What Actually Happens at a Gallery Opening Night
If you have never exhibited before, the opening night is the part nobody prepares you for. You know your work will be on a wall. You have no idea what the evening is actually like, what to wear, who will be there, or what you are supposed to say. Here is exactly what happens.
The room fills faster than you expect
Opening night, or the private view, is usually the first evening of the exhibition. Doors open in the early evening, there are drinks, and the room fills within the first hour. Our openings draw anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand people across a show, depending on the city, and the crowd is a mix of collectors, curators, press, fellow artists and people who walked past and came in.
Nobody is judging your outfit
Wear what you would wear to a nice evening out. Art openings are less formal than people imagine. Being comfortable matters more than being impressive, because you will be standing and talking for three hours.
Stand near your work, but not permanently
The single most useful thing you can do is spend part of the evening near your piece. People who like your work will want to know who made it, and if you are standing there, they will ask. But do not chain yourself to it. Walk the room, look at other artists' work, talk to people.
What to say about your own work
The question you will be asked most is "can you tell me about this piece?" Have two sentences ready. What it is, and what it is about. That is all. You do not need a thesis. The artists who connect best speak plainly and let the work do the rest.
Talk to the other artists
The most valuable relationships that come out of an opening are often with other exhibitors, not collectors. Group shows put you in a room with dozens of artists at a similar stage, in the same city, with the same ambitions. Those connections lead to future shows, collaborations and friendships. Do not spend the whole night waiting for a buyer.
Bring something to leave behind
Cards, a QR code to your Instagram, a link to where your work can be bought. Someone will love your piece and want to find you later. Make that easy. If you sell online, having your own link ready matters, which is why our artists use Mostra, where they keep 100% of every sale.
Take photographs
Photos of your work on a gallery wall, and of you next to it, are content you will use for years. Get them on the night, ideally before the room is packed.
And if you cannot attend
Attendance is never required. Your work exhibits either way, and many of our artists show internationally without travelling. But if you can come, come. Watching a stranger stop in front of your work is a feeling nothing else replicates.
Our next openings are in Paris, Athens, Tokyo, London, Milan, Amsterdam and New York. Free to apply, all mediums, open theme.
Apply at theholyart.com
Where art meets the world.
