When A Gallery Says "no"

Or rethink your strategy for finding a gallery.

Or forget galleries and find other ways to show your work. If you produce unique work maybe one day a gallery will come to you.

Every single famous person I know (and I'm pretty sure all of them that I don't) who has any sort of name recognition has been rejected 100s of times in their life. *100s*!
Giving up is an option, sure. It's easier. It's safer. It hurts so much less than near constant rejection and perceived failure.

Also, changing your voice is a very serious undertaking. If you do decide to change your artistic style, subject matter and/or technique, I think it's really important that you still stay true to yourself. Trying to fit into a perceived popular look or style will likely come off as fake. You won't connect with it and its likely that viewers won't either.

Another idea but may prove more changing. If you live in a place where there are small or large building's for sale see the price for rent.Still could be in a bad location for traffic but depending on the spot. The rent may sound like a lot but if there are 6 or 8 artists paying the bill's the amount is not as much. Plus perhaps open a coffee shop or food place within the place.Only thing about this is it would take a lot of work. There would need to be someone there at all opening hours plus if you do drink and or food to supplement rent you need to know what your doing in food.I looked into this myself for some time and not making the cash flow to do this I still sometime's look into the idea from time to time.

Oh a alternative to renting a place is just asking the owner of the building. Some may not mind a few artists in there place for a little bit of time. But have then again there is other thing's to think about like insurance and so forth but I could see a business doing it for a week or month or so perhaps.

Galleries only accept work that they think they can sell.

If you're hearing, loud and clear, from the gallery owners that people in your area don't buy your kind of art you can:

(a) find another area to sell it, where the people will spend money on your kind of art; or
(b) stay local and change your art to suit the tastes of the local buyers; or
(c) make your kind of art anyway, and don't worry about whether it sells; or
(d) do a marketing campaign that is calculated to create interest in your art. Show it at venues where you can hang whatever you want, explain it to viewers if they don't understand it... etc. etc.

Don't sweat it, just send to another gallery.

first you have to find a gallery that sells the same type of work you do. but galleries are over rated. i never applied to one, and have no plans on doing it in the future. i think for the most part a gallery is a status symbol.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

For the most part, a good gallery frees you up to just create....they take care of all the rest....it is heavenly, if you are lucky enough to find a reputable one that wants and can move your work.
It is not, however, the only way to go....Ive been both places for over 40 years.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-grant/a-problem-all-artists-fac_b_792539.html

A great blog on that very topic!

Marlene - how can that be - you are only 35?

I've been in two galleries - it is nice to not worry about the promotion - although if you think you won't have to participate - you'll be surprised when you are needed at openings and special events.

Marlene: Yes, that's a huge convenience.

Rejection is nature's way of weeding out the weak.

If you spend years doing the same thing and getting no where it might be time to change your lineup.

Edward - yes - sometimes - but not necessarily the "weak" - sometimes it's style and subject - and the gallery owners choice of what is in their gallery. And sometimes - it's the artists' preparation for engaging the gallery - a poor portfolio or lack of confidence in what they've produced - balancing just the right attitude, presentation, and having done your homework. Don't try to take your landscapes into a gallery that primarily sells seascapes and boats.

Rejection from a gallery doesn't mean your art is weak. It means the gallery owner is reasonably sure that the customers who frequent that particular gallery won't buy your work.

Sometimes gallery owners accept work that turns out not to sell. It just sits there...taking up wall space. In an odd way, the gallery owner who rejects your work is doing you a favor. S/he is making you go find a place where it will sell -- instead of letting it sit on the wall taking up space and gathering dust. If you're in an art gallery, and your work isn't selling, at some point you need to go get your unsold work. Your art galleries should not be used as a place to store your work that isn't selling.

Just FYI, I have been in galleries where the owner knows squat about art and other galleries where they have been quite knowledgeable. There are thousands of galleries out there and they come and go all the time. If you are rejected, send to another one no big deal.

"Or is it time to make changes in your artistic style, subject matter and/or technique?"

If you're going about this in a "business" sense...you consider all the above....depending on whether you went about finding a gallery correctly in the first place.
If you're going about this in an "art for art's sake"...do what you want...and keep trying in a logical fashion...and don't give up.

