After Dark 2025

About the Open Call

After Dark is a captivating art exhibition that delves into the quiet, mysterious, and evocative world that emerges when the sun goes down. Through a curated collection of paintings, photographs, installations, and mixed media works, After Dark invites viewers into a realm where light fades, shadows stretch, and the ordinary becomes infused with mood, ambiguity, and atmosphere.Drawing inspiration from the tradition of nocturne painting, the exhibition explores the nuanced beauty of nighttime, from city streets bathed in artificial glow to remote landscapes under the hush of moonlight. Each piece captures the emotional resonance of night: its solitude, its secrets, and the heightened sense of presence that darkness often brings. The artists in After Dark use limited palettes, subtle contrasts, and softened forms to express the stillness and introspection that twilight and night inspire.Whether it’s the gentle flicker of a single lamp in an open window or the vast, starlit silence of a rural field, After Dark reveals how night transforms the way we see, feel, and imagine. The exhibition invites visitors to slow down and attune to the subtleties of light and shadow, of sound and silence the work seeks offer a sensory experience that is both immersive and deeply reflective.This exhibition is a meditation on the nocturnal, a celebration of the unseen, and a tribute to the artistry that arises when the world grows quiet and the light begins to fade.Maryland Federation of Art (MFA) invites all artists internationally to enter our After Dark Show 2025. Any original 2D or 3D work will be considered. Works selected by the juror will be exhibited in MFA's Virtual Gallery from October 15 – November 30, 2025.Juror: John Hrehov: Professor and Head of the Department of Art and Design at Purdue University Fort Wayne. John Hrehov holds an MFA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art. He is a Professor and Head of the Department of Art and Design at Purdue University Fort Wayne (PFW). Hrehov has had numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout the country, including Wood Street Gallery, Chicago, IL; Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN; Yvonne Rapp Gallery, Louisville, KY; Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL; and Denise Bibro Fine Art, NYC.Awards include Gladys Emerson Cook Prize in the Area of Prints, Drawings and Pastel, 167th Annual Exhibition National Academy of Design, NYC and Eastman-Bolton Memorial Award, Cleveland Institute of Art. His work has been featured and reviewed in various publications including Art in America, American Artist Magazine, Louisville Courier-Journal, and The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne, IN. He is exclusively represented by Denise Bibro Fine Arts, Inc. in New York City where he has had numerous solo and group exhibitions of his paintings and drawings since 1998.

What is Offered

Artists will retain 80% from sales (85% for MFA Members). MFA will retain 20% commission (15% for MFA Members at the time of the sale) on any work sold through MFA.

Requirements

Entry is open to all artists internationally. Any original 2D or 3D work will be considered. Works must be uploaded through artcall.org. File size may be no more than 10 MB. All entries must be original and completed solely by the artist’s hand. A maximum of 6 original works created within the past 3 years may be entered. Work previously exhibited at MFA's Virtual Gallery within the last three years is not eligible for re-entry. Work must be for sale (Price on Request is allowed). Entering indicates agreement with MFA’s Statement of Equity and Diversity and General Guidelines. Work delivered must correspond with the image(s) submitted to the juror. Work cannot be withdrawn before the end of the event.

How to Apply

All work must be uploaded through artcall.org. For video submissions, put the link to the video in the Linked Web Resource field and upload a still frame. To enter online, create an artcall.org account with an email address and password. Watch the provided video tutorial on how to upload your entries.