If my art is good enough, is there any way for me to have it displayed in some art gallery in New York, without having to actually go there? It's all digital at this point.

I was sent this question this morning and I thought it might be nice to share it with you here.

If my art is good enough, is there any way for me to have it displayed in some art gallery in New York, without having to actually go there? It's all digital at this point. 

I don’t think it would work. (Of course there are exceptions to every rule.) I think that you could self represent. I’ll explain first why you should self represent then I’ll explain why and how galleries might not be a good fit.

I want to start by saying that if your work is as good as you say it is you could probably make money through the print on demand business using Etsy.com combined with Printful.com to sell your prints and it would be a “passive income” model. You would have to do marketing and if you need help with that I offer a free course.

https://www.udemy.com/user/kenneymencher/

Art galleries have a set of logical and also emotional rules around who they choose to be in their galleries and often this revolves more around the established reputation of an artist rather than the qualities of the work itself. It’s really hard to get a gallery to even open up a package or an email and look at your work without being “connected” or socially active within the community. Even then it’s super hard for artists to get considered.

One of the best complete explanations or how the art world works and how to get connected to a gallery are provided in an eight part series by an organization called the Contemporary Art Issue. Here’s one of the most important videos to answer your question. (You should watch the eight part series because I think that it is fairly accurate although I also think that they believe in the established gallery system and I think it’s defunct.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxWBdkI2WV0&t=538s

I am unhappy with how galleries work and the money I’ve made with galleries. Keep in mind I’ve even had museum shows and shown in commercial galleries. Here’s a link to a blog post that explains why I now mainly sell work just on the web rather than using galleries.

https://www.kenneymencher.com/2022/09/why-i-havent-been-working-with.html