A gallery is a place where artworks are displayed. There are physical galleries, where art is exhibited in a building, and virtual ones where the exhibitions are held on the Internet. Artworks are often shown in galleries to give a wider audience an opportunity to see and appreciate them. A gallery is also a place where artists can exhibit their work, and it is often where they start their careers.
Many of the activities that a gallery does behind the scenes are invisible to visitors and clients. This includes everything from providing valuable advice to the artists they represent, to promoting their works to a broad range of potential clients and reaching out to the art media in order to build a strong network for their artists.
One of the most important tasks that a gallery does is to sell and distribute artworks on behalf of the artists it represents. This means taking care of transportation, insurance, invoicing, coordinating with the buyer, monitoring and tracking sold artworks in the secondary market (the market where people buy artworks from original owners, not galleries), and more.
Another important task that a gallery does is to provide its artists with other attractive and worthwhile exhibition opportunities beyond the gallery’s walls. This includes scouting for art fairs, international or institutional shows and so on. Lastly, galleries will often take care of or follow up on book publishing for their artists when the time comes for them to have a monograph published.
There are some artists who are very lucky to find a gallery that will represent them. These are typically ‘better’ artists that have a well-established oeuvre and a professional artist profile. On the other hand, there are some artists who try to get a gallery’s attention but fail. This is usually because the artist does not have a good oeuvre, a professional profile and an extensive network.
The best way to learn how to work with a gallery is to visit one or more and see what they do. It is also a good idea to talk to other gallerists and ask them for tips and advice.
If you are interested in exhibiting your work with a gallery, make sure that you have a strong and clear vision for the type of work you want to show. It is also a good idea to have a wide network of contacts in the art world and to collaborate with other galleries to create mutually beneficial exhibitions. Finally, it is important to keep up with the latest trends in contemporary art and to be on top of new developments. This will make it easier to convince a gallery that you are the right artist for them.