Advice on organizing/promoting first solo exhibition

[jonratigan]

Hi all,

I've decided to put on a solo exhibition of my paintings at Centrespace Gallery in Bristol in September, it's a great centrally located little gallery with an ethos of helping emerging artists http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwhtnNIzUiA
So, the gallery have already been helpful in providing some pointers but having never really exhibited before, I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how I go about doing this in terms of who to invite, how to promote, what are the pitfalls to avoid etc? has anyone exhibited at Centrespace by the way?

Also, I know this is strange, but I'm not really looking at this as a sales thing- I'm thinking of this more as a start in building a profile for myself- the logic is that if I build more of a profile I can then sell for higher prices later on, is this crazy?

Any advice is much appreciated, cheers,

Jon

http://www.jonratigan.com/Home.html