Want a Healthy Gallery Relationship?

11 Things to Consider to Ensure a Thriving Relationship with the Gallery that Represents You

While galleries offer a number of exciting opportunities to artists (e.g. visibility, promotion, credibility and access to collectors), there are a number of considerations when it comes to having and maintaining a healthy relationship with a gallery and their curators.

Here, I discuss 11 aspects that artists should consider if they wish to maintain a healthy and thriving collaboration with the gallery that represents them.

#1 - It’s Not Only About Your Art

Displaying and selling great art is a key goal of galleries – yet it is frequently not the only one, as galleries wish to also create, and participate in, a community that brings delight to all contributors. In brief, it is not only about your art – it is also about you.

Galleries often have to terminate agreements because of how artists behave – toward the gallery, contractual obligations or interactions with fellow artists. Nobody likes to deal with primadonnas, unprofessionalism, poor commitments or dishonesty.

#2 - Galleries Aren’t Free Showrooms

Imagine an artist asking you to not promote their work online and sharing that they value having work in your gallery so that potential customers can see the quality before purchasing a similar piece in their own online store.

Galleries invest much time and money in their artists yet they are not museums – please do not treat them as such. A breach of trust and creating the feeling that you are exploiting your gallerist will likely end your engagement with that gallery.

#3 - Galleries Aren’t Storage Spaces

Establishing a relationship with a gallery to then use their space to sell old unsold items or even partially damaged work won’t contribute to a lasting, healthy relationship. Such behaviors will quickly erode the trust the gallery placed in you and, feeling used and abused, the gallerist will likely terminate the relationship.

Truth be told, there are many talented artists in the world and galleries will always gravitate toward those who cherish and nurture the relationship – honestly and fairly.

#4 - Pricing Ethics is Key

No, you cannot have X price in your online store and 2X price for the same item in a gallery. It is simply unacceptable and unethical for a gallery to sell an item at 2X when their customers could purchase the same item at half the cost elsewhere.

One thing less experienced artists fail in understanding is that having artworks in a gallery automatically increases the value of their work. For instance, if X is what you wish to earn for an artwork and the gallery keeps 50% of the retail price, the retail price of that and similar items will be 2X – in the gallery as well as in your online store.

#5 - Be Responsible and Low Maintenance

Emailing a curator or gallerist asking for information that is clearly articulated in a call for art, contract or website wastes time and can indicate that you’re not paying attention. Truth be told, the gallerist might perceive you as high maintenance.

Similarly, not following submission requirements forces the gallerist to contact you to rectify the issue – again wasting their limited time and signaling that you are not doing your homework.

Gallerists frequently manage 10s if not 100s of artists – imagine if each of them was to require so much hand holding! The bottom line: do not be high maintenance, do your homework and respect people’s time.

#6 - Galleries Aren’t Saturday Markets

Imagine giving to an emerging artist the opportunity to have a solo show – you are hopeful that the artist will jump on the opportunity to take their work to a new level. Instead, they deliver a massive amount of similar works (quantity) with little to no evidence that they pushed their work to a higher level (quality).

Art galleries are not Saturday markets — surely, selling is important, yet a more crucial aspect is Art and an ongoing pursuit of quality, growth, and commitment to one’s craft.

#7 - If You Commit, Deliver

Committing and not delivering is rarely appreciated, especially when one fails in alerting the gallery in a timely fashion, to enable suitable alternatives.

A big no-no is for example when an artist commits to a show, reassures the gallery that they are making progress and then, at the last minute, cancels the show, leaving the gallery in a very awkward situation, with a gap in their calendar and a negative financial impact. Things are particularly inappropriate when the artist, despite their commitment, delivers work to other galleries instead of focusing on their committed show.

Unless something terrible has happened, deliver on your promises – and do so with grace and quality in the forefront.

#8 - Attend Your Solo Show (unless you live far away)

Organizing a solo show is a monumental amount of work for a gallery and the artist’s job is to be present at their opening event – unless of course they live in a different country and travel is financially impossible.

There are artists who go above and beyond to give the gallery and its patrons a sense of presence on opening day, despite their distance and inability to attend. And there are artists that think nothing of taking a vacation during their show’s opening, despite being locals.

Now, guess which artists will get more opportunities in the future? 

#9 - It’s a Two-Way Street

Promoting an art show and an artist requires a lot of time, effort and investment. An important part of this is for the artist to engage by sharing and amplifying the gallery’s marketing efforts. Liking, commenting on, and resharing posts on social media are low effort ways to engage and support the gallery so that your own art is seen, appreciated and sold.

Many galleries experienced artists that, despite being very active on social media, never reshare a gallery's posts about their own work. Why? Because, I learned, they did not wish to have their followers see that their work is also available outside their own shop.

This kind of exclusion can quickly damage the relationship between the artist and the gallery. Being part of a gallery is a two way street and shared success relies on shared efforts and contribution.

#10 - Let The Gallery Do Its Job

Engaging with a gallery means that the gallery will be in charge of sales and negotiations with potential customers.

Disrupting these efforts by offering discounts or making deals directly with potential buyers will result in very frustrated gallerists and the likelihood that they will think twice before having your work in their space again.

Similarly, making offers to bypass the gallery by creating a similar artwork and selling it to customers directly at a discounted price will likely erode your relationship with the gallery. 

#11 - Participate & Be Present

Are you taking the relationship with a gallery that represents you seriously? For a gallerist, a good indicator is whether you actively participate in efforts to promote the arts as well as your work and that of fellow artists.

Of course there are vacations – yet being local and never visiting the gallery or never attending its events may signal that you are not prioritizing the relationship and may be in an extractive relationship.

For artists not living in the same country it is understandably difficult to physically participate in events, yet there are many creative ways to signal that you are present and an active contributor.

Finally, participating in group shows organized by the gallery is an additional indicator that you are committed to a two-way, thriving relationship.

Final Thoughts

There is more to consider if you wish to maintain a healthy relationship with your galleries, yet I am hopeful that these pointers are of help as you continue your journey. 

The bottom line is: it is a relationship, not a one way street.

Interested in showing your work at imperfecta? Find opportunities in the "open calls" section of our website.