I never was one to send slides (dating myself) and letters...so one drizzly, nasty day (in the 80's) I decided to walk-in to as many galleries in Soho that I thought would show my work...all said no, send slides...until and one gallery owner said...sure, show me what you got. And that was my first showing in Soho.

But what I showed them wasn't the pieces that ended up showing in the gallery...they wanted what I did bigger...so I made the same style/themes larger for them.

Ronald:
Gallery owners don't have to know squat about art (although it's nice when they do). All they have to know is what will make the people who come in to the gallery walk over to the cash register with something in their hand.

If your gallery is in an area where most of the people who stop by are Harley riders... it pays to sell art that the Harley crowd likes, and they'll take it very personally if you don't know squat about motorcycles.

If you're selling art at a booth at the National Western Stock Show it pays to sell horse and cow art -- you don't need to know a huge amount about art, but you better know a lot about horses and cows, especially the breeds of horses and cows featured in the art you're selling.

If your gallery is on the Champs de Elysee in Paris... you sell art that very rich europeans like -- you'd better know a lot about french wine & french cheese (so you can serve the right thing at the receptions), and be able to say something intelligent about every piece of art that ever hung in any major art museum in the world, and most of them probably won't care if you don't know squat about quarter horses, cows, or Harleys.

if all the galleries say no, it's time to break your brushes, toss your paint, burn the rest. and become a farmer.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

I wouldn't give up at all! My husband and I tried years ago to find a gallery in DC to display his photography but we found that if you didn't already have a name for yourself they didn't particularly want to even give you the time of day!. I don't know if it's changed over the years. Maybe you could find a co-op if you have the time to put into a co-op. Your artwork is unique and interesting so somebody is bound want to do a show of your work sooner or later. Have you thought about trying coffee shops and other display venues besides galeries too?

I really like this one! It makes me think of a Picasso style. Very cool!

Maybe apples to oranges, but I was reading about this band that was rejected -- sometimes harshly -- by about every record label they sent their reels too. They finally found one label who signed them. I believe some here may recognize the name of the band -- the Beatles. Every successful person, whether a musician, artist, photographer, dentist, plumber, lawyer, politician, etc. etc. has a string of failures that literally line their past. To quote Jim Valvano, "Don't give up. Never give up." Michael Jordan, for example, was cut from his high school basketball team.

Another example was the governor of a small state. He ran as a young man, won, but lost his next election. Politics aside, he could have given up and said "to hell with it" and became a lawyer or a used car salesman in Arkansas. Instead, he learned from his mistakes, ran for governor again and won. Later, he became president of the United States.

Hopefully, the best is yet to come for all of us here.

"I never was one to send slides (dating myself) and letters...so one drizzly, nasty day (in the 80's) I decided to walk-in to as many galleries in Soho that I thought would show my work...all said no, send slides...until and one gallery owner said...sure, show me what you got."

Bravo!! And there's your answer, folks. With all the twittering, facebooking, texting, emailing and general busywork disguised as productive work we often forget that the shortest route to success is to put ourselves right in front of people who can help us.


Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

Hehe Roy, thanks!
I have a 21 year old grandson.

Weak - when I said weak I didn't necessarily mean the work. Weak as in not having enough passion to brush yourself off and keep moving forward. Weak as in not believing in yourself or be willing to put in the effort to improve and keep trying.

Seriously all creative fields involve lots of rejection. Ask any writer you know.

Edward: I agree.

I would suggest giving up.

::::smacking Tony:::::

If all the galleries say no, just open one yourself and prepare rejection letter for the hopeful artists.

I'm new here and mostly I want to read what everyone else said. Most of what I've read is right on target and even wise.

When a gallery says "no," the internet will say "yes."

--Roz Abellera

hahahahaha,TM

I just sold a painting that was on display at the local prison. I kid you not!

Lara

I am set with galleries.in Europe thanks to my agent for fifty years. And thank your for your comment. The discussion is intended for other artists who have suffered rejection.

Deb Wolf - thanks for the link to the rejection article, interesting read.

I haven't tried galleries but I do regularly submit work to juried exhibitions - sometimes I get in, sometimes I don't. The rejections are hard but I try to remind myself that on that day, that time, one person thought my work didn't fit their vision. Then I pick myself up, reassess my work, and keep going.

I've thought about buying a house on a major highway, zoned so I could have a gallery as part of the house. If I were a sculptor, I would try hard to do exactly that.

