Sight Unseen

I am so excited to share that I will be curating an issue of PoetsArtists which will then become an exhibition at Abend Gallery in Denver, CO in the Spring of 2017.  I was given the task of writing a Call for Submission.  Here is what I came up with.

Sight Unseen - by Alia El-Bermani

Artists have long created works based on the observations of what they see.  For this issue of Poets & Artists I am interested in sharing representational works that look beneath the realities of the surface and reveal a greater, hidden significance.  These artists will be peering at the mercurial boundary between the known and the unknown.  It is in this space between, that the vibration of life, of existence cannot be seen but can be felt.  How do you represent what you cannot see?  How do you paint, draw or sculpt thought or emotion, the human spirit or the supernatural? 

Einstein once wrote, “The most beautiful experience we can have is in the mysterious.  It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and science”.  It is our ceaseless questioning that propels our creative endeavors and compels our viewers to pause and to feel union in the unknown.  This is where our visual language will transform to poetry.
So much of our daily lives have become superficial, from the thousands of virtual connections we call friends, to the hordes of advertising that bombard our senses.  As artists, it’s our calling to seek, and to instill deeper connections, to revel in a more meaningful existence.  Thru compassion for each other and the mysteries that tie us, we have the power to inspire.  We can have a profound impact on our society if we choose to look beneath and remind viewers of the wealth found within those depths.

I am asking a lot.  I am asking for you to seek a mix of what we see and know with what we cannot explain.  I am asking for you to tap your own soul and experience, to be vulnerable and imperfect.  Let your layered marks bear witness to the emotions that wash thru you during creation.  In this, you will take your viewer in and out of awareness of their own rise and fall of emotions, of breath.  Together there, we can feel a greater connectedness to each other and to the universe with which we are a part.  

The words ‘representational works’ can be read as broadly as you like.  Submitted works must be paintings, drawing or sculpture but in how tight or loose your interpretation of what is seen is up to you. 
   
Submission Call: Sight Unseen
Publication: PoetsArtists
Curator: Alia El-Bermani
Gallery: Abend Gallery
Deadline: September 1, 2016
Formats: Exhibition, Print-on-Demand, Online, Digital, and PDF
Exhibition Dates: Spring 2017 (March)

For more info and to submit your works: http://www.poetsandartists.com/exhibitions#/sight-unseen/ 
 
For more about Abend Gallery: www.abendgallery.com