Guide
Restaurants, cafés and hotels are places where people stay and look around. Here is how to make one a good exhibition space for your work.
Anyone eating out or having a coffee has time. Guests don't see the works in passing but at their leisure, and regulars see them again and again.
For the venue, the walls become a talking point. For you, it is a space beyond gallery and studio, with people from well beyond the art world.
Does the venue suit your work? A quiet café suits different pictures from a loud bar.
Look at where there is room and how the light falls. Direct sun, warm air from heaters and steam from the kitchen harm many works.
Come at a quiet time, not in the middle of the lunch rush. Bring photos of your work, ideally showing how it looks on a wall.
A few works that suit the room are more convincing than your whole portfolio.
Put your agreements briefly in writing. That way both sides know where they stand.
When the works go up, when they come down and when they are swapped.
Which works, in which size, on which wall.
Who hangs them, with which system, and whether drilling is allowed.
What happens if a work is damaged or lost.
A small label with title, name and medium, and how guests can find out more about you.
Whether there will be an evening when you are there and introduce the works.
The centre of the picture belongs at eye level. At tables a little lower, because guests are seated.
Better a few works with room around them than a crowded wall. Leave enough space above benches so nobody bumps into them.
A light aimed at the work does more than a bright ceiling. Keep heat sources away from the work.
Art gives your venue a character of its own.
Keep walls clear where works can make an impression, and take care of the light. A picture rail makes changes easy without drilling again each time.
Talk to the artists about their works. If you know the story, you can tell it to your guests.
On Gaumengalerie, artists and venues present themselves with pictures and text. Every work has its own page. If it hangs in a venue through Gaumengalerie, the page says so, and guests can read more about the artists online.
Gaumengalerie is still being built. We open exhibitions step by step.
Questions? Write to us.