Getting work into galleries

How do I get work into galleries when they only are prepared to see emailed images and not the real work?

Reason galleries don’t want to see you one to one is

a)      time involved – much faster to scan through an email and see if the work may be in the genre you are looking for and some galleries get 20+ artists a week. At 30 minutes a person that’s an extra day and a half per week to their workload.

b)      It’s easier emotionally to say no in an email than face to face. Is less personal.

It’s just like the writing world where books are rejected with only a brief synopsis having been read and not the actual book.

Tends to be that if one gallery who is respected has your work, then others are more receptive valuing the other galleries choice.

So the key is to crack the first respected gallery.

Dangling a carrot such as: ‘To date in my private capacity I have sold xx works, so I know there is a market out there for my work…’ may be tempting for a gallery to look further (provided of course that you have sold an impressive amount of work independently.

Try a different approach so your email stands out.

I got “The girl who bites her nails and the man who is always late” published in the UK with an opening line: “Have you ever bitten your nails? Procrastinated? Etc What does it say about you as a person? ” I figured that the person reading the email would have had one of these habits mentioned and being human would be interested in finding out more about themselves. It worked!

You’re creative so think up a fresh approach that will intrigue/astound them. It may not work every time but at least you’ll stand out from all the “Hi my name is Susan and I‘m an artist and here are some examples of my work… yawn.”

Failing stalking the owners, (not recommended) that’s about the best advice I can offer.

Rejection - the artists' lament

Receieved an email from an artist who was angry because of the numerous rejections she had received from galleries. The frustration caused her to sympathise with van Gogh's ear cutting escapade. Having experienced rejection first hand both through art and writing, rejection has become a familiar friend and one that pushes me out of my comfort zone to explore new directions. My reply to the artist: (abbreviated)

I understand your frustration and anger.

The art and the writing worlds are hard nuts to crack.

Commercial galleries, as mentioned in the book, are for the most part, business who sell art rather than art lovers who have a business.If they know the work has been proven to sell/be of commercial value, then they want to cash in on that success.There's less risk with known artists.

If the business has artists on board who are working for them, unless the art is really something completely new and exciting, the hassle of taking on another artist is not attractive. (Here I play Devil's advocate.) So to be accepted takes the 'Wow' factor.

The galleries are not the enemy. They are businesses. It's simply a matter of can this sell or not?

Sometimes they naturally do get it wrong, but most of them are still in business because they know what their market wants.

(It's no different in the writing world where there are thousands of books written about let's say yoga. To get a book published now on yoga means that your approach/content needs to be different from all the other yoga books. Even if your book is well written and researched, why would they want a repeat of what has already been said?

So, no chopping off of ears. Rather listen to the feedback galleries give you when you do manage to get through the door. And keep on exploring new directions with your art. Dig deep within yourself until you find the unique expression that is you.