Episode Transcript
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Jen Tough (00:00):
Welcome to Tough on
Art, the podcast for artists
interested in ways to get aheadin today's art market.
I'm Jen Tough owner of Jen ToughGallery and the Artist Alliance
community.
Join me for some down to earthtalk about the best ways for
artists to navigate this new anddifferent landscape.
Hey everybody.
Welcome to another episode ofTough on Art.
(00:20):
I'm Jen Tough.
And today we're going to talkabout the three secrets that are
going to boost your chances ofgallery representation.
Okay.
So this is all always whateverybody wants to know.
What artists want to know is howcan I get into an art gallery?
And for those of you who know meI always suggest that that
shouldn't be your primary goal.
(00:41):
Your primary goal should begetting your workout, building
your audience, and really takingyour career in the direction
that you want to take on yourown.
So that means learning aboutmarketing.
It means learning about how todo art fairs.
It means learning about how todisplay your work properly, how
to network with people.
Because I've, as I've said, alsoa million times before the art
(01:04):
world is totally based onrelationships.
So one of the best things thatyou can do is spend your time
just meeting people in a reallynatural way.
But today we're going to talkabout.
Three secrets that are going toboost your chances of gallery
representation.
Now, these might seem when I goover them, that they're really
obvious, but I'm going to tellyou that they're actually really
(01:28):
rare in my experience thatartists really take the time
doing these things.
I think lots of times they thinkmaybe I know enough and I'm
going to go ahead and approachthe gallery anyway.
And they really haven't donetheir homework.
So let's go ahead and start withnumber one, know all about the
gallery before you approachthem.
Okay.
So definitely do your research,find out what kind of
(01:51):
exhibitions they do.
Find out who they'rerepresenting, find out how long
they've been in business.
You want to be able to reallyknow everything that you can
from the beginning of theirbusiness, to the end of their
business, who are the primarypeople at the gallery?
What kind of work do they show?
Did they do solo shows?
Do they represent people?
(02:12):
What is their business model?
You know, some galleries are,non-profit, some are commercial,
so their business model is goingto really vary.
And it's really important thatyou know how that business model
works.
And that's going to be ournumber three thing that I'm
gonna talk to you about, butlet's, let's go on and talk.
Talk about.
What to know about the gallerybefore you approached them.
So how do you find this stuffout?
(02:33):
Well, first you're obviouslygoing to start on the website.
If they're not local you'regoing to want to read everything
that you can, study up on theshows they've done.
This is the one way thatgalleries.
Can really express their owncreativity is, you know, the
work that they show, how theyshow it, how they display it how
long those shows are, what thethemes are of those shows.
(02:54):
If they're group shows these arethe kinds of things that you're
going to need to know that givesyou an inside.
Insight into their business.
And also lets you know, youknow, what kind of people they
are by the creativity that they,you know, put forth in their
exhibitions.
Okay.
You know, maybe they, theyfollow a really standard model
where they represent artists andthen they have, you know,
(03:17):
rotating solo shows of theirrepresented artists with group
shows.
And they have a smaller, stable.
And then they also bring inother artists for group shows.
You know, these are all thethings that you definitely,
definitely need to know beforeyou approach, long before you
approach.
So that's the first thing.
The second thing is, is that youwant to connect with the gallery
(03:37):
before you approached them.
And connecting is really simplein this day and age.
Okay.
It's you know, if with socialmedia newsletters, websites,
it's really easy to connect withthat gallery.
Now, a lot of, you know, a lotof artists always ask, how do I
connect with galleries who areout of, you know, out of my
area.
(03:58):
Well, you know, social mediawebsites, their newsletter are
all ways to do it.
So that's the first thing youwant to do is sign up for their
news letter.
This is also going to give youinformation about what they're
doing, which is also our numberone, you know, knowing all about
the gallery.
So what exhibitions do they havecoming up?
You're going to be able to findout in their newsletter, what
(04:18):
new artists are theyrepresenting and make sure you
read the newsletter and, knowwhat they're, you know, know
what they're up to.
This is a way to, you know, thefirst easiest, absolutely
easiest way to connect.
With a gallery.
And, and on that note it's alsoimportant that you know,
remember that you signed up fortheir newsletter don't
(04:39):
unsubscribe at some point orworse report them for spam.
