ABSTRACTION NOW!

GearBox Gallery proudly presents: ABSTRACTION NOW! Our 11th Annual Juried In Person Show. This year’s exhibition focuses on the depiction of Abstraction in 2025.  What is contemporary abstraction and how is it defined? What is its relationship to representation?

Juried by:  Auriel Garza, SFMOMA Curatorial Assistant of painting and sculpture

An Open Call to Northern CA artists working in any media to submit work that exemplifies what abstraction is in 2025. What is abstraction today?  Artists are encouraged to submit work from all genres of abstraction; from non-representation to abstract realism. We encourage artists to challenge the definitions of abstraction.

Located in Oakland, CA, GearBox Gallery is an established artist-run gallery dedicated to showcasing the work of its members and a broad range of regional contemporary guest artists, fostering community and education through intellectual and cultural exchange focused on the visual arts. 

GearBox Gallery is proud to present an open call to Northern California artists for our 11th Annual Juried Group Show. Each year GearBox Gallery invites a guest juror to select work from the greater Bay Area and beyond to show in this highly anticipated annual exhibition. Two artists will be awarded featured exhibition opportunities. This year's open call will be juried by Auriel Garza, Curatorial Assistant at SFMOMA

This year’s theme, ABSTRACTION NOW! asks artists to submit work interpreting what abstraction is today in our postmodern culture.  From nonrepresentational art to figurative abstraction, we are asking artists to show us what is your definition of abstraction?

About the Juror: 

Auriel Garza is an art historian, writer, educator, and artist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She currently works for SFMOMA, where she supports the research, development, documentation, and interpretation of the permanent collection, temporary exhibitions, and accessions of the Painting and Sculpture Department.

Auriel has helped organize and curate over thirty modern and contemporary art exhibitions. She is a co-author of the publications: Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, Telling Tales: Contemporary Narrative Photography, and Raul Gonzalez: Doing Work. Her writings have been published in PATRON magazine, Fort Worth Weekly, and the Dallas Morning News.

Auriel has supported curatorial projects in several museums, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach, and the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio.

ENTRIES: All entries will be conducted through the artist platform CaFE. Open to all media. Each artist may submit 1 to 3 total images and/or media files for an entry fee of $35.00.  The Call will be open until June 15th. Selected artists will be notified by July 7th. In-person drop off will be Sunday, August 10 from noon to 4pm. All work must be for sale.  Work must be labeled with name and title written clearly on the back of each piece. All work must be ready to hang with appropriate hardware installed (D-rings, wire or cleat). Unsold artwork to be picked up on Sunday, September 14th from noon to 4pm.

AWARDS:

1.     Juror’s Award: One artist will be awarded the opportunity to be featured as a guest artist in a two-person exhibition at GearBox Gallery in the following year. See our website for information on past winners and their featured exhibitions at GearBox Gallery.

2.     GearBox Gallery Award: Another artist will be given the opportunity to exhibit in the Inner Room at GearBox Gallery in the following year. The Inner Room is an intimate exhibition space within the gallery. See our website for past Inner Room exhibitions at GearBox Gallery.

CALENDAR

Open Call Entry Deadline: 6/15/2025
Juror’s Selection: 6/15/2025 - 7/1/2025
Notifications:  7/7/2025
In Person Delivery: Sunday, 8/11/2025 noon - 4pm
Event Dates: 8/14/2025-9/13/2025
Artists’ Reception: Saturday, 8/16/2025 1-4pm
Juror’s Curatorial Talk: TBA
In-Person Pickup of unsold artwork: Sunday, 9/14/2025 noon to 4pm

ALL ENTRIES MUST BE RECEIVED BY SUNDAY, JUNE 15, 2025, 10 PM (PACIFIC TIME ZONE) IN ORDER TO BE CONSIDERED FOR THE EXHIBITION.

SELECTED ARTWORK: Artwork selected for exhibition will be chosen by the juror from the submitted entries using a blind jury process. 

NOTIFICATION: Notification of the juror’s selections will be made by email on July 7, 2025. GearBox Gallery, LLC bears no responsibility for incorrectly submitted email contact information or any failure of the artist's email service for any reason.

DELIVERY & PICK UP OF WORK: The artist is responsible for the delivery and pick up of accepted artwork to the gallery. No substitutions of artwork are permitted. Artwork must be delivered in person to GearBox Gallery at 770 West Grand Ave in Oakland, CA between noon and 4pm on Sunday, August 11, 2025, in order to be included in the exhibition. Artwork must be delivered properly labeled and ready to hang or display. Exhibiting artists will sign a guest artist agreement specifying exhibit details per this prospectus.

Following the close of the exhibition, artwork must be picked up from the gallery between noon and 4pm on Sunday, September 14, 2025. Please arrange for a representative to pick up your artwork if you are unable. Artwork remaining at GearBox Gallery past specified pick-up dates and times will be subject to a $10 per day storage fee. After 15 days the work becomes the property of the gallery.

PHOTOGRAPHY and PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS:  By submitting your artwork to this Call for Entries you give Gearbox Gallery, LLC permission to use images of your artwork accepted for the exhibition as well as permission to photograph the artwork for promotional, educational, or historical purposes. Gearbox Gallery, LLC promotes exhibitions on the Oakland Art Murmur website, GearBox Gallery Instagram, and Facebook page as well as on the Gearbox Gallery website and other online listing sites as the Gallery deems appropriate.

SALES: Artwork submitted must be for sale. Artwork sold during the exhibition may not be removed from the gallery until end of exhibition. If an artwork is sold, GearBox Gallery, LLC will mail a payment of 60% of the sale price of the work to the artist within 30 days of the close of the exhibit.

AGREEMENT: Submission of work constitutes an agreement to the conditions set forth and acceptance that the decisions of the juror are final. GearBox Gallery, LLC may photograph and reproduce accepted work for promotional purposes. Artists may not withdraw accepted entries before the close of the exhibition. GearBox Gallery, LLC is not responsible for refunding entry fees or allowing artists to change submission information for artworks which do not meet above rules.

SUBMITTED ENTRIES: Entries may be of any medium and created between 2021 and 2025. Works must be able to be delivered through a standard size doorway. All entries must include title, medium, year and specific dimensions. You may submit a statement about the work as it relates to the exhibit theme. Work differing substantially from the submitted image(s) may be rejected for exhibition. The Exhibition Committee will make the final determination whether accepted work will be included in the exhibition. GearBox Gallery, LLC reserves the right not to exhibit exceptionally large, heavy, unstable, or cumbersome pieces. Work must be framed (when applicable) and ready to hang (wire, d-rings, or cleat). Artist must provide means of display for audio or video works.

ENTRY FEES: A non-refundable fee of $35 is required for application. One application per artist only. 3 image or media files may be submitted per application for $35. Online submissions are not considered complete until payment is received. 

SUBMISSION PROCESS: GearBox Gallery, LLC will only be accepting online entries for Abstraction Now! through the online, portfolio review site CaFÉ for Artists.

ELIGIBILITY: Open to Northern California (Fresno and North) artists over the age of 21. Please note, selected artwork must be hand delivered to GearBox Gallery in Oakland, CA in order to be included in the exhibition.