Compete City Scenes (2026): The Urban Experience
Opportunity Description
U.S. National Deadline: March 31, 2026 – The MVA Gallery (Modern Visual Arts) invites artists, photographers and sculptors of all levels (emerging to established) to submit original artwork to this exhibition.
Streets and urban scenes — an inspiration to generations of artists who have produced extraordinary interpretations of city content including buildings, streets, signs, people, objects, machines, technology as well as space, light and movement.
Artists, photographers and sculptors who explore public places for visual ideas frequently encounter contradictions. Daily activities are depicted, whether ordinary or dramatic. People react to the random, fleeting events of urban life with clarity or ambiguity, calm or frenzy, sadness or joy. In addition, these contradictions and opposing forces are expressed in the creative execution of imagery about wealth and poverty, health and illness, youth and old age, beauty and ugliness, kindness and hostility, growth and decay, or order and chaos.
What do you emphasize in your art as you narrate your experiences, real or imagined, of a city, town or suburb? Do you capture the “decisive moment,” assert the “significance of place,” focus on storytelling and visual anecdotes, concentrate on oddities and psychic vulnerability, reflect social and economic issues, or reveal normality and joyful moments?
What artistic techniques — conventional or experimental — are used that empower you to make viewers believe in the immediacy and reality of an image?
Exhibition Dates: July 29 – August 28, 2026.
ELIGIBILITY
This is a National Call for Entries inviting artists, photographers and sculptors from all regions and states. Artists must be 18 years of age or older and current residents of the United States.
This is a great exhibition opportunity for street photography (all processes) and for urban scenes in any medium. And, of course, paintings depicting city structures, exploring human rhythms of the streets, and portraying the activities of urban life have always been popular with collectors.
ENTRY FEE
Entry fee is $35.00 for 3 images. You may include additional files for $5.00 each up to a total of 9 maximum.
APPLY ONLINE
Visit us for complete details and easy online application.
On or about May 18, 2026 (Midnight). Notification by email.
SALES
Artists can determine whether they wish to sell their artwork. For sales, the artist must list a specific price and not indicate “Upon Request.”
Commission Fees:
70% of the final sale price to the Artist.
30% of the final sale price to the Gallery.
About:
The MVA Gallery (Modern Visual Arts) is located in historic Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Bethlehem, along with its neighboring cities Allentown and Easton, comprise the third largest metropolitan area in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh). Bethlehem has a vibrant arts and cultural life — numerous active art galleries and nationally acclaimed festivals that attract tens of thousands of visitors each year. Located one hour from New York City, Bethlehem has become an art destination for informed collectors and prominent art professionals.
MVA Gallery
35 E. Elizabeth Avenue, Suite 35
Bethlehem, PA 18018
ph: 610-936-0737
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