About a month ago I visited a Portland art gallery with a friend who is also a painter. We spent a long while studying all the work, then got into a conversation with the gallery owner. She was quite friendly towards us while she entertained the possibility that we might buy something, but cooled considerably when we confessed we were both artists and wondered if she were taking on any new clients. Handing me her business card, she replied that she was full up at the moment but was always open to new talent and suggested I email some images of my work. I went home and did that the very next day.
I never heard back. Not even an automatic reply. Nothing. I was surprised because when I owned my gallery I always made a point of answering any queries from artists as soon as possible, knowing they were waiting. It seemed needlessly cruel to not respond at all.
Today I wrote to the gallery owner and voiced my frustration. Actually, what I wrote was this:
"It's hard enough being an artist! What makes it really suck is gallery owners who treat you like dirt. I was really hoping for a response as you seemed so nice when I met you. Here's a tip on how to gracefully reject artists: 'Thanks for visiting our gallery and for giving us the opportunity to see some of your work. Unfortunately, it's not quite the right fit for us at this time.' Even though it's a lie, it feels better than silence. Try it sometime."
I know, it wasn't very nice, but as I already said, humans are mean. Anyway, she replied in less than 15 minutes! She said harsh things like how I was "burning bridges" and I'd "better not try that again with other galleries" and she's "very busy with the gallery" and I should have been "more patient" and it "takes a couple of months" for her to get back to artists and blah, blah, blah. I wrote right back to her and said it was "peculiar" that she had found time to answer my nasty email in mere minutes but was too busy to answer my first one, that was all sweetness and light, in more than a month.
I guess my first one should have been meaner.
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