Getting your foot in the gallery door

[tim atherton]

"How to approach galleries" is a recurrign question on the list

Some good commonsense advice form Edward Winkleman

http://photo-muse.blogspot.com/2007/04/getting-your-foot-in-door.html

For 10 extra points, guess the photographer in the picture... :-)

[Eric James]

For 10 extra points, guess the photographer in the picture... :-)

Is right clicking allowed?



I found the "never, never, never" comment interesting, particularly in light of your photo of the mystery artist.

Thank you for posting this!

[tim atherton]

damn - guess I should have changed the file name...

[julian]

damn - guess I should have changed the file name...

... and to quote Michal with the pic!

[Ash]

I thought it was more obvious at the end of the article. last line :D

[tim atherton]

... and to quote Michal with the pic!

thanks - that's who it was (hence the ....) - I couldn't for the life of me remember - tried John M but it wasn't him

[Brian C. Miller]

The gist of the article is pretty simple: find a gallery that you like to be in, with photos or without. Or you can use the Thomas Kinkade technique: open up your own gallery.

[David Spivak-Focus Magazine]

The gist of the article is pretty simple: find a gallery that you like to be in, with photos or without. Or you can use the Thomas Kinkade technique: open up your own gallery.

It's a fascinating article. www.art-support.com has a list of 95% of the galleries in the US that deal primarily in photography. It's only $25. For what it's worth, there is a new gallery that just opened up in New York City, Point of View Gallery, that is currently accepting submissions. The owner is a very nice, charming French woman who seems to have a very intriguing taste in the artwork she hangs in her gallery. http://www.pointofviewartgallery.com/index.html I have not, as of yet, had a free Saturday to venture into Chelsea and take a look at her gallery, but as of right now it appears she only has two artists she's representing.

[JW Dewdney]

Yeah - you can pay $25 or just look up the members of AIPAD and get 90% of those for free.

[David Spivak-Focus Magazine]

Yeah - you can pay $25 or just look up the members of AIPAD and get 90% of those for free.

The AIPAD Galleries are members of AIPAD for a reason. It is highly unlikely any photographer who has never had representation from even some of the smaller galleries would be picked up by an AIPAD member gallery. It's not only a matter of quality of a photographer, but also name recognition that gets people in the door. Plus AIPAD only represents about 45% of the population of the US photography galleries.

[Brian K]

I agree with many of the suggestions in the article but I also have to add some.

Be certain why you want to join a gallery. Is it for the purpose of selling many prints and starting a new and exclusive career as a gallery photographer, or is it the ego boost of seeing your work in a gallery. If it's the latter you do yourself and the gallery a huge disservice.

Don't be so desparate to be represented that you end up in a lousy gallery.

Don't join a gallery that represents work that you consider mediocre, you are often judged by the company you keep.

Only join a gallery where the owner or gallery director adores your work and is extremely enthusiastic about it.

Be wary of start up galleries, some succeed, many fail, it is a tough business. At this point I do not consign work to start up galleries, they have to buy my work first for use as their inventory. Once they start selling with some consistency I send them work on consignment. However I do not join every gallery that solicits me, be selective.

Stay on top of galleries about getting paid, if they do not pay promptly that is a danger sign.

It's hard to judge a book by it's cover. I've been represented by prestigious galleries that have sold poorly, and somewhat obscure galleries that sell a ton. A big part of that is the director's enthusiasm, sales ability and the clientele that frequents their gallery. Affluent communities and high end tourist locations do well. Art is a luxury purchase.

Many galleries are not interested in emerging artists even if they're really talented partly because it takes time to build a name, but also because the print price for emerging artists may not be profitable enough for them.

Charge as high a price as you think people will pay for your work, but be careful about over pricing as it is fatal to drop the prices of your work. Do research about print prices. Higher priced work gets more attention, both good and bad, but also can give the appearance of greater value.

Make certain that your work is produced at a professional level. Well printed, no dust specks, spotted retouched, clean. Well mounted, well matted, accurately centered, straight cut lines, square corners without overlap cuts.

Produce prints that are archival. Do not handle prints or matts without gloves as 10-20 years down the road fingerprints can magically appear. Do not allow galleries to handle your work without gloves. Galleries that handle work poorly are very unprofessional and apparently place little value on the work, potential buyers also notice this. In addition any of those pesky fingerprints that appear on your prints will be blamed on you potentially hurting your reputation.

Deliver prints to galleries when promised. Treat this as a business, the galleries are and so are their clients. It takes a long time to build a great reputation, it can take only moments to destroy one.

If you start to make your living by selling prints be prepared to spend a huge amount of time printing, processing, spotting , matting and mounting. Far more time is spent in print creation and finish than shooting. The print is ultimately your product.

I hope these tips are helpful, many of them came as a surprise to me when I started showing my work.

[David Spivak-Focus Magazine]

Excellent advice. Seems to be working for you too, as you have some great representaton...specifically AfterImage and Fay Gold.

[paulr]

Always good insights on Ed's blog. Anyone curious about the goings on in the upper end of the art market should stop by once in a while.

[paulr]

Just skimming his recent posts, I saw a discussion on "the death of painting," which is apparently a topic that itself won't die.

Comforting to know that our own never-die conversations (the death film, the death of b+w, etc.) are in good company.

[kjsphotography]

It's a fascinating article. http://www.pointofviewartgallery.com/index.html


The link does not work, it just hangs and times out.

[David Spivak-Focus Magazine]

The link does not work, it just hangs and times out.

Hum. Link works just fine on my end. You can always google point of view gallery...