Re: Pay to show in galleries? When to make that choice if at all....

i like your spirit.
can't help u with your problem, but i'll look at your website.
:)

On Feb 5, 2004, at 11:56 PM, Christopher Lovenguth wrote:

>
> Hi all, I've come to a point that I'm now trying to progress to the
> next
> stage on the opportunities I have had of showing my work and I'm
> wondering
> if "vanity galleries" are the new reality for emerging artists in New
> York
> City. To make matters worse I've been investigating this and found this
> article: http://www.artschools.com/articles/new-york/ . I know it was
> written a while back but I'm running in to this phenomenon. I've been
> researching and finding galleries to send slides to and seem to get
> instant
> responses from galleries that end up being pay to show without any
> indication on their website about this.
>
> But more important then this to me is that I'm starting to wonder if
> this is
> the new reality of getting first shows, specifically in New York. One
> gallery even buttered me up with a positive critique that seemed to
> ring
> true about my work until I realized that anyone would want to hear it
> and
> figured it a generic reply. They then offered me a place in an up
> coming
> show in early fall, but in the details I realized it would cost me
> $2400
> (basic representation fee) for the four week show.
>
> I'm early in to the process of trying to get shown in New York, so I
> don't
> feel desperate enough to try this, but I can see a breaking point
> months/years down the road where someone might be convinced this is
> the only
> way to "break in" to the NYC gallery game.
>
> Have any of you experienced this or known people to decide on this
> approach?
> It just seems too smarmy to me, for people to be feeding off a group
> that
> tend to need reinforcement and acceptance for what they do (and tend to
> barely be making it monetarily as well). But then again, from what I
> read in
> that article, I can sort of understand since galleries are not cheap
> to run
> and new artist tend to not sell well (and mostly not at all).
>
> I don't want this to turn in to the "evil gallery empire" sort of
> debate
> please. Either you wish to play the game or you don't. Right now I'm
> choosing to give it a spin. When it comes down to it, it has nothing
> to do
> with making work or art/life pursuits and I realize that. But deep down
> inside most of us, we do believe our work should be up in the Whitney
> ;)
>
> -Chris
> www.chrisportfolio.com
>
>
>
Received on Thu Feb 5 23:27:48 2004