Exhibiting in New York City

Assuming that you, the young, ambitious artist, have convinced yourself, or have been convinced by others alleged to be informed, that you are ready to present your recent production to an established art gallery, New York City might well be your destination, since this great metropolis retains its role as the Biggest Apple for the visual artist.

This does not imply that you are obliged to take up residence in the city or open a studio, which is extremely difficult at this interval. But to inaugurate a career, one must circulate in the fine arts arena for a period of time and become acquainted with its method of functioning: make friends , whenever possible, with with exhibiting artists: and attend pertinent social events, particularly gallery openings.

New York City as of 2002 had over 500 galleries, of which about 300 specialize in the works of the  living artists. Of these, about 75 exhibit work of a high professional standard on a regular basis, Of the 75 galleries so described, the majority have but one main exhibition area where 10 or 11 one-person shoes are mounted every year, and perhaps one group show or " invitational " where promising young artists are shown with one or two works by each. If a gallery so described has a complement of 15 or 20 "affiliated " artists, it is unlikely to be assiduously seeking new talent. "Affiliated " means that the gallery expects to exhibit particular artists on a regular schedule- perhaps once a year if the artist is especially productive, and certainly every other year if the artist provides a body of work for this occasion. It would therefore appear that only a handful of openings for new talent occurs during the exhibition season, and the artists are wont to  discover that many of the dealers will not even review the slides of applicants, Such dealers are apparently unconcerned with making a " discovery " but will take recommendations concerning talent from their own successful artists or those they consider to be members of the art establishment

When it comes to confronting the owners or directors of galleries for the first time, you must be in possession of the ability to survive repeated, and not always tender, rejection: in other words, you must have emotional resiliency and some perfectly intelligible evidence of what your work is about. This means a packet of 10 to 20 slides- or better still, large transparencies of current work- all properly marked as to topside, material, date of production, and size. A voluminous body of slides presented to the dealer may fatigue her/him in advance, or make make them skeptical of your ability to sort out the significant portion of your work. Restraint in the presentation makes a good impression. It is sometimes permissible to show a painting or an object to clarify the images conveyed through photos. But most dealers will not enjoy a deployment of works around the exhibition area or in the private office, and he or she is likely to express physical
or audible distress if the work you show is remote from the gallery's exhibition concept. It is therefore imperative that you make a full survey of current exhibitions in the various galleries to try to determine, from what is shown the approximate style of art the dealer prefers. Documentation of your previous exhibitions, achievements and of criticism may be offered, But a dealer with strong convictions about what is important art is not likely to be impressed by such material.

There are less than a dozen dealers in all of New York who will grant an interview to inspect your work upon your unannounced appearance, In most places an appointment must be made by mail or on the phone. Slides or photos sent in the mail should always be accompanied by a return envelope with proper postage and packaging, Dealers of good conscience will review the work and respond with commentary. Others may be preoccupied or uncaring and return your photos without any evidence that they have actually seen them - or they may not return them at all. It would be both stupid and irrational for a dealer to reject an artist because of race or gender, since the progress that a gallery makes in its fame and prosperity is primarily dependent upon the objects exhibited and not the person who produced them. There are, however, several cooperative enterprises that show the work of women exclusively. If a female artist prefers to be shown under such auspices, the selection process of the cooperative is generally through the consent of the membership

Those who are made to feel utterly defeated by continued rejections should find a friend or relation to carry in evidence of their achievement. The various dealers don't especially care who brings in the evidence since they exhibit not the artists but their production. A dealer who finds the work engaging may ask to see it in person- that is, to visit the artist's studio. In most cases the dealer will not invite the artist to show to ship works to the gallery for various reasons- such as the lack of uncrating facilities. In this event, artists who are not residents of New York City, and have confirmed some measure of interest in  their production, should locate a place in the city to set up a display for the dealer to see at his or her convenience. Since it could be burdensome for n artist to make such an arrangement it makes sense for the artist to try to interest several dealers in his or her work so that the effort involved in transporting it will be more likely to prove worthwhile.

As in much of human endeavor and in many professions, physical beauty and/or intense and repeated proclamation of one's  achievement may bring success sooner than deserved. Fortunately, the majority of prominent art dealers possess some subtlety of mind, and are capable of resisting duress, if not beauty. There are also many artists who are identified by critics or curators an harbingers of a brave new vision, whose work is shallow and merely fashionable. There is nothing for an artist of integrity to do about such injustice but to persist in his convictions that his work is of transcendent importance and to try to get it shown.

All this may lead to nothing except an accumulation of  praise and vague promises which may add to the artists' courage to persist or conversely, to despair, or to pursuit of endeavors outside of the arts, It has been suggested that creativity, surely an overused and often misapplied description of a singular human attribute, is its own reward, and that personal serenity results from its possession.