Mirroring Reality: Realism Today

This national call for entry invites artists practicing Realism, Photorealism, and Hyperrealism. Open to all media, this exhibition will highlight diverse interpretations of Contemporary Realism and explore how artists mirror, challenge, and reconstruct reality through representational imagery.

This national call for entry invites artists practicing Realism, Photorealism, and Hyperrealism. The exhibition will highlight diverse interpretations of Contemporary Realism and explore how artists mirror, challenge, and reconstruct reality through representational imagery.

In the 1970s, a new painting style gained prominence in the avant-garde art scenes of California and New York. It went by several names, Sharp Focus Realism and New Realism among them, but the term that endured was Photorealism. Emerging as an antithesis to Abstract Expressionism and Action Painting, Photorealism embraced control, precision, craft, and order over spontaneity and gesture. Rather than emphasizing the emotional aspects of the painting process, Photo Realist painters treated their subjects as carefully constructed compositional elements. Painting directly from photographs became an act of precise and deliberate rebellion at a time when representational painting was considered obsolete due to the rise of photography itself, the very medium that supposedly rendered realism as obsolete.

Since then, Hyperrealism has further expanded the movement, often exaggerating reality beyond ordinary perception. In these works, details become sharper and more vivid than the naked eye can naturally comprehend. 

In 2026, artists confront new technologies and new realities to interpret. AI-generated imagery can now produce convincing images in seconds, while Realist artists spend countless hours painstakingly mapping, rendering, and refining their work with machine-like precision. In this evolving space, the question becomes increasingly urgent: What is reality, and how do we represent it?

About the Juror
Andrew Dubach is a multi-media artist with a BFA in Sculpture and a background in art history. Over the past decade, he has worked in galleries, museums, arts nonprofits, and artist collectives while curating exhibitions across a range of venues. His work has been shown throughout the U.S. and Europe, and he has helped secure funding for large-scale public art projects. He currently works full-time as an artist and is a member of Artlink Gallery.

Submission Requirements
Entry fee: $12 per entry
Size limit: None.
Eligibility: United States

IMPORTANT INFO AND DATES IF ACCEPTED:

Important Dates
Entry deadline: June 18, 2026 at 11:59pm 
Jury notifications: After June 23, 2026
Artwork drop-off/delivery deadline: July 19, 2026
Exhibition timeframe: July 30 - August 23, 2026

Presentation
All works must be ready for installation upon delivery and professionally presented (not damaged or differing from what was accepted). Wall-hung artwork must be ready to hang with wire. No saw-tooth hangers. If your work requires special installation instructions, please contact ellen@artlinkfw.org prior to the submission deadline. Identification labels with artist name and title should be attached to the back of the work.

Sales
All artwork sales are subject to a 35% sales fee. Artists will be mailed a check for sold work following the close of the exhibition. 

Liability
Artwork will be insured during exhibition at Artlink. Artlink is not liable for damage or loss in transit to the gallery. Any damage caused by improper preparations by the artist will not be covered by Artlink. 

Hand-Delivery
Hand-delivered artwork must arrive by July 19 and is accepted during gallery hours, Thursday 10am - 8pm, Friday/Saturday 10am - 6pm, and Sunday 12 - 5pm.

Shipping
Artwork that is shipped must be sent through UPS, FedEx or USPS and must include a return shipping label. Artwork must arrive at Artlink by July 19, 2026. Shipped work must be framed with plexiglass, no glass permitted. Any damages that occur during shipping must be covered by the artist. In such an occurrence, the Gallery Coordinator will contact the artist for a credit card number to facilitate repairs. Please, no crates or Styrofoam peanuts. Ship your work in reusable packaging to: Artlink Contemporary Gallery, 300 E Main Street, Suite 100, Fort Wayne, IN 46802
 

$12 per entry

Artists must be 18+ years of age and reside in the United States.