"Dear Suzanne,
Thank you for providing an opportunity to view images of your recent work. While at this particular time we are not actively seeking new artists to join the gallery, we attempt to see as many examples of current work as possible. Our returning your images is less a reflection of the work than the limitations in time and physical space at the gallery. The actual roster of artists we represent is by necessity quite small so we do not frequently make additions. I appreciate your interest in the Gallery and wish you the best in the future.
Sincerely,
The Gallery"
Yeah yeah ... ok so another lesson I learned along my journeys last week. Strange as it may seem, every gallery I went to had paintings of landscapes, aquatic scenery, flowers, and the occasional pop-artish piece of work. None of them focused on figurative work, none of them even really featured figurative work like my work. There were the occasional portraits (very occasional), but truly, had I simply walked through the gallery to see if this looked like a place that would accept my work (because they seemed to specialize in figurative narrative work) I would have turned on my heels and left.
Everyone I met with last week said something to the effect of, "Oh this is great! We don't have any work like this in our gallery right now and this would make a wonderful addition!" The rejection letter above came from a gallery that very heavily features figurative works. I'm not saying that their comment that their gallery is tiny and already filled to the gills with artists is not true, but, if what the three galleries told me last week holds true for many galleries (that on occasion they do like to "diversify") perhaps my constant searches for something even remotely like my work is a bit misguided? Who knows, but it's certainly something to think about.
