Artists and Galleries

One of the things that has been badly missing from my artistic education was instruction in the commercial side of being an artist.  I had always assumed that an artist could simply contact a gallery, show them a portfolio and, if the gallery liked what they saw, be able to exhibit their work in an exhibition.

What I didn't realize was how much one's sales determined being selected for an exhibition.  I remember gallery directors who repeatedly asked about my sales history.  A correspondent of mine on Linked-In, confirmed this for me.  He said that galleries wanted to be sure that their artists had established a sales record that would be comparable to what the other artists in the gallery had established. 

The result of all this is that it is very hard for an artist to get established.  You have to find a way to convince people to buy your work.  Then, when you can get a collector to recommend your work to a gallery, you may obtain an exhibition.