Danl. I love your Bio on you own site, www, Danl. fr and I think that you should include it here on FAA. I was lucky enough for a gallery to approach me about my work, Saying that I have not sold at the gallery and in the same time I have sold 4 Originals here, so galleries are not always the answer, I think your work is great and unique, If you really try harder maybe some gallery will take your work in, just offer them a better percentage at the start.
Bonne chance.
Conor

I owned and operated an art gallery in the Kansas City area and carried several well known sculptors, painters and photographers who were internationally recognized and published. Sales were increased by staging "Art Openings" which I would get the artist's help on.

Some were Art Institute graduates or students and teachers who I approaches as a friend as well as a business planning thing. I also sold many of my own works which were on display in the gallery.

I started with renting an old style house in a popular tourist style town, in this case it was Parkville, Missouri. Then an ideal store front location opened up on Main Street. Meager at best but it is doing what I loved to do. Had bronze sculpture as well as black and white photography and popular wood carvings also. I had to close due to a recession.

Danl,

To answer your questions, in large part it depends on your understanding of art and art history.

Right now the art world is awash in money and artists.

If you take an honest look at the art though, the art world is not making any real progress. It is not developing.

With that in mind if I never sold another work of art again I would keep at it. I have life to live ahead of me and
I might be rich from POD sales 25 years from now should the trends and tastes change. I have no reason to change
course. And I have not barely begun to explore or drill down into my ideas.

But for most others.....to borrow from Tony....it might be time to give up. FLMAO.

Cheryl were you in prison at the time? Still LMAO....

Dave

Keep trying! I have a few pieces in a local gallery here in San Clemente. I sold a 12x36 canvas the same day I gave it to the gallery and they asked for a few more pieces. Its a great feeling so don't give up.

Richard,

We all thought Danl was speaking of his work. He claims he is not.

No one here is talking from personal experience. With the exception of one artist's prison experiences. LOL

Galleries outside of a few major cities and some retirement communities are not OFTEN worth a darn. I guess
seascapes in a gallery near the ocean will sell. But most galleries have really bad economics.

POD does not. POD v a Gallery? Not even worth comparing. Sales or no sales the POD gets more visitors and more sales over all site wide.

Dave

Na, you cant give up. Most good galleries really dont care that much about how good your art is anyway. They only care about what their base of clients want, that already buy. If you dont meet that criteria, no matter how good your work is, they will tell you no thanks.
Some wont even give you the time of day to let you know. Don't take it to heart.

David, I speak from personal experience. How much do you have?

Not really sure what you're getting at, David. I think you're the only one comparing galleries to POD. Wasn't the topic about selling your art in galleries?

not really true dave, when people go to a gallery they are usually looking to buy something. online they have more choices, but often that may be more confusing. but more so it's a certain prestige to it, i bought my art at XYZ gallery. it's the same stuff as here, but it's fancier sounding. much like how ronny mc millionaire has hamburgers served on a silver platter. it's a matter of presentation.

still i think galleries are overrated. its more about who you know that anything else. in a gallery you can ask for real money, compared to a pod. there are advantages.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

No Monsieur Danl, I will not stop painting for any reason, least of all rejection from some Other because as I see it they are Not the reason I create.

"No one here is talking from personal experience. With the exception of one artist's prison experiences. LOL"

lol...priceless

Marlene,

I was talking tongue in cheek...firmly planted.

You were one of the few answering Danl's question. Most people avoided that.

BTW Danl was talking about being an artist with a failed past, so the focus of his questions were about
the future. If someone is successful with galleries now, then this question does not apply
necessary to them. But what is success?

As far as Galleries go, I have very little experience. I know they take 50% of the sales generally.
I know you pay for your materials. With POD you do not put up money at least for digital work up front.
That makes looking at galleries, I have looked at one, next to worthless for me. I could go locally
and have my work printed up, yes. It is not worth it.

Example, one "well known" photographer sold a large image on a foam board for $1000 at a local gallery. That
was the only sale in the month he was in the gallery. Yes he has name recognition etc....and who knows he may
have sold other works because of this, but not through the gallery. I do not know. Still he had over a dozen unsold works,
I guess for his next show. His revenue was $500 DIRECTLY from the gallery, before taxes and costs. And he may have had
other time and ad costs.

As a digital artist, only very successful galleries would be worth my time. I am not holding my breath, but just any gallery
is not worth my time.

