submission deadline
Sunday, May 4, 2025
exhibition dates
June 5–June 29, 2025
Queer culture is dynamic, shaping and reshaping mainstream narratives while celebrating all identities. Contemporary Queer highlights how artists explore and express queer identities through themes of intersectionality and visibility within and beyond the LGBTQIA2S+ community. This exhibition is a platform for art that challenges binaries, disrupts norms, and affirms the vibrancy of queer existence today. Gallery 263 invites U.S.-based artists of all backgrounds to submit work that embraces queer experiences. We welcome diverse media that engage with gender, sexuality, community, and resistance. Artists who identify as LGBTQIA2S+ and allies engaging thoughtfully with queer narratives are encouraged to apply.
Queer art, in the context of this exhibition, embraces fluidity and defies categorization. It challenges binaries, disrupts norms, and celebrates the diversity of gender, sexuality, and identity. More than an exploration of difference, it is an assertion of presence, resilience, and interconnected experiences. Artists do not have to identify as queer to submit but should engage meaningfully with queer perspectives. This exhibition is a love letter to the community in these tumultuous times, and affirms the vibrancy and beauty of queer existence today.
Selected artists will be notified by May 16.
About the jurors
Laura Kathrein is a Boston-based community organizer, movement artist, and educator. She joined the Gallery 263 board in 2017 and has served as both President and Co-President of the board since 2021. Her work as a movement artist is featured at the Peabody Essex Museum, including the installation iEMBODY and film New Addresses. Laura is dedicated to maintaining creative spaces, like Gallery 263, as she firmly believes they are not only vital to the city’s artists but provide important social capital for the broader region. As a queer artist and gallery steward, Laura is thrilled to have the privilege to provide a space to spotlight the LGBTQIA2S+ community.
Lucy Yan is a Boston-based engineer turned representational oil painter. A Board member since 2021 at Gallery 263 (and recent Co-President), she’s determined to help nonprofit spaces thrive so that artists may flourish. As a queer artist herself, Lucy hopes the Contemporary Queer Exhibition will directly encourage and support other queer artists. As anti-LGBTQ bills in the U.S. increase on a daily basis, she hopes this love letter will serve as an opportunity to center queer perspectives.
How to apply
Applications are submitted through the online form below. Up to 6 artworks, represented as jpg files or video/audio links, may be uploaded to the form for consideration. Payment is settled either as the final step of the online application form or by a follow-up payment method (mailed check). Selections for the exhibition are made by the guest juror. All communication and installation decisions are conducted by Gallery 263. Please read the full information below prior to applying.
Artwork size restrictions & shipping details
- 2D (painting, drawing, photography, graphic design, etc.)
Max dimensions: 108 inches H x 60 inches W (40 pounds max) - 3D (sculpture, assemblage, installation)
Max dimensions: Must be self-supportive or mountable; may not exceed 108 inches H x 30 inches W x 30 inches D. Installations must be simple to assemble or installed by artist - Time media (video or audio)
No length restrictions. Submit with links to streaming (YouTube or Vimeo). Artists will be required to provide a/v equipment with selected time-based works. - Size restrictions of artwork to be shipped
Shipped artwork must fit in a box no larger than: 36 inches W x 36 inches H x 8 inches D, 40 lbs. - Artwork must be shipped using UPS, with a return UPS shipping label included. Gallery 263 does not pay for return shipment. If your package does not include a UPS return label, it is the artist’s responsibility to make an arrangements with the gallery within 30 days of the conclusion of the show.
Eligibility
This is a national call, open to all US residents. Submitted work must have been created within the last five years, complete and presentation ready.
Submission
Online submissions only. Artists may submit up to 6 works. Work in all media is encouraged.
Entry fee
Payment of $25 for 1–3 submissions; $40 for 4–6. Payment must be received by the submission deadline.
Gallery volunteers may be eligible to receive a discounted or waived submission. Learn more.
FAQs
Please review our page of FAQs for additional information.
Please be kind!
Gallery 263, a small nonprofit organization, operates on the generosity of volunteer board members, a few staff members, and local volunteers who are artists and art lovers, like you. We care deeply about what we do and appreciate your understanding that we are human, too.
As the gallery operates on a small budget, submission fees cannot be waived. These fees support the operating costs of our nonprofit, such as keeping the lights on. Thank you for your support!
Submission form
