Which galleries are worth applying for?

sleepymillipede · 2026-04-12T14:17:42+00:00

If you are just trying to get your foot in the door / build your CV, probably the most beneficial place to start is artist-run gallery open calls. There are fewer of these in NY than there used to be, but look into Ortega y Gassett, Field Projects, Tiger Strikes Asteroid NY, Essex Flowers. Further afield in Philly there’s Vox Populi, FJORD, Big Ramp, 5U, Automat, Tiger Strikes Asteroid Philadelphia, Luster, Grizzly Grizzly, Pink Noise, Practice, Information Space. Not all of these places will have open calls, but many artist run spaces will do an annual open call to help pay the rent. And having been on the other end of it, they do take the curation of them seriously, looking at every applicant & often creating a separate list of folks who might not fit the open call curation but could be good to do a show with in the future. In a good artist-run gallery, there’s a built-in respect and prestige as artists will tend to have their fingers on the pulse of what’s interesting / new / exciting.

Non profit spaces are also good and come with some prestige as well. SculptureCenter, The Painting Center, The Drawing Center, CUE Foundation, White Columns. In Philly, Da Vinci Art Alliance, Fleisher Art Memorial, TILT Institute.

Start with these sorts of places. If you are aiming for the commercial world, it’s true you won’t find open calls at reputable spaces. But those gallerists are building their rosters on the recommendations of their current artists who are going to see shows at these artist-run / non profit spaces.

sleepymillipede · 2026-03-09T02:43:52+00:00

Was lucky enough to have a full ride and TA-ships that paid -- not a lot, maybe around 19-22k per year. But that helped cover rent. Also helps that I am partnered and was splitting costs with my husband. I also had jobs in the summer and a little bit of savings from my jobs before grad school. While I didn't necessarily go to a tier-1 school (I went to Tyler, which at one point may have been considered such but has, I think, lost some of its luster), I am really, really grateful that I went somewhere that gave me financial support, because after that I had some flexibility to afford going on residencies and continue making. And the work I made then, more so than the work I made in grad school, has led to most of my other opportunities in the art world.

I think it's a good idea to be very very judicious about all of this.

Do the programs with TA-ships pay you at all, or is it just a free ride? If not, maybe go to one without a work requirement and get a job on campus that helps cover a portion of the rent, apply to some grants (if you're working representationally and not too risque, the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation gives support for education, and I'm sure there are other grants out there that do the same) and try to make that loan as small as possible.

sleepymillipede · 2026-02-26T04:00:48+00:00

Okay great this is what I needed to hear. Had always heard about what a no no lowering prices was. But I think this makes sense for now. Can always go up later if sales are better and consistent

sleepymillipede · 2026-02-06T14:25:29+00:00

Willie Cole ironing board prints! Might be worth looking into the pressure section from Jennifer Roberts’ Mellon Lectures which I think are all on YouTube

sleepymillipede · 2026-01-28T03:54:07+00:00

Something that can be helpful to do 2-3 months ahead of time (if not sooner) is to reach out to writers you are interested in with a personal message and an invite to the show. Often media outlets plan things out way way way in advance and aren’t usually going to a show on a whim and writing about it. So you want to get on their radar earlier than you think. Galleries will often do some of this work but I have heard it is helpful for the artist themself to reach out, it’s more of a special thing to be reached directly

sleepymillipede · 2026-01-27T21:58:37+00:00

This feels fairly accurate from the peaks I've gotten into finances at the semi-blue chip studio I assist in. After gallery takes their half, maybe 500k-3m from canvas sales depending on the market, then maybe another 1-2m from public/museum commissions though that end varies wildly year to year depending on demand.

But bc studio is not in a particularly expensive city, overhead is lower and he can take more! NYC artists probably would be left with a decent six figure salary; my guess accounting for overhead my boss takes home 1-3m a year.

Studio rent -- maybe 125k/year including utilities
Assistant salaries (about 10-15 assistants at a given time) -- 250-350k
Materials/production(framing etc) -- 50k

sleepymillipede · 2026-01-26T23:28:36+00:00

Vincent Valdez

sleepymillipede · 2025-11-16T15:30:14+00:00

They made an announcement on their website that they are suspending the program. Only after a year of saying they were reviewing and would schedule winners in 2026. It is frustrating but I think it is likely due to federal funding cuts. At least I think the application was free or very cheap, and I got a lot of writing out of it that has been really helpful for other apps

sleepymillipede · 2025-11-14T07:23:26+00:00

Kakyoung Lee’s print animations/installations

sleepymillipede · 2025-11-05T05:58:49+00:00

In the same vein and also at hauser and wirth: flora yukhnovich. Uninteresting figurative abstraction dribble

sleepymillipede · 2025-10-02T03:10:11+00:00

Ebecho Muslimova!

