Approaching Galleries for Exhibition

Written by Professor William V. Dunning

This section was taken from Advice to Young Artists in a Postmodern Era from Chapter 7 titled "Galleries, Portfolios, and Web Pages." Written by Professor William V. Dunning, published by Syracuse University Press. Used with Permission.

By far the best method to approach a gallery is to be recommended to the dealer by an established artist or critic. Most galleries find their new artists through referrals from such respected artists, and it seems to make little difference whether the recommendation came from an artist in their stable or an established and respected artist from another gallery. Some galleries find new artists through referrals from critics or other established members of the art network. Even classmates, art instructors, and some friends, if they are recognized members of the network, may be of some help.

If a young artist cannot find such a referral, it may then be worthwhile to approach galleries in other ways. Gallery owners like to feel that an artist has some sense of authentic interest in their specific gallery. One dealer once explained to Ben Mahmoud how he would like young artists to behave in approaching his gallery. First, young artist should see some shows and have a good idea of the kind of work exhibited. They might make some comments to the dealer about any shows they feel are particularly good. They should come to openings, and in this manner show additional interest in the gallery and reveal that they can be supportive of other artists' works.

Artists who bring their own slides to such an event destroy any hope of developing a relationship with the gallery later. Don't do it!

After being seen in the gallery on several occasions, their faces will be known; then they will not be just a stranger walking in with slides. Furthermore, young artists who frequent a gallery will certainly meet the exhibiting artists. It is possible to establish a friendship and eventually arrange a studio visit from that artist. If such a successful artist has an interest in the young artist's work, this may result in an introduction to the dealer. However, such a routine cannot be easily carried out unless the young artist is living reasonably near the gallery. Though some artists have been known to drive 250 miles each way, on a regular basis, to visit galleries and attend openings, this method is clearly not for everyone.

A less satisfactory but perhaps workable alternative might be to consult the guide to galleries published each year by Art in America. This may help determine which galleries would have an interest in a specific kind of work. Then send materials or visit. Some think that artists should become good self-promoters and more business oriented, but most artists do not have the kind of personality that makes it natural for them to deliberately and carefully research in this manner to avoid risks. Most are inclined to be impulsive.

Artists are also poor predictors as to how any particular gallery might respond to their work. They are often surprised that a gallery that seems to handle work that seems like their own in timeliness and concept will show little interest. For instance, during a period when I was experimenting with some airbrush work in my painting, I approached a dealer who glanced at my portfolio and quickly told me: "I already have an airbrush artist." The fact that my work at the time was abstract and with a minimal use of airbrush, while the other was a near photo realist who used all airbrush, did not seem to register with her. Young artists are also surprised that some galleries that seem to exhibit no work that is like their own will respond enthusiastically to their work.

Those who visit the galleries will often notice that some of them seem to exhibit a variety of artists, some of whom may share few obvious similarities. This is especially true in this age of pluralism. How, then, could artists who are not likely to have an objective point of view about their work, predict which galleries will like their work and which will not? I have noticed that most artists refuse to categorize their work, no matter how obvious the connection may be, as an example of any movement or style. I have seen artists whose work was typical funk, abstract expressionism, or surrealism outraged when someone labeled them as such. Something there is about an artist that does not like to categorized. They all believe they are unique. How then, if they cannot perceive similarities, could they possibly determine which galleries are prone to handle work like theirs? Hell! Try them all - when you are ready.

I suggest that young artists should present their work to all the galleries that handle contemporary art in which they would like to show their work. Start with the best galleries first. Why get locked into a lesser gallery when one of the better ones might have been interested?

If you must walk into a gallery "naked" (with slides only), the only way the dealer is likely to see them while you are there is for him to hold them at arm's length in the general direction of some available light source or toss them onto a light table. A few might stick them into a slide viewer. No artist wants to be viewed in this manner. Few dealers will drop everything in the middle of a business day, haul out and set up a projector, then look at the slides in the manner they deserve to be seen. Artists never want their work viewed in this manner. That's one of the reasons they should make an appointment if possible.

If you ask artists or galleries how work should be presented, most of the artists and almost all of the galleries will say, "Slides." But that is not necessarily true. The fact that most people do not know what they want account for many unhappy marriages and the popularity and persistence of the adage, "Be careful what you ask for; you might get your wish." For the young artist with large works that must be represented by photographs who go in person to present their work to dealers, I suggest setting up a portfolio of color prints, 5" x 7" or 8" x 10". Photographic prints in transparent folders in a loose-leaf notebook makes an acceptable presentation, but these prints should be as good a quality as the artist can manage.

