Most artists harbor the fantasy that if they could only find one art dealer that loved and believed in their work, their career would be set. Many artists spend most of their careers searching for "the perfect gallery". If they already have a gallery, it's not good enough; if they are looking for their first gallery, they dream about the moment when someone sets eyes on their work and offers them a solo show immediately. The harsh reality of the situation is having a gallery love your work, is only one very small part of what goes into the decision to represent an artist. There are many complicated factors to take into consideration, and liking the work usually has very little to do with the decision. There is no doubt that while liking the artists work is certainly the first criteria, there are several other hurdles that must be overcome before a gallery will commit to an artist. Understanding those hurdles will help you to effectively present your work to galleries and detach yourself from the inevitable sense of personal failure that follows when a gallery rejects your work.
Remember, these are very general assumptions, attempting to explain why even if a gallery LOVES your work, they can not take you on as an artist. Thankfully, there will always be some exceptions.
TOO SIMILAR: A gallery looks at the group of artists they represent, much like an artist looks at a painting. It is not so much the individual artist that is considered, but, rather, how that art fits into the existing group. Often galleries are reluctant to take artists that are too similar to an artist they already represent.
TOO FRAGILE/DIFFICULT TO STORE: Regardless of how big a gallery is, there is never enough storage space. Galleries shy away from work that is 3 dimensional, easily breakable, heavy or hard to handle.
TOO EXPENSIVE: Most artists undervalue their work. But, occasionally we will come across an artist with a totally unrealistic sense of how to price their work. Prices are established by the law of supply and demand. Artists cannot expect to get thousands of dollars for their work when they have not established themselves nationally and internationally. We realize that many times it takes artists days, weeks, even months to finish a single painting. We once had an artist who tried to price his paintings at the $25 an hour he used to make at his day job. He totally priced himself out of the market. And we suggested that maybe he should have kept his day job rather than becoming an artist full time. We appreciate all the hard work and time that artists put into their paintings but if a gallery feels they can not price the work fairly and still make a 50% commission, they will not be willing to take a chance on the artist.
TOO DIFFERENT: All galleries try to create a niche for themselves by representing artists that are stylistically similar and would appeal to their core group of collectors. If your work is outside the arbitrary parameters they have established, you are out of luck.
TOO FAR AWAY: Unless you have already established a reputation elsewhere, galleries are reluctant to work with artists outside their regional area. Issues surrounding shipping costs and the inconvenience of getting and returning work in an expedient manner make it often not worth it.
TOO CHEAP/WRONG MEDIUM: Artists who only do works on paper, photographers, etc. often can not generate enough income from sales to make an exhibition worth it to a gallery. If you have 20 pieces in a show and each pieces sells for $500, and your show completely sells out ... your gallery has only made $5,000 ... barely enough to cover the costs of the postage, announcement and opening reception. Artists do not realize the costs that are involved in running a gallery. Works on paper are also very difficult to sell because to display the works correctly they have to matted and framed ... a cost the gallery pays for. If these works do not sell and have to be returned to the artist, they have just spent money on matting and framing for nothing. We suggest that if you are doing works on paper that you either A) matt and frame your own art (this however is very costly when it comes to shipping artwork to a gallery that is behind glass) or B) changing your medium to wood or canvas. Also be sure that you artwork is also always read to hang.
TOO DIFFICULT: Entering into a relationship with a gallery is in many ways similar to entering into a marriage. It's a relationship that needs to be able to endure candid dialog about the things that are often the most difficult to discuss with anyone ... your artwork and money. Both the artist and the gallery need to have a level of trust and comfort that will guarantee honest communication. If a gallery perceives you are being a difficult person to work with, they tend to veer away.
Yes, it is possible that a gallery just doesn't like your work. But hopefully, this will shed some light on the situation surrounding galleries rejecting artists.