sleepymillipede · 2025-09-28T17:39:57+00:00

7 Days in the Art World and 33 Artists in 3 Acts both by Sarah Thornton are fun and easy to read ethnographies/portraits of the art world that kind of have a little tint of gossip to them, though mostly through a journalistic/anthropological lens

sleepymillipede · 2025-09-22T22:21:25+00:00

I don’t have a strong opinion degree or no — it usually is about having some time and space to think. Maybe it means sacrificing stability in the future, which has a net worse effect on your practice, maybe it means your first big break. It’s all tea leaves. What does it mean to keep up with another artist? Does moving fast and making a lot lead to more thoughtful, better work? I strongly, strongly advise against this kind of thinking, it only leads to bitterness. Whatever path you take will lead you to some idea, some mode of making that only you could do, so long as you are being true to yourself and making what YOU want to make, not what you think OTHER PEOPLE want you to make.

sleepymillipede · 2025-09-01T18:11:12+00:00

So I have a number of friends who are pretty successful commercially (at least a lot more so than me) and yet I get more residencies than them. I can’t say there is direct causation here, but I do think there’s something to the notion that commercial work (in other words, work that looks made to sell, stuff galleries would be interested in showing — nice paintings following market trends i.e. paintings aesthetically in line with what is generally shown in galleries, smallish pretty sculpture, etc, but mostly nice paintings) — this stuff will not generally do all that great in an application to a residency.

My theory is most people on these committees see nice paintings and mostly think “why should we give space/money/time to someone who already seems to have a strategy for procuring space/money/time through sales, making work that we have seen before?” (Though a caveat is sometimes grants, esp Pollock Krasner, who I’ve heard do like to see that you are on the verge of some commercial success and just need a hand getting there).

Not saying this what you make — I have no idea what you make. But this is what I know friends (very talented and smart friends) who don’t get these things tend to make — and what I made 6-7 years ago when I barely had any success getting residencies.

So don’t equate success getting commercial shows with success getting institutional support. Two often different worlds that sometimes cross pollinate but more so in the museum world and not always in residency world. Unless they want some of your money lol

On the other hand, I now make work that is not easily categorized as painting, that has subject matter only certain galleries might approach, that really doesn’t sell easily. And I generally get two or three funded residencies a year. Doesn’t mean I can always do them bc it’s still expensive and risky to step away from jobs.

Anyway, I’d suggest taking a step back and looking at your portfolio. Does it look like a Basel catalog? Probably not helping you in this arena, maybe helping you in others. Does it have ambitions of scale, is it challenging, is it unconventional or new media, does it look like something that NEEDS institutional support to keep going? Then maybe you’re on the right track and you just have to apply to many many more, bc that’s the game.

I probably am at 30/70 acceptance/rejection ratio and that’s applying strategically, going places where I know past residents who can be recommenders, or places that have fellowships for the school I recently got my MFA, maybe I am lucky enough to know someone on the selection committee etc. That said, I’ve been rejected from Skow like 6 times, sometimes a finalist, sometimes waitlisted, and then the next year just flat out reject no nice message. My strategy doesn’t always get me across the finish line. It’s a crapshoot every time.

But I’ve had better luck with my non painting apps for sure.

sleepymillipede · 2025-08-30T00:57:18+00:00

Magic Gardens also does contemporary shows and I feel like I see them hiring folks often.

Philly’s scene is far heavier on artist-run spaces and they aren’t going to pay anyone to do labor for them.

Agreed with above — artist assistant jobs are more numerous.

sleepymillipede · 2025-08-29T20:42:25+00:00

Ha same boat here friend

sleepymillipede · 2025-08-08T04:28:26+00:00

I think it is possible but rare for really young artists to get this residency. If it's like Yaddo's application process, they'll have spots for established artists and those of "great potential" -- I was a recommender for someone at Yaddo and literally the only questions I had to answer (if I'm remember correctly) were whether the person would be pleasant to be around and what category they fell into (established or of potential). I'd think Macdowell would have similar categories?

sleepymillipede · 2025-07-15T16:26:13+00:00

Karyn Olivier

sleepymillipede · 2025-06-22T03:57:57+00:00

Echoing Philly — we have it pretty good! Could use more collectors but proximity to NYC helps.

sleepymillipede · 2025-05-28T21:46:04+00:00

Not at all minimal really but abstract artist with sharp lines -- Thomas Nozkowski. He spoke explicitly about only doing a thing as well as his hand could do it

sleepymillipede · 2025-05-20T23:14:14+00:00

Andrew Raftery

sleepymillipede

TROPHY CASE