I think one of the challenges of an artist is to be continuously self-motivated and inspired. We have no boss to tells us when to paint and what to paint, or gives us smart objectives for the coming year. We also do not get regular paychecks. Instead we are a self-employed entrepreneur that choses its own products and marketing strategy. And we only get paid if there is a customer out there that likes our products and decides to pay for it.
The aspect that makes our entrepreneurship a special challenge is the fact we are partly dependent on a very critical and sometimes quite arrogant middle man, called the gallery owner. Our product doesn't get gallery-visiting customers unless the middle man decides it's worth showing to those customers.
In the past few months I have written emails to introduce myself to a small selection of gallery owners (based on whether I thought my work would suit the gallery) in Holland and abroad in my attempt to find a reputable gallery to show my work. Most gallery owners didn't respond to my email... ofcourse it's up to them not to respond, because they never asked for my email in the first place... and they may not want to waste ther time responding to every email they get from artists. And not everybody will appreciate my work, just like I do not appreciate every gallery. Yes, I understand all that.
The gallery owners that didn't respond I emailed again after a couple of months, asking if they still would be happy to provide some feedback on my work. Surprisingly, I received about 6 replies within an hour! All of these were not interested though (as I expected, otherwise they would have responded on my first email I guess).
I started to analyse the kind of responses I got and was able to divide them in the following categories:
- galleries that never respond (also not after my second attempt)
- galleries that respond (after first or second email) and tell me in a few neutral words they are not interested. Some examples:
"Unfortunately we can't offer you anything. I wish you all the best in finding a gallery"
"I am sorry to inform you we don't think your work is suitable for our gallery"
"Thank you for your email but our gallery is not looking for new artists"
- galleries that respond (after first or second email) and tell me in a very blunt/arrogant/frustrated tone that they are not interested. Some examples:
"We don't work with artists that offer their work for sale on their own website. Artists should be dedicated and not sell work themselves if they can't find a gallery"
"I don't like your work"
"These are hard times for galleries, maybe also for you. At the moment we are not going to work with new artists. Unless you are willing to rent the gallery and be responsible for all costs"
- galleries that respond and tell me they are not interested, adding some specific feedback about my work
- galleries that are interested
I Googled "gallery rejection letter" and found a lot more on this topic. Looks like artists (inlcuding myself) need reassuarance from other artists knowing that they are not the only ones that get rejections. Interesting is that the rejections that touched me most were not the blunt rejections... it were the gallery owners that took the time to look at my work more in-depth and provided me with specific feedback on my work.
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