Call for Entry

Selections by:

Cesar Garcia
Founding Director and Chief Curator, The Mistake Room, Los Angeles

Naima J. Keith
Assistant Curator, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York

Entry Deadline: Friday, October 10, 2014, midnight
Exhibition Dates: December 2, 2014 - January 16, 2015

THE ANNUAL

The Juried Annual presents a survey of Bay Area art at the creative edge. All submissions are reviewed online using a ‘blind’ jury system.

Prompt:

Cesar Garcia and Naima J. Keith invite artists to consider the following prompt when submitting for The Annual:

"The page that was blank to begin with is now crossed from top to bottom with tiny black characters--letters, words, commas, exclamation marks--and it's because of them the page is said to be legible. But a kind of uneasiness, a feeling close to nausea, an irresolution that stays my hand--these make me wonder: do these black marks add up to reality? The white of the paper is an artifice that's replaced the translucency of parchment and the ochre surface of clay tablets; but the ochre and the translucency and the whiteness may possess more reality than the signs that mar them."
- Jean Genet, Prisoner of Love

Garcia and Keith selected this quote as it captures a question many artists ask themselves in times of drastic political, social, and cultural transitions. The opening paragraph of Genet's last book is a meditation on the potentiality of creative expression to truly depict and amount to lived realities. As a form of creative expression what then is the role and function of art in moments of conflict and intensified difference? How does art, if at all, act in and upon the world in which it exists? Can art have agency and efficacy as a practice and a form of living? If so, how then does it help us redefine the responsibilities of artists and their work in tangible, responsible, and meaningful ways?

About the Jurors:

Cesar Garcia is the Founding Director and Chief Curator of The Mistake Room in Los Angeles. He formerly served as the Associate Director and Senior Curator of LAXART. Garcia was a curator for Made in L.A. (2012) the first Los Angeles Biennial organized by the Hammer Museum and LAXART. Exhibitions and projects Garcia has curated include Egyptian artist Wael Shawky's Cabaret Crusades (Hammer Museum, 2013); Oscar Murillo's Distribution Center (The Mistake Room, 2014); Eduardo Sarabia's mid-career survey (Centro Cultural Cabañas, Guadalajara, 2014); and Korakrit Arunanondchai's first major institutional commission (The Mistake Room, 2014).

Naima J. Keith is an Assistant Curator at The Studio Museum in Harlem. Previously she was a Curatorial Fellow at the Hammer Museum. Exhibitions she has organized include Charles Gaines: Gridwork 1974-1989 (2014), Glenn Kaino: 19.83 (2014), The Shadows Took Shape (co-curated with Zoe Whitley, 2013), Robert Pruitt: Women (2013), Fore (co-curated with Lauren Haynes and Thomas J. Lax, 2012), Caribbean: Crossroads of the World (Institutional Curator, 2012), Collected. Ritual (2011) and John Outterbridge: The Rag Factory II (2011).

HOW DO I APPLY?

Eligibility:

Participation is open to artists who reside/work within the eleven counties Greater Bay Area, defined as the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Benito, San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Solano and Sonoma. Current membership (through end of exhibition) is required for entry. Membership is open to all. Artists can join/renew membership at time of online registration.

Prep Your Submission:

• Work in all media accepted
• Submit up to eight digital images of work
• Include caption infomation for each image (title, year, media, dimensions/run time)
• Digital Images: Image files should be jpgs. For best results images should be sized to approximately 600 x 800 pixels, RGB color mode, and at a resolution of 72 dpi.
• Media: Video, performance, internet, and sound-based work are considered via website URLs in online submission. Insert URL into the 'media' field of online system.

Submit Your Work:

Submit entries online.

Fees:

Pro Arts' Membership Fee + Base Entry Fee + Any Additional Submission Fees

Membership must be current through end of exhibition. Join or renew your membership during submission process. Basic Entry Fee is $25 and includes up to three image submissions, additional submissions are $5 each. Eight submission max per artist. No refunds. Please see Refund Policy before submitting.

Pro Arts offers volunteer waivers for current members. Please fill out the Online Volunteer Intake Form and email info@proartsgallery.org with your request to volunteer for a fee waiver, no later than Friday, September 26.

Key Dates:

Deadine for Submissions: Friday, October 10, 2014, midnight
Selected Artists Notified By: Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Artwork Drop-Off: Saturday, November 15, 2014
Exhibition Dates: December 2, 2014 - January 16, 2015
Artists' Reception: Friday, December 5, 2014, 6-8pm
Artwork Pick-Up: Saturday, January 17, 2015

Images: (top banner) Ira J. Hawkins, Blacktop #5, July 2013, 2013, featured Juried Annual 2014; (above l-r) Dis/Order: Juried Annual 2013; Amy Ahlstrom, The End, 2011; Dis/Order, 2013

TERMS

1. Entry does not guarantee inclusion in the exhibition.
2. Original work only that has not previously been exhibited at Pro Arts.
3. Artwork must be installation ready with appropriate hanging hardware and/or specialized equipment for media works.
4. Selected works must be dropped off at Pro Arts during scheduled drop off dates. Artist agrees that all work performed at Pro Arts will be performed with the care and skill ordinarily exercised by members of the profession practicing under similar conditions at a similar locality.
5. Pro Arts shall insure selected artwork against loss for duration of exhibition. Pro Arts limits liability for handling, installation, exhibition and de-installation.
6. Sales of work in the exhibition are encouraged. Artists receive 60% of the sale price for all work sold.
7. If artwork is damaged or unsuitable for display, it will be removed from the exhibition.
8. Artworks exhibited at Pro Arts are covered by Creative Commons license "Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives." Gallery visitors may take photographs of artworks with the stipulation that images are clearly credited to the creating artist and exhibition at Pro Arts; images may not be used commercially; and may not be changed, remixed, or modified in any way. Artist agrees to allow Pro Arts to photograph and reproduce images of artworks for publicity and educational purposes.
9. All unsold artworks must be picked up on the schedule day of de-installation. Anyone claiming artworks on behalf of the artist must make special arrangements with the gallery.