Walk into most commercial galleries and pick up the press release. Read the first paragraph. Odds are it says something like: "The gallery is pleased to present a new body of work by [artist name], whose practice explores the intersection of memory, materiality, and the human condition."
Now read it again and try to picture the actual artwork. You can't. Because that sentence could describe almost anything by almost anyone. It communicates nothing specific, and yet some version of it appears in hundreds of gallery texts every month, written by gallery directors, assistants, or the artists themselves, all doing their best but none of them trained to write professionally about art.
This is the problem. And it costs galleries more than they realize.
What Bad Text Actually Costs You
A gallery text is not decoration. It is a sales tool. When a collector reads your catalog essay or press release, they are forming an opinion not just about the artist but about your gallery. Weak writing signals weak curation. If the text is generic, the collector assumes the thinking behind the exhibition is generic too.
I've talked to collectors who passed on works they were interested in because the accompanying text felt lazy. Not because the art was wrong, but because the presentation didn't match the price point. At €5,000 or €50,000, buyers expect the words to be as considered as the work on the walls.
There's a less visible cost too. Every press release, every catalog essay, every exhibition statement now lives online permanently. Journalists search for it. Curators read it before deciding whether to visit. Collectors forward it to advisors. Your text represents you to people who may never walk through your door, and first impressions made through writing are hard to undo.
Why Gallery Directors Shouldn't Write Their Own Texts
This is not about intelligence or taste. Most gallery directors know their artists deeply and care about language. The problem is proximity. When you live with the work every day, you lose the ability to see it from the outside. You skip context that feels obvious to you but isn't obvious to the reader. You use shorthand that your colleagues understand but collectors don't.
I see this constantly. A director writes a beautiful, thoughtful text that assumes the reader already knows the artist's previous five exhibitions, their position within a specific movement, and the critical conversation their work participates in. The text is accurate. It is also impenetrable to anyone outside a small circle.
A professional art copywriter does what a director cannot: they stand where the reader stands. They ask the basic questions that insiders forget to ask. "Why should I care about this artist?" "What am I actually looking at?" "Why does this matter now?" The answers to those questions are what make a text work.
What a Good Art Copywriter Actually Does
They don't just "write nicely." Here is what the process looks like when it works.
Research. Before writing, they study the artist's practice, read previous texts, look at the work (ideally in person), and talk to the artist or curator. A good catalog text is built on understanding, not style.
Translation. Not between languages (though that helps). Between worlds. They take the art-historical significance that the curator sees and translate it into language that a collector, a journalist, or a first-time gallery visitor can connect with. This is harder than it sounds. Most writers can do one or the other. Few can do both.
Consistency. When the same writer handles your press releases, catalog texts, wall labels, and website copy, your gallery develops a voice. Collectors begin to recognize your tone. That recognition builds trust over time, and trust is what makes people buy art from you instead of the gallery next door.
Accuracy. An experienced art writer knows the difference between "attributed to" and "studio of." They know that attribution language matters legally, not just stylistically. They fact-check dates, exhibition histories, and provenance details. A single error in a catalog can undermine years of credibility.
But We Can't Afford a Copywriter
You probably can. A catalog essay for a single exhibition typically costs between €500 and €1,500 depending on scope. A set of wall labels, €200-500. A press release, €300-600. For a gallery selling works at €5,000 and up, one additional sale covers the writing budget for the entire year.
The question is not whether you can afford a copywriter. It is whether you can afford to keep presenting your artists with text that doesn't do them justice.
How to Start
You don't need to outsource everything at once. Start with your next exhibition's catalog essay or press release. Choose a writer who has published catalog texts before, give them access to the work and the artist, and see what comes back. If the text makes you see the exhibition differently, you've found your person.
If you'd like to talk about writing for your next show, get in touch. I've been doing this for over a decade and I still find every new exhibition a fresh challenge.