I've had that happen.
I never add people to my emailwithout their consent.
And I've had people report mefor spam, which on, you know, on
our end, you know, after they'vesigned up for the newsletter,
which is such bullshit becauseon my end with my email service
provider, if you get reportedfor spam, a certain number of
(05:03):
times, it can really affect yourreputation with that email
service provider and they caneven.
Stop working with you, if youhave a lot of spam reports.
So definitely don't report agallery where you signed up for
their email for spam.
I think a lot of people arereally unaware about how this
works and that galleries aresmall businesses.
(05:26):
I mean, unless we're talkingabout.
The huge guys, which we're notwe're now we're not really
talking about Hauser and Wirthor David Zwirner, you know, or
any of those big, huge, multilocation galleries.
We're talking more about like,you know, the smaller and mid
tier galleries.
Okay.
So, understand that you know,the gallery is going to be
informed if you report them forspam or if you an unsubscribe,
(05:50):
they're going to know.
That's not really a good lookwhen you're going to approach
them, right?
Like they're probably gonnaemail, you know, look in their
email box.
That's the first thing I do.
Like if I have a, an artist youhave never heard of before, I'm
going to search my emails to seeif we've had any of
conversations and what they'vebeen.
And if I, if it shows up thatyou're, you know, you've
reported me for spam and thenyou're trying to get in one of
(06:14):
my shows.
I, that's not going to go overtoo well.
I mean, it wouldn't go overreally well with anybody, would
it?
I mean, it probably wouldn't goover well with you.
So okay.
So back to number two,connecting with a gallery before
you approach.
So the first thing you want todo is the newsletter.
Okay.
Play nice with the newsletter,open it up, read it, know what
they're doing?
Don't unsubscribe and don'treport them for spam.
(06:36):
Okay.
And in this meantime, I shouldpreface all of this by saying,
you've got to start a database.
And that doesn't mean a databaselike artwork archive, where
your, you know, just date, youknow, creating a database of
your finished works and wherethe location is.
That's important, but that's notwhat I'm talking about.
What I'm talking about iscreating a database of all the
(06:59):
galleries that you, you know,the galleries that you want to
approach.
When you approach them, how youapproach them, what their
response was.
Okay.
So this is the only way that youcan keep track.
And one of the things that'sreally important is that you are
hitting them up again in adifferent way.
Like, let's say you sendpostcards and then two months
later you send an email.
(07:19):
You need to keep track of allthose things.
If you get no response fromthree approaches, and you're
definitely going to want to takethem off your list for a year.
Now, the only way to keep upwith this is to have a database
so you can use, I use air table,which I love and this a little
bit of a monthly fee.
Like I think it's like 15 bucksor something.
You can also use that air tablefor keeping track of all your
(07:42):
artwork, where it is when it'ssold, things like that, who it
sold to.
So, so it's a great thing forthat.
You can also use Excel, whichscares me, or you can use a
numbers, which is on a appleMacintosh, or there's also
Google sheets, which is free andit's online.
So it doesn't matter what kindof computer you have.
(08:02):
It's totally up to you, but youhave to do.
So connecting with the gallery.
Number two, again, we're goingback to that.
After you've signed up for theirnewsletter, you're going to want
to follow them on social media.
Now, those two things seem soobvious, but you would be
shocked how few people do that.
And, you know, and I think whydo they even, you know, this is
(08:25):
for my end, for me from agallery's point of view.
You know, if someone approachesme, I just got an email this
morning from a person who wantedme to represent them.
And they're not in my artist'scommunity.
I had never seen their namebefore.
They're not on my newsletterlist.
They don't follow me on socialmedia.
And I'm thinking, why would youeven, you know, approach me?
(08:48):
Because you know, you obviouslyhave no idea.
Anything about me, you know?
So that just seems really youknow, really one sided or like,
you know, I kind of feel like,well, she must be sending this
email out to every singlegallery in the world.
And that's not really a goodlook either.
So connecting with the galleryon social media and newsletter,
so on social media, you know,for the galleries that you
(09:10):
really, really like, you know,follow them and comment, just
comment.
And they're going to startseeing your name over and over
again, and it's going to stick.
So, you know, do that for a longtime.
