Checklist

Gallery submission checklist — everything you need before you hit send

Gallerists receive dozens of unsolicited submissions a week and skim most in under a minute. What gets a submission read isn't luck — it's completeness, presentation, and evidence that you actually know the gallery. Run through this checklist before every submission.

Before anything else: research the gallery

• Confirm the gallery accepts submissions — if their site says no unsolicited submissions, respect it and build the relationship another way
• Read their submission guidelines and follow them exactly, even where they differ from this checklist
• Check their roster and recent exhibitions — is your work genuinely a fit in medium, price point, and sensibility?
• Find the right contact person and address them by name — "Dear Gallery" invites deletion

The materials checklist

Unless the gallery specifies otherwise, a complete submission contains:

• Portfolio PDF or link — 10 to 20 images of recent, cohesive work, strongest image first. See our full guide to creating a portfolio PDF.
• Image list — title, year, medium, dimensions, and price range if requested, in the same order as the images
• Artist statement — one page maximum; see how to write an artist statement
• Artist bio — 100 to 200 words, third person; see annotated bio examples
• CV — exhibitions, residencies, collections, education, reverse chronological, two pages maximum
• Website or portfolio link — current, working, and consistent with the PDF

Image standards

• Professionally photographed or carefully shot: even lighting, true color, square crop to the work's edges
• No frames, glare, floors, or studio clutter unless showing installation context deliberately
• Consistent file naming: 01_LastName_Title_Year.jpg
• Sized per guidelines — typically 72–150 dpi, 1500–2000 px on the long edge for email; keep the total attachment under 10 MB
• One or two installation shots if the work lives at scale

The email itself

Keep it under 150 words. A reliable structure:

Subject: Artist submission — [Your Name], [medium]

Dear [Name],

I'm a [medium] artist based in [city]. I've followed [Gallery]'s program since [specific show], and I believe my recent series [title] sits close to the concerns of your roster — particularly [artist or exhibition].

Attached are my portfolio PDF, statement, and CV; more work is at [website].

Thank you for your time and consideration.

[Name, phone, website]

The one sentence that matters most is the specific one — the show you saw, the artist on their roster your work converses with. It proves the submission isn't a mail merge.

Final pass before sending

• Every attachment opens, every link works
• Gallery name and contact name are correct (the classic copy-paste casualty)
• Statement, bio, and CV are consistent with each other
• You followed their guidelines over any general advice, including this page
• Materials proofread by someone other than you

Mistakes that get submissions deleted unread

• Mass emails with visible CC lists or no gallery name
• Twenty huge attachments that choke an inbox
• Work that has nothing in common with the gallery's program
• Multi-page cover letters that explain the work instead of showing it
• Following up more than once, or sooner than four to six weeks

After you send

Log the date, the contact, and the materials sent. If you haven't heard back in four to six weeks, one short, polite follow-up is acceptable. Silence after that is an answer — move to the next gallery on your list, and keep making work.

Assemble the whole package in one place

The ExhibitFolio Studio generates your portfolio PDF, tearsheets, statement, and bio as one consistent package — so every gallery submission starts from finished materials, not a blank folder.

Create my portfolio →