The now viral story of the demise of the famous dleMano Gallery has illuminated what can only be described as a "belly punch" to the "art turning world". But there are many other galleries and there is suddenly a huge hole in "our side" of the market. delMano has long been considered the "go to" gallery for artistic turned pieces. Many other galleries might have been interested in this kind of work had they not had the feeling that delMano had a "lock" on the market. That is suddenly no longer the case. I am finding that galleries which, only a few weeks ago would respond with "That's the kind of stuff that should be in delMano..." are now responding with "That's beautiful work... lets get together and work something out."
There is that old saying that every cloud has a silver lining and I am finding that this one is no exception. I have been contacting galleries in my area and meeting with a much more receptive attitude that I was getting even a short while ago. We have to assume that these galleries are fully aware of the collapse of the delMano gallery and realize that it creates an opportunity for them to capture a piece of a market that they had previously thought of as "locked up".
I just got an invitation to present my work at a very highly respected gallery that, several months ago was not interested enough to even reply to an email. I will be meeting with them next week and I am hopeful that there will be some "salve" here to alleviate the sting of the recent delMano fiasco. Needless to say, I will be looking out for the "usual" pitfalls!