flâneur

6 lessons I learned working at an art gallery

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One day I hope to be a good enough writer to put words to how thankful I am to the many people who have helped me reach this point. For now, let me just say that I feel the weight of your care, and I will do my best to honor it. But before I throw myself into new projects, I want to pause and reflect on the last three and a half years at the gallery—it was an important experience for me, and I want to highlight a few lessons I learned. (When I began listing, I realized I had learned a lot so I will only cover a small part of it here, mostly lessons around career stuff and agency. I might write what I learned about making art at a later time, if someone is interested (comment!), and about what I learned from the volunteers at the gallery, a group of high agency 70 and 80-year-olds. So much to say!) If you read Escaping Flatland regularly and feel that the essays are meaningful to you, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Upgrade to paid I was the only person who applied for the job at t

The Artist's Garden at Vetheuil, Claude Monet, 1880-81 I was the only person who applied for the job at the gallery because it was so shitty: it was basically selling coffee all weekends with lousy pay and no vacations during summers. But in 2021 we had recently moved to Denmark, so I had no professional network and didn’t speak the language, and Rebecka had just been born, and we needed the money—so I couldn’t be picky. I also felt that the place had, as real estate agents say, “good bones”: it was beautiful, they had 6 exhibition halls, and it was a 25-minute bike ride from home. For…

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