Contacting galleries

[Alexandra Tyng]

Anthony,

I agree with Michele that commercial galleries here are not interested in straight, strict portraiture. If you are interested in getting portrait commissions, you could try some of the portrait agencies. They often link up with local agents in different parts of the U.S.

Another thing to mention is that there is a new breed of fine art gallery springing up that is very interested in figurative work and does a good business selling it. There are several in the SoHo section of New York. Take a look at Eleanor Ettinger. There are others--maybe someone can help me out here. In San Francisco there is the Pence Gallery. In Philadelphia we have Artists' House Gallery. There are many more in many cities. If you pick up a copy of the new magazine American Art Collector you will get an excellent overview of realist galleries and the kinds of art in each gallery. I'm mentioning this in case you are thinking in terms of selling figurative art through a gallery. Many figurative pieces cross the line into portraiture, and many portraits can also be considered figurative works. If this is true of you work, it might be marketable in a gallery.

[Anthony Emmolo]

Thank you both,

My near bankruptcy a couple of years ago melted my credit cards so ordering books on line is not possible at the moment. Also, I know I'm not a portrait artist by profession, so I was a little afraid to even ask the question. As I mentioned, my passions lie in portraiture, where my bread and butter is from still-life sales.

I've had good success in the past with my galleries. However, one stopped telling me they sold art work as soon as I moved to Shanghai. In the end a lawyer had to get involved and discovered that seven paintings were sold that I had never been paid for. So, now I am down to one American gallery. A very honest one I may add, and they do well for me.

The kind of galleries I am talking about are not the SOHO white walled galleries that offer one man shows once every two or three years to an artist. These are galleries in gallery districts that show all of there artists together. Quite successfully. My work is only in the $1,000-$5,000 range. However I am hanging on the walls right next to artists in much higher price ranges. These galleries don't seem to need slides. I've had very good luck just walking in, waiting until the person in the gallery was not busy and then discussing and showing my portfolio. I'm usually accepted into the gallery.

From Shanghai, it is not as easy to do that which is why I am having the web site done. From here I'd like to approach galleries so I can make appointments for a trip to the USA.

So, if anyone has any thoughts on how to best do that to insure a better response rate from the galleries, I'd be very happy to receive your thoughts.

Thank you,
Anthony