You're not going to have anydirect results from that that
you're going to see, but what'sgoing to happen is, is that in
all likelihood, the gallery orwhoever is running their social
(09:32):
media and their marketing isgoing to know that this person
they're going to see your namepopping up again and again and
again.
And what's the, what this isdoing is sort of warming up.
The email that you're going tosend first, right?
You want to do all of thesethings before you get to that
place where you are sending anemail.
Okay.
And this might be months, youknow, several months, I would
(09:54):
say at least three months ofcommenting on that gallery
social media feed.
You know, particularlyInstagram, I would just, you
know, focus on Instagram.
You've got the newsletter.
Okay.
So now if they're within drivingdistance, go to their next
opening, you don't want to beselling yourself there.
You might want to just introduceyourself.
(10:15):
Hi, I'm so-and-so.
And maybe if you've beencommenting on social media you
know, they might recognize yourname.
If you have gotten theirnewsletter, if you get the
chance to meet the gallery owneror, you know, one of the senior
people at the gallery, you cansay.
You know, wow.
I really loved the show.
You did a couple months ago.
(10:36):
You know, that would be a greatway to break the ice, right.
With you know, with a gallerydirector, if you happen to go in
person.
So if you can go in person,definitely go in person.
Obviously don't want to beasking the gallery to do
anything for you.
You're just getting to knowpeople.
You're just, you know, it's sortof like dating, you know, you're
just, you don't want to move tooquickly.
You just, you just want to getto know each other, you know,
(10:58):
you want to take things superslow.
This is not a fast process, youknow, just like with creating
your work.
This is not this isn't, thisisn't, this doesn't happen
overnight.
It's, you know, you're learningand learning and learning and,
you know, evolving and changing.
And that's exactly where youshould be.
Okay.
(11:18):
You can't just like walk into agallery and expect the gallery
owner to be like, oh my God,your work is amazing.
And I'm going to show you rightnow.
And here's a solo show.
You know, that just that doesn'thappen behind the scenes is this
long nurturing of a relationshipbefore they will even open the
door to talk to you.
And that is because, you know,it's trust, right?
(11:41):
It's trust.
It's building a relationship.
It's getting to know you andreally going Gaga over your
work.
Okay.
So, okay, so, so far we'vegotten sign up for the, for the
newsletter.
Number one, number two, you'regoing to be following them on
social media and commenting.
This is all off my head by theway you guys.
(12:01):
So I'm just trying to totallyremember.
And number three is if you cango to the openings, go to the
openings.
They might give workshops.
They might have some sort ofspecial event that you can be
involved with.
And also here's where yourdatabase is going to come in.
Right.
Because that's where, you know,sometimes you can feel like, oh
my God, I tried so hard to getin that gallery.
(12:23):
And they didn't even answer myemail.
Well, if you have this database,you might be able to go back and
see like, oh, well it looks likeI never signed up for their
newsletter.
I never commented on socialmedia or even followed them.
And I, you know, and all I didwas send this one email.
You know, so having thisdatabase where you can track
(12:44):
what you did and when you didit, and when the response was
for gallery, XYZ is going to behugely helpful.
Hugely really it's the only wayto know.
Did I really try hard?
Did I, did I do all those thingsthat I should do?
Or did I just send a blinding.
Right.
And the thing is we're sending ablind email.
It's not really that there'sanything like horribly wrong
(13:05):
with it because there isn't.
But the thing that, that, thatis like sucky about it is that
when you most likely are notgoing to hear back, if you
didn't do any relationshipbuilding prior, right?
It's just going to become thislike blind email to the gallery.
They're not going to know whoyou are.
Right.
And then the artist doesn't hearback from the gallery and they
get really upset anddisgruntled, or they feel
(13:27):
rejected, right.
When it has nothing to do withthe artist's work.
It's purely because the gallerydoesn't know who you are.
Okay.
So connecting before the firstapproach is super important.
Find any way that you can to getto know and connect with that
gallery that you're interestedin.
(13:47):
And this is after of course youhave researched the shit out of
good galleries that you'reinterested in all over the
country, and you're going toplug those in to your database.
Okay.
So there's going to be multiplegalleries.
That you're going to be doingthis with not just one.
Okay.
