Galleries are like a pair of shoes. Some fit very well, some don't. Galleries are in business to make money. If blue is the flavor of the month, they sell blue. If, by some unfortunate chance, you're painting is green your out of luck...until green is the flavor of the month. I've honestly come to believe there are good galleries just bad owners.
What gets me in any discussion with gallery owners is their open mistrust they think we have for them. They really believe artists are out to cheat them at every opportunity. I say here and now and openly I'm looking for an honest relationship with a gallery that I can trust and who trusts me to do the right thing by them. I believe most artists feel the same way.
There are too many beginners mixed in with experienced quality artists out there and too many local galleries willing to show work of little or low quality from these inexperienced artists. Unfortunately art isn't based on a master’s degree or an art education. Even with little or no entry school level education on art history, some can still identify quality art because it feels right and moves them, while others only like what they like without any rhyme or reason. Add to the fact that no one can clearly identify what art is, only adds to this confusion. Some can see quality, technique and masterful coloring and composition and call this art, but generally art today can be a paper cup or wad of gum if the intellegencia says its art, further muddying the waters. What art is; apart from the obvious techniques, placement, color harmony, or discord; is impossible to pin down. The work of Monet, Picasso, Sargent or Bouguereau is brilliant to one while trash to another.
Galleries at one time were at the forefront of art and I believe interested in quality artists and work. They had a pedigree of sorts. Art was in their blood. They believed in it. But art in general has been relegated to the back seat of society. Many gallery owners have little or no art training or knowledge. Many galleries, in order to survive, now exhibit non art items just to make ends meet, confusing the public even more. Because art is so ethereal and hard to nail down takes an experienced eye, someone who can recognize art and have the courage to display it and not pander to the money machine that fuels sales. Galleries need to reinvest in artists again and nurture the good ones, the ones who exhibit talent and have something to contribute to the world of art. Until that happens anyone with a lease can open a gallery.