human ~ a national juried exhibition

Above is an image of Young Suk James Kim's "Expulsion" which was just one of the pieces acquired for The Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago's Permanent Fine Art Collection. It became a part of the school's collection as a purchase award during a show titled "The Human Form" which was presented at Gallery 350 from July 31 - September 6, 2006. Well, It's time to explore figurative imagery, once again, with "human" a national juried exhibition, which will run at Gallery 180 from January 16 through March 1, 2012. The Deadline for entry [received] is Saturday, October 15.

This National Juried Exhibition is open to all artists, living or working in the US. Work must be original. All media except video and installation are eligible. Sculpture is encouraged. No size restrictions. Each artist may submit up to 3 pieces for the entry fee of $30.

The Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago will purchase at least one piece from the exhibition for inclusion into the school’s Permanent Collection. The collection is diverse and can be viewed online at gallery180.com. The Purchase Award/s will be selected by committee and will be announced at the opening reception.

All submitted works must be for sale. The Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago will retain a 50% commission from all purchases made during the exhibition. A portion of the commission will be donated to Heartland Alliance for their work in Human Rights. The exhibition will be highly publicized. A color exhibition catalog will be produced to help promote sales.

You can download the Exhibition Prospectus on the home page at gallery180.com

Image: From The Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago Corporate Collection: Young Suk James Kim, "Expulsion" oil, 56" x 66"
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Where were the poppies?

The entry deadline for "red" the national juried exhibition, has passed.

When I woke up this morning, I poured myself a cup of coffee and sat down with a mailbag filled with entries. I begun to open the envelopes... logging in each entry as I sipped my coffee. I tend to log in all of the entries before going back to review the work... eventually editing the images to the pieces to be exhibited. I found myself occasionally peeking... like a child on Christmas Eve. As I got through the first twenty—or so—entries, I began noticing an unexpected theme emerging. Not all, but many of the pieces were focusing on death and destruction with some bloody religious content mixed in. I truly didn't expect this... It made me wonder if art truly does imitate life. Are we really that far gone?

Image: Georgia O'Keeffe, Poppy, 1927