And how you organize those istotally up to you.
Like maybe you have, you know,your number one gallery, number
(14:09):
two, your number three, youknow, and then, you know, you
can go through, you could spendmore priority of your time
because obviously nobody hastime to do all this.
I realized that you know, youcan, you can prioritize the
galleries that are really on thetop of your list, but if you're
not getting any response, Then,you know, you might want to go
down to, you know, three, fourand five on your list.
(14:29):
Right.
So definitely connect with thegallery.
Okay.
So number three, our final oneis know all about the gallery
business.
Okay.
And this is something that Ifind astounding.
I was really shocked.
(14:51):
That so many artists had no ideahow a gallery makes money, how
the business works, what theexpectations are for them as an
artist it's, it's, it's socommon.
I've learned now that it it's,it's actually exceedingly rare
when you meet an artist who,even if they've been a
(15:13):
professional artist for yearsand years, and have been
represented, but who reallyunderstand the business, that's,
that's just amazing to me.
And, and I think that.
One of the best things that anartist can do to make them
really appealing to a gallery isto really understand how the
business works, to reallyunderstand how a gallery makes
(15:37):
money, how a gallery staysafloat, what the expectations
are for an artist.
So for instance, One of thethings that I've sort of been
watching in, in the art worldand, and in the gallery business
is, you know, there's there,there's always a real interest
with representing youngerartists because the idea is with
(16:00):
younger artists, like, so, sothe idea goes, and for
gallerists is that if you know,with younger artists, you have,
you can nurture their career.
And then towards the end oftheir career, you can really be
selling their work for a lot ofmoney.
Now what I think artists don'tunderstand, no matter if they're
older or younger, is that when agallery let's say, you know,
(16:23):
starts representing you startsinvesting their time and their
space to that artist and thatartist's career they're really
going in the red to do that.
Right.
Because if the artist isn'tknown and they give that artist
a solo or two or three personshow lets say.
(16:46):
And their gallery space, theonly gallery space they have
their stores essentially.
Right.
And they're like, you know,let's say with that choice.
They could be selling, like, ifyou were a shoe store, let's
say, and you're going to takethe risk of only selling, you
know, blue Nike's, let's say inthat shoe store and nothing
else, that's kind of like what asolo show is, especially if the
(17:10):
artist isn't extremelywell-known and doesn't have a
big audience already.
So you're taking a huge risk byselling, trying to, you know,
using your gallery space, yourentire gallery space for, you
know, a show for an artist whois, who is not known.
Okay.
It's a massive risk.
That's a risk that galleriesoften take in order to sell the
(17:32):
work down the line at a higherprice.
When the artist is more wellknown.
So the other things that go intothis is that when an artist
isn't known and they, they bringthem on to sign them.
And this is, this is more of acommercial gallery, like the
standard sort of gallery.
I'm not talking about likegalleries that might also sell
jewelry or, or other things, orthey have a different model.
(17:52):
I'm talking about like the verytraditional model.
So anyway, the other thing thatgalleries spend money and time
on is marketing.
You know, they're, they're usingtheir social media platform,
let's say for promoting thatartist.
Okay.
They're making books or they'remaking postcards and they're,
you know, talking about thework, they're learning all about
(18:14):
the artists.
So when they have an opening orany other time, they can always
talk about, you know, where theartists lives, where the artists
went to school, they knoweverything about the artists.
So when a buyer might ask somequestions, which happens all the
time, they know all thatinformation.
So there's a lot of time andenergy that goes into it, that
the artist isn't really seeing,and they're not really aware of.
(18:34):
But understanding how thegallery business works is
extremely important.
So let's say an artist has asolo show and the gallery asks,
you know, Hey, six months afterthe solo show, all the pieces
that are in this show are goingto go through the gallery.
(18:54):
Now I've had a lot of, you know,only the only the pieces that
were in that show, let's say forthe next six, And here's, you
know, a lot of artists getreally pissed off about that
because they don't understand.
And it's like, well, wait aminute.
You know, the gallery gave youtheir entire space.
They did all this.
They did promotion for you.
They promoted you.
They learned about you.
They talk about you and you'renot there.
(19:15):
Cause usually artists are justthere at the opening.
