell me ji, which way you did it? Email with photos first, or you carried the paintings and went? And for those who walked in, did they see you or send you away? I want to know what actually works, because I am still learning this side of things. 🙏

so my first real gallery, i just walked in. no email, no appointment, just showed up with a tote bag of small pieces like a guy delivering pizzas. the person at the desk looked at me like i'd walked in off the street, which... i had. but they were bored and said sure, show me. ended up in a group show with two pieces and zero sales. still counts. anyway i've never figured out which is right. email feels like sending your art into the void and waiting for the void to ghost you. walking in feels insane but at least it's a person. i've done both and honestly the walk-in got me further, which is either inspiring or deeply bleak. so which one are you, and did it work? email first or just show up. and if you emailed, what did you even say, mine always turn into a cover letter that i hate by line three.

ok so this is a specific one. not "how do I get a gallery" (god, nobody knows). I mean literally HOW you get in the door the first time. I walked in. no email, no appointment, nothing. just a portfolio under my arm like an idiot, my hands sweating, and I stood in the middle of a gallery on a Tuesday looking at the person at the desk trying to figure out how to say "hi I made this" without my voice cracking. it did crack. she was actually really nice about it and it went nowhere, but I did it and I'm weirdly proud of that. a friend of mine would NEVER. she sends a perfectly formatted email with a PDF and a link and waits. she says walking in cold is amateur hour and I say the email just goes into the void with 400 others. so which are you. cold walk in, or email first and pray. and be honest about why, did the door ever actually open for you that way or did it just feel braver.

I emailed four galleries last winter with a link and a short letter, and got one reply, which was a no. Then in March I walked into a small place on a Tuesday afternoon with two pastels in a paper folder, mostly because I was in the area and felt brave for about ten minutes. The woman at the desk actually looked at them, and we talked for maybe twenty minutes. Nothing came of it in the end, but she remembered my name the next time I came by. So I think walking in worked better for me, which is annoying because emailing is so much less frightening. What actually got a reply for you? And if you email, how long do you wait before you assume it's a no?

Namaste to all ji. I want to ask one thing which I keep thinking about. Myself Ramesh, Mithila painting from Madhubani, Bihar. My son made this account for me. Always I have sold through the cooperative here, and through people who come to our village for the work. Gallery matter is new for me. Some months back I carried three paintings rolled in cloth, took the bus to Patna, and simply walked into a gallery there and asked to show. The man was polite, he looked at everything, and then said email is better, send photos. Only. So I came home with the same three paintings in the same cloth. Now I am confused which way is correct. To walk in and let them see the actual work with their own eyes, or to send photo by email first like a formality. In our tradition the painting is to be seen with hands and eyes, not in a small phone picture. But maybe that thinking is old. So tell me honestly, how do you all do it. Email first, or just go and stand there. And which one has actually worked for you. Tell me I am wrong if walking in is a foolish thing now.

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.

Ok, honest question because I keep going back and forth on this. I've only ever sold at local fairs, but there's a small gallery downtown I'd love to show at someday. I emailed them a couple months ago with a few photos and never heard a thing back. Now I'm wondering if I should've just walked in with my portfolio instead, or if that's just annoying to them. So which is it for you? Do you email first, or do you walk in? And did the one that worked actually feel like a fluke or did you plan it? I'll go first: email, and so far my score is 0 for 1 😅