Comments on: Gallery representations and your thoughts

By: Tree

Tree — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 13:07:55 +0000

I enjoyed reading the comments here. I’ve worked in a gallery (but not in NYC) and no artist ever had to pay to show there. I think if the gallery gets a percentage of the art sales then that should be enough.
This reminds me of all those vanity presses out there for poetry and photography. I guess I would ask how would this affect your reputation as an arist now and in the future? Would you be judged harshly by people for doing this?

By: Rex

Rex — Sun, 27 May 2007 02:03:25 +0000

Dear Sunil,

My thoughts on galleries that charge artists to exhibit can be summarized in a single word — “bullshit.”

Here’s the deal, you, the artist, are the goose that lays the golden eggs. They pay you. Period. No exceptions.

I would love to meet one of those vanity gallery owners in a dark alley one day.

So far, no luck. I suspect their crimes make them paranoid.

By: Sunil Gangadharan

Sunil Gangadharan — Fri, 25 May 2007 19:33:34 +0000

I am glad I asked this question and most of you had the same ‘gut feel’ as I have been having… “NOT A GOOD IDEA”. Apparently it looks like I have ventured into what is called a vanity gallery and they are not really thought in a good light in the art world. I also got feedback that exhibiting at a place like this does not help ones career and it seems that experienced curators can usually spot one of these entries in an artists resume… I am glad I opened up this discussion thread on A&P. One artist also sent me via email a link to a wikipedia article that talks about vanity galleries and a listing of them online. Funny enough, the un-named gallery that I was referring to in the post was actually on the list. The link is posted here for our common reference.
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanity_gallery
Once again, thanks very much for all the well meaning advice.

By: June

June — Fri, 25 May 2007 16:55:38 +0000

Sunil,

Congrats on the baby!

And I concur with the comments here — unless NYC is very very different, this is a “vanity press” — why will they bother to sell your wares when you are already paying the rent?

I’ll be waiting to hear what Bob’s research comes up with — maybe there are galleries that sell even when they have paying renters. And if you find out that there are good reviews of artist’s experiences with this gallery, let us know.

By: Angela

Angela — Fri, 25 May 2007 08:27:42 +0000

Please don’t sell your soul to any gallery… without your butt they wouldn’t exist!
Congratulations on your baby boy!
xxxx

By: David

David — Fri, 25 May 2007 01:27:54 +0000

Sunil, my advice is “don’t do it”. If a gallery is making money from their artists rather than through commissions selling the artists’ work, it’s a ripoff. They should be ashamed (but I doubt they are).

By: Jeffrey Augustine Songco

Jeffrey Augustine Songco — Thu, 24 May 2007 20:58:47 +0000

Gaining gallery representation is one of the biggest things on my mind. When I first found A&P, that was one of the first topics I searched for. Karl’s post about the right gallery directs us to Edward Winlkeman’s gallery rep post. Both guys have amazing advice.

With that said, I think if you have an ideal system you’d like to have, and fee based representation isn’t part of that system, totally don’t do it! This is an awesome step in your career, and you don’t want to go with something that doesn’t feel right.

I’m an idealist and sometimes things like business and money stay grounded in a real world. If that’s really how art life works, then I’d just sigh and hand over the money…