Through Stephan Wagner, at Arc Gallery in SF, I've scheduled to have my work reviewed by 3 gallery directors. When I did this last time, I was told I could only show 3 of my works. So, presuming that I'd have the same constraint this year, I started the process of figuring out which 3 a gallery director might find most compelling. One idea that came to me was to ask a number of my friends which images they think a gallery director would find appealing. The survey results have proven very interesting. The most interesting thing has been that the problem I have is reflected in the survey results. The votes are relatively evenly distributed, with only one image getting minimal votes (The Blessing). All the rest generated interest some interest with a close enough grouping to satisfy me that the entire group is close enough in theme and quality that they hold together as a body of work.
At this point, Cloud Mask and Venus Ex Machina are the two with the most votes. Leela And The Shrine and The Past follow closely with the other paintings within one or two votes of each other. A friend suggested I divide the votes by gender to get a sense of preference between the voting groups. That proved interesting in the overwhelming preference among women for Cloud Mask and Leela And The Shrine. Venus Ex Machina was a preference for male voters. Other than that, the men voters had more evenly distributed vote totals.
The gallerists are all women and so I'm thinking I'll take Leela And The Shrine, even though it didn't earn enough votes to get into the top three. Cloud Mask wasn't a preference among male voters but I'll take it, too. Venus Ex Machina was a preference among male voters but there were enough women who liked it to incline me to take it, as it's one of my favorites.