Call for Artists: HYGGE

Artists on the Lam invites all artists to submit work for this online group exhibition, opening January 30, 2023

hyg·ge (pronunciation: hyoo-guh) noun

1. a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or wellbeing, evoked by simple comforts such as being wrapped in a blanket, having good conversations, enjoying food, etc.
2. a form of everyday togetherness; a pleasant and highly valued everyday experience of safety, equality, personal wholeness and a spontaneous social flow

We’ve all been there: trudging through snow, trying to shield our faces from wind so cold it hurts, questioning our lives and life itself.

One thing this pandemic has taught us is how to better appreciate the simple joys of staying in, being with people you care about, and enjoying art together, from watching a film to browsing an online art exhibition—really!

Creating interactive exhibitions—such as 2016’s acclaimed LEXICON and 2012’s acclaimed I CAN DO THAT—had been in Chicago artist and independent curator Jenny Lam’s wheelhouse. When Lam pivoted to digital exhibits during the pandemic, this resulted in such shows as 2020’s acclaimed SLAYSIAN, which not only garnered praise but also had outlets remarking on the very nature of the virtual platform:

Sixty Inches from Center: “Since she couldn’t bring audiences to see the show in person, she brought SLAYSIAN directly to audiences, transforming it into an online exhibition we can view from the safety of our homes. It’s now available for us to click through in digital space, where we are free to take our time and linger over the amazing work of all the artists she brought together, including extra multimedia content that wouldn’t have been possible in a traditional physical exhibition space.”

Winter’s Bloom: “Every one of the featured artists [has] a rich story to share and I encourage you to take a moment to sit with them, to share them. Just this morning my pieces came into bed with me, snuggling on a lazy Sunday. On a whim I pulled up Jenny Lam’s website and we spent the morning scrolling through the exhibit, reading about the artists and choosing your favorite pieces.”

South Side Weekly: “The digital forum offers the opportunity for at-home viewers to take part in this important work—to help these stories grow, evolve, and be seen.”

This new year, Artists on the Lam presents HYGGE, a new online art exhibition. Stay in your PJs, grab your drink of choice, and experience art, all without braving the elements.

All artists working in all mediums and forms—painting, illustration, photography, sculpture, multimedia, installation, textiles, you name it—from anywhere in the world are welcome to apply.

Claude Monet, The Magpie.

Application:

Step 1: Email artists.on.the.lam {at} gmail {dot} com with the following:

• Your name
• Where you’re currently based (example: Chicago, USA)
• Email address
• Website and/or social media
• Artist statement and/or bio (this will be displayed alongside your artwork)
• Title, year completed, medium, dimensions, and retail price of your artwork (it’ll be a 60/40 split, so you’ll receive 60% of the retail price)
• (example: Home, 2022, acrylic on wood panel, 16 x 20 in., $400)
• Your Venmo (or PayPal, or if you have another preferred payment method) for if your art sells
• How you heard about HYGGE Online Art Exhibition

Step 2: Attach the following to your email:

• In .jpg format, your art you’d like to exhibit in the show (you may submit up to 10 images). Please include the title of the piece in your filename. For those of you who aren’t visual artists (examples: performers, poets), you can provide links to videos on Vimeo or YouTube, or provide a script, or anything else that you think would best represent your piece online.
• There’s no theme; submit your best work! (But if you’d like some guidance for subject matter, here are a few ideas: warmth, community, solidarity, love, healing, hope, home, colorful art that will brighten up mid-winter gloom, the new year, resolutions, new beginnings, fresh starts, the Year of the Rabbit, winter, thoughts of spring, etc.)
• (Optional) In .jpg format, a photo of you (this will be displayed alongside your statement and/or bio). This could be a professional headshot, a photo of you in your element in your studio, etc.

Step 3: Application fee of $25:

• (This goes towards helping to cover the costs of putting the show together. Note that this is non-refundable. No one will be turned away for lack of funds, so if you need assistance, email an inquiry before applying.)

Timeline:

• Submission deadline: Monday, January 16, 2023, 11:59pm CST
• All applicants will be notified whether they’ve been selected for the exhibition about a week after the deadline.
• Online exhibition opening: Monday, January 30, 2023
• Online exhibition dates: January 30, 2023 – March 19, 2023 (after this, the show will still be accessible and viewable on the website as an archive)

Selected artists:

• Will be notified by Artists on the Lam if their artwork sells, and will be paid via Venmo (or PayPal or the artist’s other preferred method) immediately afterwards.
• Will be responsible for mailing or transporting their artwork to the buyer.

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About the Curator:

Hailed as a “polymath wave-maker” and “a pioneer of art that is interactive, collaborative, and as much fun for viewers as it is for artists,” Jenny Lam is an award-winning self-taught multidisciplinary artist, independent curator, and writer. She is the Chicago-born Chinese American daughter of immigrants from Hong Kong, and she graduated from Columbia University in New York City, where she served as the President of Postcrypt, Columbia’s undergraduate student-run art gallery. She is the founder of Artists on the Lam, which was voted “Best Arts Blog” in the Chicago Reader’s Best of Chicago issue, and her interactive art show I CAN DO THAT was named the audience choice for “Best Exhibit” in the 20th anniversary edition of NewCity’s Best of Chicago issue. Her artwork has been exhibited at places like the Chicago Cultural Center and Chicago Public Library, and she is the creator of Dreams of a City, an ongoing city-wide participatory public art and mapping project for which she was awarded the Individual Artists Program Grant from Chicago DCASE. Jenny has curated exhibitions at venues like the renowned Zhou B Art Center and guest judged shows at galleries like Line Dot Editions and Water Street Studios. She has served as the head curator of 4Art Inc. Gallery, and she has written extensively for publications like Time Out and Sixty Inches from Center and been published in the graphic novel anthology New Frontiers. She has given a Leonardo LASER Talk and spoken on panels at Facebook Chicago and Startup Art Fair; performed at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and 20x2 Chicago; conducted Visiting Artist Workshops at the Chicago Children’s Museum; conducted portfolio reviews at Harold Washington Library’s West Side Community Bureau; and been featured on PBS, The Huffington Post, PetaPixel, Fstoppers, Character Media, AsAmNews, I Am New Generation, Women Direct, WGN, WBEZ, Crain’s, DNAinfo, Block Club Chicago, Chicagoist, Gapers Block, Gozamos, and more.

About Artists on the Lam:

Since its founding in 2011, Artists on the Lam has been dedicated to championing local artists while channeling global perspectives, making art accessible, bringing people together, breaking barriers, building community, inspiring people to see the world anew, and demonstrating that art is for everyone. Praised by the press and the public as “a global arts mover and shaker” and as an enterprise that “keeps Chicago’s arts and cultural scene fresh, engaging, and thriving” and “embodies everything that we, in the art world, need,” Artists on the Lam has spent the past 11.5 years cultivating a vibrant international community across 177 countries and counting, connecting artists and art lovers from all walks of life. Artists on the Lam has launched the careers of emerging artists and provided a prominent platform for emerging, mid-career, and established artists alike, whether it’s through the blog that started it all, or through groundbreaking—and rule-breaking—interactive art shows in pop-up locations throughout Chicago. From massive audience participatory exhibitions like LEXICON, which was lauded by visitors as “wonderful training and exercise in the world of art appreciation,” to storied celebrations like SLAYSIAN, which South Side Weekly commended for its “role in educating and engaging with the broader Chicago community” and for showcasing “a subset of artists that have always been part of the city’s art scene, but rarely acknowledged as a collective,” Artists on the Lam has always taken pride in being at the forefront of art.