They don't understand that everyday that the gallery is open
when their artwork is on thewall, that the person who owns
the gallery or other people whowork there are discussing that
work with the people who mightbe coming in.
Okay.
So it's a lot of energy and timeand money that goes into you
know, promoting artists thatartists aren't really seeing.
They're not really seeing thaton their end.
(19:36):
They usually just go to theopenning.
Okay.
So let's say that during this,during this a solo show, let's
say it's a solo show and youknow, people are coming in and
they're seeing obviously it's,you know, artists XYZ and they
are selling, you know, works 1,2, 3.
And let's say that this personwho came into this gallery saw
(19:57):
work number two.
And they they're like, wow, Ireally love that piece.
You know, they talk to thegallerist about it.
They found out all about theartist from the gallerist, et
cetera, et cetera.
They got, you know, someinformation, their CV, things
like that, that the gallery hashad for them.
And then they go home and theycontact the artist director.
Okay.
So if there isn't a six monthyou know, lock on that work,
(20:21):
that's shown in that show afterthe show comes down it's, it's
really difficult to keep trackof If that work, you know, one
of those works sold to somebody,you know, right, like the minute
the show went down, which I'vehad happened before and it's
infuriating.
So it's why is this important?
As far as like knowing thegallery biz for artists, it's
important because you thenunderstand where the gallery,
(20:45):
where the gallery is, is comingfrom.
If you happen to know what theirrent was like, say three to
$5,000.
You know, you already know justfor rent, the gallery has to,
you know, six to 10,000, sellsix to$10,000 worth of art to
just pay the rent.
Doesn't pay salaries.
It doesn't pay electricity.
It doesn't play pay, you know,heat doesn't pay water,
anything.
(21:06):
Taxes insurance is a huge one.
So there's a lot of art that hasto be sold and it's extremely
risky.
So if that work isn't sold bythe gallery you know, especially
when they're showing artists whoare not well known and they have
no guarantee of sales.
You know, it's a huge investmentand trust on the gallerists
part.
Okay.
So sometimes what can happen isartists feel like, well, this is
(21:30):
my work.
I don't care if it was in a showwith XYZ gallery, I'm going to
sell it anyway because my showwas a month ago or something
like that.
You know, it's really difficultfor an artist to know where that
buyer might've come from.
And in all likelihood, theyprobably saw their work or was
introduced to that artist's workfrom the gallery, a social media
(21:52):
account because usuallygalleries have larger social
media followings than artists,solo artists do.
It's one of the benefits ofbeing with a gallery, right.
So that's something for artiststo keep in mind is because a lot
of times I hear from artists,oh, my gallery doesn't do
anything for me.
They do nothing for me.
My work hasn't sold, theyhaven't sold anything for me.
(22:14):
And, you know, either they leavedisgruntled and angry because
they feel like they deservedbetter.
They feel like they deservemore, you know, attention.
But what I think is importantabout understanding how the
gallery business works isknowing.
How much time and money agallery is really putting into
an artist's career.
When the artist is reallythinking like, oh, they're not
(22:35):
doing anything for me, my workisn't selling.
And it must be their fault.
There's just a lot of movingparts with it.
And I think that a lot of timesartists feel like you know,
they're entitled to sell theirwork on their own.
And I think it's important tojust keep in mind that it might
not be.
You know, right in front of, youknow, right in front of the
(22:57):
artist's face in a sense likewhat the gallery is doing for
them, you know, when they're notaround, for instance.
So it's important to, tounderstand how the gallery
business works, because when youunderstand how a gallery stays
afloat, and there's very fewgalleries who are making a lot
of money, very, very few, thereneeds to be some kind of loyalty
(23:20):
to what that gallery has donefor that artist.
What they've done for you in thepast, there needs to be now what
happens if there isn't that kindof mutual respect and
understanding and communication,you know, artists are selling
work.
That's where you hear about, youknow, artists selling work
behind a gallery's back that'sit can become really muddled and
(23:44):
gray.
But I think the key to it is, isunderstanding what a gallery is
doing that isn't directly just,oh, sale ABC, because sometimes
sales take like years and yearsfor an artist's career to really
pick up.
Right.
And it's important to know thatthe gallery is, is banking on,
(24:05):
they have a longterm view.
