How I Choose Artists to Represent

One question I get asked a lot is how I found the artists I represent at tinku gallery. Even in these early days, I regularly get unsolicited submissions from artists, and thought this post may shed a bit more light on how I make decisions about which artists to take on.

I should point out (if it is not obvious) that my approach is not necessarily one that other galleries take - I am making up my own rules as I go along. In fact, the first artists I represented, even before I had a physical space, were people I had befriended through various channels. While being my friend is certainly not a prerequisite to working with me, there are some other things that tend to work for me:

Word of Mouth is critical
One of the gallery artists told me about a young photographer he had seen at an art fair, and sent me a link to her website. Because I trusted this artist's judgement I was more inclined to look at the photographer's portfolio than if I had been sent it without a referral. Word of mouth is not something you can create overnight but in general, the more people you get to know, the more people they know, etc... Many of the best galleries in the country brought in artists that were referred to them by other gallery artists.

Showing your work will get you more eyeballs
Before you lynch me please note that showing your work can happen in a number of ways outside of showing in a gallery and in some cases does not even need to cost money - set up a Flickr stream (this is free) where you can post pictures, put up a simple web site with some images and a CV, submit your work to the local galleries that regularly put out calls for submissions, participate in an Open Studio day in your neighbourhood. Two of the artists I show at tinku gallery I met through a group show at the Propeller Centre, a local artist-run gallery.

Do your homework
There are lots of galleries in this city and each have their own identity. My gallery's identity is still being shaped but anyone who takes the time to visit or go to our Facebook page or read this blog will see that I work with contemporary artists and there is a general range of styles that I tend to show. So if you are mainly painting traditional still life works, for example, it would not fit with the family of artists I am showing.

Enthusiasm is infectious
There are many more artists that approach my gallery than I can take on, even in these early days when I am just building up my name. I had one artist who I invited to bring work to me and 4 months later he still couldn't find the time, so even though I liked his work, I respectfully told him I would rather give the opportunity to someone for whom showing in a gallery was more of a priority. Rather than being a slight, it was more an honest discussion about the fact that this artist was already showing in some other galleries in other cities and didn't really need to show with me compared with someone who had no representation, for example. Enthusiasm can manifest in many forms - coming to my shows, visiting the gallery, responding to my emails, etc...

Understand that this is a very subjective process
One of the things that is important to me in owning my own business vs. working for someone else is that I have the ability to choose who I work with. This applies not only to vendors and interns/employees, but also to the artists I represent. Before I am a business woman, I am a human being, and I will only work with people that I feel are respectful and professional at a minimum, and someone I enjoy interacting with. If your personality doesn't click with mine, it wouldn't help either one of us to work together in the long run.

Artists -- Have Your Say
So now I am going to turn it over to you - the artists who are reading this. As a gallery owner, what can I do to make the submission process a better one for you? It can be anything from outlining our policy on our website to the way I communicate with you, etc... **While you may choose to use this as a forum to vent your frustration from your experience with other galleries, please understand that I am posing this question for myself, to see what I can do differently to make this a better experience for all.

You can either post your comment here or you can send me an email to amrita[at]tinkugallery[dot]com