Looking for a gallery?

Having a gallery is a double edged sword. On the one side they provide you with a place to display your work that is clean and designed with two purposes in mind: looking at and selling art. On the other hand they usually take a large percentage of your sales and many times will require you to sign a contract stating that you won’t show within a certain distance of them and that you won’t sell out of your studio and the list goes on.

I have had four different galleries, not including co-op’s and collectives, over the past 15 years. Every single one of them has done something to make my experience with them not worth the few sales I have received from them. Granted up until a few years ago I think my work was not really in a place to merit a large number of sales. This does not give license to damage, hold back or “lose” work. After all the gallery’s asked me to show, not the other way around.

The worst experience, by far, was being in a group show with two other people. Both artists had strong work and are still at it. By the end of the shows run I had sold all three of the pieces in the show, while the other two had sold none. The gallery asked the other two artists to be in her stable but did not ask me. I was flabbergasted at this event and it was the end of any romance I had with the gallery world. Maybe I didn’t fit in with the gallery’s direction? Maybe I was too strong willed? It just left a bad taste in my mouth.