Of that relationship.
It's not just one show and theshow sells out or it doesn't,
you know, it's not, it's notjust about that.
It's that the gallery is willingto go in the red to promote that
artist now.
So later they can both do betterfinancially.
(24:26):
So when an artist sells work,You know, just a couple months
after a solo show, for instance,and they, and the gallery
doesn't know, but that person,you know, the person who bought
that work, saw it at thegallery, you know, or saw it on
the gallery social media, isn'tthere, you know, isn't there,
shouldn't there be some kind ofunderstanding or acknowledgement
(24:51):
that you know, most likely thatbuyer came to the artist via the
gallery.
It's just something to thinkabout.
And I think that the more that aartist that an artist knows
about the gallery business, thebetter it's going to be for them
to develop a really positiverelationship with that gallery
because galleries talk and, youknow, when you intentionally or
(25:17):
unintentionally burn a bridgewith a gallery.
It's not really, it's not goingto do you any good as an artist.
It's certainly, you know, Itmight not make any difference,
but it very well, it very wellcould.
So, so how do you prevent that?
Because I think, you know, 99%of the time, these kinds of
things are completelyunintentional.
(25:38):
What you can do is know how thegallery stays in business.
Are they a commercial gallery?
Do they, do they have to paytaxes?
Do they have to make a certainamount of money every month?
You're not going to.
That amount of money is, but youcan kind of estimate based on
where they're, you know, wherethe gallery is located or where
that, you know, what theiroverhead might be.
(25:59):
Well, then you have to doublethat basically for the amount of
art that the person has to sellthe gallery because 50% goes to
the artist.
So knowing how that processworks is going to be really,
really positive for any gallerythat might want to start a
relationship with that artist.
If they know how the businessworks.
I mean, you know, people who,you know, make, let's say they
(26:21):
make food products, let's saythey make kombucha or something.
They don't, you know, they needto understand who selling it.
They need to understand thatbusiness, right?
Like, it's totally, you know,how does, how does this, how
does a store stay in businesswhen they're selling my
kombucha?
You know, who's, who's thecustomer, who's the, how are
they?
What would be their incentive ofpicking up my kombucha?
(26:43):
It's the same thing with art,see exact same thing.
You know, as far as the, youknow, as the financial
transactions go and there's, youknow, it's all about
relationship building and themore you understand how a
gallery operates, how they makemoney why it's important to be
loyal to a gallery for a longperiod of time.
You know, even if sales dip fora while, You have, you need to
(27:06):
remember like, well, you know,last year it was pretty good
this year.
It isn't maybe it's because Ichanged my style.
Maybe it's because I'm doingthings completely differently
than I was.
And these other pieces soldbetter.
Knowing how the gallery staysafloat is critical.
Knowing how the gallery systemworks is critical.
It's going to make you way moreappealing for any gallery who
(27:29):
wants to represent you.
If you have a strongunderstanding of how the process
works, and you can find out thisinformation by, you know, online
by reading about galleries, byknowing if the gallery is
non-profit.
In other words, they don't haveto pay taxes, they can get
donations.
That's huge.
You know, that's a, that's ahuge difference between a
commercial gallery.
(27:50):
So these are all, you know, ittakes time and it takes
research, but these three thingsare definitely the best ways to
boost your chances of galleryrepresentation, outside of your
work of course.
So number one was to go throughthem again, know all about the
gallery before you approachthem.
Don't, don't go in blind, learnabout them, be interested, you
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know, find out and discover ifyou want to be part of that
ecosystem with them.
Number two, connect with agallery before approach, social
media, email list.
If they have something elsegoing on, sign up for it.
And number three, know all aboutthe gallery business,
financially.
How the, how the process workswith representation.
(28:33):
How has, how their show systemworks, especially with solo
shows.
So I hope this helps.
And if you have any questions,you can email me at
info@jentough.gallery.
And if you're interested injoining the Artists Alliance
it'sartistsalliancemembership.com
have a great day.
(28:53):
And thanks for listening.
Thank you so much for listeningand supporting this podcast.
Your support means everything.
If you'd like to learn moreabout the Artists Alliance
community.
Send me a question or learnabout other events or projects
coming up, please visit mywebsite at www.jentough.gallery.
See you next time.