Art Calls Mirroring Reality: Realism Today
Opportunity Description
U.S. National Deadline: June 15, 2026 – 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?
This exhibition will be on view at Artlink from July 30 – August 23, 2026.
ELIGIBILITY
Artists must be 18+ years of age and reside in the United States. 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.
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… see more
ENTRY FEE
$12 per entry, up to 10 entries.
Jury notifications: After June 23, 2026.
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.
About:
Artlink was founded in 1978 by a group of art enthusiasts, patrons and artists to promote awareness of emerging artists and art forms. Artlink is a 501(c) nonprofit creative art space and contemporary gallery supporting artists through exhibition, education and community engagement.
Artlink
300 E Main Street
Fort Wayne, IN 46802
Phone: (260) 424-7195
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