Now from readings, the online market for art is growing by about 20% per year for a few years to come. This is causing the poorer
performing galleries to close. Other articles discuss how poor some galleries' economics are.

I am in the Hartford area and do not expect to take digital images printed, NOT what would/might pass as originals, in other words
painted on its own canvas, down to NYC ever to a gallery. My prints would never fly.

I see this as a war of ideas, not a battle to make a gallery owner a few bucks.

The world is moving to the digital. 3D printing of the great collections is just around the corner. The process has already
begun. My art is one tangent of digital art. Should my art become popular years from now, my investment of time will
pay off. If not I had fun. And that is more than good enough.

Marlene I strictly see galleries as the traditional route to being a successful artist. Things have changed.
You would be wasting your time to expect me to be a traditionalist. Good luck with that. :D

Dave

PS....Hey Larry....yeah Mo......Lawrence you are easily amused.

PSS Mike in NYC Galleries have buyers, but in the boonies not so. Few and far between. That "well known" artist
who sold only one image in a month, his art was macro shots of frozen leaves. I am far more interested in winning a war
of ideas than making a few hundred bucks a month in a local gallery. BTW his macro shots on foam board were digital shots
about the quality of what FAA would be selling if not slightly less quality. His prices ranged from $550 to $1250. Remember
the gallery gets 50% off the top, so he showed to very few people, got one sale and had an out of pocket cost for over
one dozen prints on foam board. Just say'n. You, he and I all are using digital tools. Originals? Yes and no.

Mike to put a finer point on it, the ORIGINAL is not the paper print, but the IDEAS on the paper print in the digital realm.

it doesn't matter how well known you are. it depends on the item being sold. while many might buy because they think the price will go up. people still buy things to decorate with and if he doesn't have interesting work then yes, that person will only sell 1 thing a month. what makes the price more is that it was signed by him, and or numbered. buyers don't care if the idea is original, if they are getting it as an investment, the original is the first image made - the actual image. creativity is not considered original because what does the buyer really know? they wanted something pretty for the wall, they were computer phobic, or didn't know about pods.

did this person advertise he was in a gallery? did he have other places that sold it for less? did he put up art reflecting the area? all this stuff should be taken into account


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Richard

A great attitude..."Don't give up".

David,
OK, thanks for letting us know that you have very little gallery experience.....each gallery has their own way of doing everything...making sweeping generalities is at best, misleading.

great website, M Danl! www.danl.fr

I recently applied for a art show at the bellevue art museum I was rejected. i had no chance because my images were not cropped or high enough quality i had no idea just like when i first came here. I look at what i draw and i believe in myself so i give it my all and learn everyday. I take advise, but i will never draw for someone else and if it happens it happens I'm happy right now anyways.

Marlene,

The only sweeping statement I would bother reading into this has to do with me. I will not for one moment be
bothering with the gallery system. Not worth MY time. Stop trying to read it as a matter of experience. My position is researched
and it is based on the economics of prints. A digital print will not command the prices an original oil painting can command
from a FEW painters. Many oil or acrylic painters will not command much price wise regardless. Open ended edition prints will not
on a unit basis command prices that matter in the gallery system. But if you know different and can point to a RECENT example
of success I'd be happy to hear about it. Please?

We are surrounded by readers here who are selling prints, so how badly they want to be in galleries....??? Well that is their
business.

Things are changing. Not times are changing which would be a half arsed platitude, but things literally are changing.

Dave

Danl,

Very very interesting website and work.

A great insight into who you are as an artist.

My respects,

Dave

Richard,

The topic is about selling your art in galleries, or just being able to sell your art.

Some of us only have prints. There is an economics to print sales. Just my opinion, but print sales
don't jive well with gallery sales. Different economics involved.

Dave

I for one am not even interested in the gallery scene and I'm a painter. I joined a group exhibition last week, went to the reception, lasted 20 minutes and had to get out of there. I'm just not built for that world.

David, I am speaking of your generalities regarding 'most' galleries, as you put it.

As stated in the OP, the concern is about originals, not prints.

Fair enough

I more clearly read the part about changing your approach to your art.

I was less focused on the gallery attempts, not my thing.

Dave

Why do I get the feeling these threads are about saving our souls or something? Times are not the same as 50 years ago. As Roz says, gallery sez no, do a run around and sell directly to the buyers.