How to Get a Gallery

The question I get asked most often.

Apart from how I edit my photographs, this is by far the most common question I receive. How do you get a gallery? I hear it at openings, receive it in emails, and read it in messages from people who have been following my work for years. Sometimes it comes from artists who are just starting out; other times, it comes from artists who are already selling work but feel stuck at a certain point.

The question is almost never technical. It conveys expectation and doubt, as well as the idea that being in a gallery is a threshold you need to cross to be taken seriously. I recognize that feeling. I have been there myself.

What makes this question difficult is that there is no single answer. There are patterns and mistakes that repeat themselves. There are also things I wish someone had told me earlier and without promises. Some of those lessons were reassuring. Others were uncomfortable. A few fundamentally changed the way I look at representation, ambition, and my responsibility as an artist.

This text is not a guide. It is more like a conversation. It’s the kind of conversation you have at the kitchen table when you have time to be honest about what works, what doesn’t, and why some doors stay closed longer than expected.

Read more