How do gallery work

Showing up at a gallery, unannounced and uninvited is a fast track to nowhere. Even worse is sending out emails with links or attachments when no one asked to see them. Do you know what happens to unsolicited emails to galleries? So, how can artists get into an art gallery?

Do your research to see if the gallery is a good match for your work and level of experience. When I had a gallery, artists approached me daily about showing their work. The problem was, my focus was on works on paper and photography. I also leaned toward work that made some sort of political or social statement. But sculptors, landscape painters, video artists, pet portraitists, religious iconographers, all submitted work anyway and seemed surprised when I turned them away.

Gallerists are creative agents themselves, they have strong interests and aesthetics. A gallery is not just a gallery. Take the time to find out what a gallery is dedicated to showing before you even think of submitting your work. The primary way that galleries choose artists is through relationships.

Go to their events. Sign up for their mailing list. Spend time on their website. Like their Facebook page. Get known within their community as a supporter. Ask to join them when you go to events. Have them introduce you to the staff. Then submit your work.

Do not submit your work anyway. The best way to crack this nut is through an introduction. If they do accept submissions, try to follow their guidelines. No, seriously.

Instead of looking at galleries in terms of what they can give to you, turn that question around. Be sure to be gracious and spend more time listening than speaking. This shows an art dealer that you have it together and you are not a risk. Keep your expectations low and resist the urge to be pushy. While these visits can be very nerve-wracking, remember to be humble and to be yourself. Being yourself is very important.

Gallery owners want to get to know you as a person so they can offer you representation with confidence. Gallery owners want to spend their time intentionally and need to know if they are talking to a potential buyer or not.

When you send a gallery to view your work online, make sure they can see all the details. Galleries usually want to see mediums, dimensions, and price ranges. They also want to see your newest and best works. Keep these works in an elegant, organized, and simple online portfolio.

Gallery owners have limited time, so you want them to be able to navigate through your work with ease. Consider sending them to your Artwork Archive Public Profile - a polished online portfolio that will let your work shine. Sure, an occasional art star appears suddenly out of nowhere, but this is by far the exception rather than the rule. Even these occasional anomalies become orderly and predictable once the surprise wears off. When you're just starting out, you begin by getting yourself and your art out there online, especially on social media.

As for showing the work at physical locations, like any other profession, you begin at the beginning as well. In the art world that means showing your art pretty much anywhere anyone will have you. The only criteria for showing your art at this point are that the venues are complimentary to your art and that people will see it, particularly ones who've never seen it before.

We're not necessarily talking galleries here; there'll be plenty of time for them later. Possible locations include hotels, tech firms, public rooms in office spaces, coffee shops, restaurants, furniture or interior design showrooms, fashion boutiques, tattoo shops, hair salons, lobbies of commercial buildings, renting an exhibition space with artist friends, private viewings at someone's home or apartment, juried or non-juried shows, open studios, and anywhere else you can get warm bodies through the door-- that's the key.

Not only do these early efforts to show your art provide valuable experience and feedback in terms of seeing how others react to the work, but they also maximize the number of people who'll have opportunities to see it in person.

The more people who see your art this way, the greater the chances someone will tell someone will tell someone how much they like it.

And one of those someone's might own a gallery or know someone who owns a gallery and be impressed enough to either want to make contact with you or convince someone else to contact you.

And so on and so forth along the networking grapevine. That's how gallery shows often originate. Admittedly, those of you who've graduated from art school have an edge on the competition, at least during the early stages of your careers, meaning that during the course of your studies, you've likely been introduced or exposed to local gallery owners, critics, curators, collectors and other notable members of the art community-- so you kind of know who's who.

Learning your area art scene geography is one of the great benefits of a formal art education, but it doesn't mean any of these people are going to do anything for you, and it sure doesn't mean you can walk into Triple A Fine Arts and get yourself a show just because you met the owner once. You've got to work your way up the ladder just like everyone else, but at least you know where to find the ladder.

Those of you who've acquired your art-making skills outside the academic realm or are self-taught and there are tons of you out there can circumvent this logistical disadvantage simply by immersing yourself in your local art communities and getting active on social media.

Get on gallery email lists and follow them on social media, go to gallery openings and museum shows especially for local or regional art and artists , and also attend talks, tours, open studios, art fairs and other significant area art events. Openings and art fairs are especially good because you get to see large numbers of art people all at once. Don't go to one or two events and think you've done your duty; go to plenty and keep on going.

If you're the shy type, you don't necessarily have to talk to anyone while you're there, although striking up a conversation every now and again is better. Either way, the upshot of repeatedly seeing and being seen is that a you begin to see the same people over and over again, b sooner or later you find out who they are, c sooner or later they find out who you are, d conversations eventually break out, e you share information, f you slowly figure out how to navigate the art scene just like everybody else, and g opportunities gradually begin to present themselves.

Perhaps an even greater benefit to getting out there and being seen, in addition to becoming known, is that you demonstrate your desire to participate, get involved, and show you're serious about becoming successful as an artist and committed to doing whatever's necessary to achieve that end.