For paintings, I suggest arranging the notebook so that when it is opened, a color print of the entire painting is on the left and an 8" x 10" black and white glossy detail of an area that shows the best paint handling or the most interesting detail is on the right. The black and white detail is especially applicable to "retinal" artists, painterly artists, or artists who have a lot of small well-painted detail. Black and white prints show the thickness, quality, and consistency of the paint far better than do color prints. You should also have available black and white 8" x 10" glossies of entire paintings for some of your best works, specifically those that carry well in black and white brochures, or you have a chance to receive some publicity (in a newspaper or book, for instance), you will need black and white glossies for reproduction. For the best color reproductions 4"x 5" transparencies taken with a view camera or even with an old press camera are best. If you do have such ideal transparencies made of your work, they make excellent color prints.

Showing prints rather than slides gives the artists some control as to how their work is first viewed in gallery visits, and photographic prints show the work to better advantage in quick viewings. I have had good responses to this method, and student after student has returned to tell me that dealers, even when they did not particularly like the work, have often said that this is the right way to show your work.

In the painting department where I work, my colleague and I have always suggested that those who were going to New York start with Ivan Karp's gallery. He is an astute viewer and exceedingly knowledgeable about the gallery scene in New York.

...Even if Karp is not interested in handling that work, he often gives excellent advice and he sometimes steers artists to galleries that he thinks might respond to their work.

One of my colleagues went to New York a few years ago. In line with our own advice she started with Ivan Karp at his O.K. Harris Gallery in SoHo. She showed him a portfolio that was set up as I previously suggested, with excellent 8" x 10" color prints. He loved the portfolio. He called several of his staff to see it. He asked her if she was famous in the Northwest where she came from. Then, after all the attention she had received partly because of the portfolio, as she was leaving he casually mentioned that she should really use slides.

With all due respect to Mr. Karp, I do not believe it.

Always have two or more slide portfolios with you. Some galleries will not have time to look at prints while you are there, some may prefer slides, or they may look at the prints and want more time to access the work, or they may wish to compare your work with other current applicants. They might ask you to leave slides. In this case then, they may take more time to project the slides and view them appropriately, though most galleries only use light tables now ( a most inappropriate method for careful scrutiny.) This is why some artists use 4" x 5" transparencies with a view camera.

Never offer a gallery an unsolicited written statement of your goals, intentions, or aesthetic concern. In all the work I have viewed from applicants for graduate school, I have never seen a statement of purpose that helped the work. All the statements I have seen trivialized the work they were intended to support. When one of the graduate students here sent a nationwide questionnaire about what kind of portfolio to present to galleries, Ivan Karp put ti succinctly: "Never include a statement of your aesthetic intent unless you intend it solely for the amusement of the gallery staff."

In an artist cannot go to galleries in person, it is sometimes possible to do it by mail. I have gotten excellent responses from galleries by sending a portfolio of slides (in response to a previous query letter). The mailed portfolio should include what writers call SASE, a self-addressed, stamped, return envelope. Sending the slides by mail allows dealers to set up the projector and view them in a leisurely manner at their convenience-when they are in the mood. Many young artists will also find this to be far a less humiliating method than going to the galleries in person.

But artists should understand that New York galleries do sometimes require the artists they handle to live there in the city. Some will not represent a young artist who will not live there.

Most dealers, in my experience, have been very professional and as sensitive, or at least courteous, as time and pragmatism allows, but several as in any other occupation, will show all the sensitivity of a rhinoceros in heat. Every artist who has made the rounds of the galleries can tell stories of gross rudeness. I believe that artists are obligated not to accept such treatment in a docile manner: it just encourages them.

Many dealers are more likely to take the tine to look at your work if you write or phone for an appointment ahead of time. If you do make an appointment, be on time; you are unlikely to impress a future business partner by demonstrating how flaky and inconsiderate of them you can be. If you have trouble accepting courteous, or even abrupt, rejection, you might be better off mailing the slides. But try to avoid showing your work to anyone at the gallery other than the dealer until the dealer has seen your work. Subordinates and secretaries can discourage you or hurt your chances, but they can seldom help.

The importance of a gallery to an artist's career is demonstrated by the fact that about two-thirds of the artists selected for the Whitney Biennial come from New York galleries. If most of the remaining one-third of the artists came from galleries in other cities, there would appear to be little room at the Whitney (and that goes for most major museums) for artists who represent themselves. In my experience, the art magazines also find their selections through galleries. Where else would they look to find many examples of many different artists' work?

Being a successful artist takes more than just the ability to make art. My experience as a teacher and as an artist tells me that success in art takes four equally important elements of character: ability, self-discipline, the hide of a rhinoceros, and persistence.