Bring on the Contestants

The submission deadline for Visual Overture Magazine’s quarterly “Featured Emerging Artists” competition has passed.  As the Summer 2011 juror, I now have the very large task of reviewing all the submitted work and grading each one of them.  It will be a total immersion sort of thing.  Very rarely, even for an art professional, does anyone get to have so much art poured over them.  Sensory overload is always a fear, but I plan to pace myself and give each image equal time and full attention.

I also predict this, like most open submission art competitions, will be a little like the first few shows of each season’s American Idol.  There will those pieces of art that hurt your eyes like a screeching voice hurts your ears; or those that simply defy logic; those that make you laugh; those that make you cry; and those that make you say “wow.”

Hopefully, by the end, I will be able to share with you a bunch of “wows.”

Comments

[Fernando Pizarro]

I feel your pain! We have basically turned that exercise into our livelihood - we are spending all of our time choosing what art to feature on Artsumo. It does feel like a bit of a privilege though, to be in a position not only to evaluate, but to help - doesn't it?

Fernando Pizarro
cofounder
www.artsumo.com