ART / REAL -- Juried exhibition

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About ART / REAL -- Juried exhibition

This is an ART REAL exhibition. This juried show is by invitation only; however you may enter any works you like in the ART REAL open exhibition.

ART REAL takes its inspiration from Cezanne and his followers. The art world in their time was ruled by an elite group of academics, the Academie des Beaux Arts. The Academie legislated taste in a yearly contest, called the Salon.

Cezanne and his followers advocated a "back to nature" approach. They rejected the academic standards which had left art dry, tasteless and hollow.

They went back to the studio and out into nature, to enter into a direct investigation and personal exploration of nature.

Their work had no literary aspirations. It had no need to be erudite. It was simply artists observing simple things, thinking about their own perceptions and the nature of art and reality. Simple works of art without pretense: and yet they unleashed a revolution that shook the art world to its foundations.

Perhaps more masterpieces were created during that short period than any other time in history.

And what were those masterpieces? Simple paintings of apples and oranges, simple country landscapes, simple scenes of people in the park.

Who would dare to paint such scenes today? And yet they are needed.

ART REAL seeks to apply the same principle of sincerity and simplicity to escape the shackles of today's "Salons."

More about ART REAL here.

Judging criteria:
Art that personifies the ART REAL aesthetic:

1. Sincere, unpretentious, genuine.
- Original artworks only. Paintings, photographs, sculpture, works on paper.

2. No artifice or ornamentation. Unoriginal work tries to make itself interesting by choosing shocking or political subject matter, or by adding superficial "window dressing" to ordinary things. ART REAL takes a more difficult road: To find the essence that makes ordinary things extraordinary; and to highlight that quality.
- No Photoshop work, unless it's minor color-correction or cropping.
- No formulas
- No gimmicks or cheap tricks

3. Art must be based on direct observation and personal exploration of nature, including man-made objects and environments.
- Real exploration
- Explores the question: "What is REAL?"

4. It must be apolitical: It must have no political agenda, and must be without literary pretension or narrative.

5. Works must be open ("unfinished"). They must leave room for the viewer to participate in the artist's exploration. For this reason works should not be "explained."

6. Works must go beyond the ordinary. They must delight -- or touch -- the mind and the senses.