An Artsy-Only Open Call
In recognition of Suicide Prevention and Awareness Month, The Good Stuff is an invitation to notice what makes life worth staying for.
Not the grand milestones or picture-perfect moments. We’re looking for the smaller, deeply personal things that bring comfort, connection, pleasure, or a reason to keep going: the first quiet hour of the morning. A perfectly made cup of coffee. The particular way sunlight enters a room. A dog asleep at your feet. A familiar face, an inside joke, a song you’ve played a thousand times. The ordinary things that aren’t ordinary at all when they’re yours.
We’re seeking artwork that captures these moments in whatever form they take: joyful, tender, funny, strange, nostalgic, imperfect, or almost impossible to explain. Your piece does not need to address suicide or mental health directly. This exhibition is about the other side of that conversation: the people, places, rituals, sensations, memories, and tiny sparks that remind us there is still good stuff here.
Maybe you have already made this work without realizing it belonged in a show like this. Maybe there is a piece in your studio that holds a memory, a comfort, or an unexpectedly meaningful moment. Or maybe this is your reason to make something new—to pause, look closely at your own life, and create an ode to whatever keeps pulling you back toward it.
All mediums and approaches are welcome. The exhibition will take place exclusively online through Artsy, allowing artists and audiences from beyond our walls to share in a collective reminder: life is complicated, sometimes brutally so, but the good stuff matters. Even the smallest parts. Sometimes especially those.
Show us yours.
ELIGIBILITY
Please read the individual call carefully. Exhibition themes, eligible mediums, pricing requirements, commissions, launch dates, and application fees may vary.
- Submitted images and information must accurately represent the finished artwork. Accepted work may not be substituted without approval.
- All accepted artwork must be available for sale and assigned a retail price. Artsy does not permit Not Shockboxx to list NFS work. Artists wishing to preserve a work’s value may set a higher retail price.
- Reproductions, prints, and editions must be clearly identified, including edition size and number when applicable.
- Prices must include the stated commission and may not be changed after acceptance without approval.
- Artwork listed on Artsy may remain available for sale indefinitely after the featured exhibition ends.
- Artists must notify Not Shockboxx immediately if listed work is sold, withdrawn, damaged, or otherwise becomes unavailable so it can be removed from Artsy.
- Artists may withdraw their work at any time by notifying Not Shockboxx.
- Application fees are nonrefundable unless Not Shockboxx cancels the call.
- Artists grant Not Shockboxx permission to reproduce submitted or accepted artwork for exhibition promotion, documentation, press, social media, the gallery website, Artsy, and gallery archives. Artists retain the copyright to their work.
- Artists retain possession of their work unless it sells. If a sale occurs, the artist is responsible for packing the work securely and coordinating shipment with Not Shockboxx. The buyer is generally responsible for shipping costs.
- Artists are responsible for insuring all shipments. Not Shockboxx does not insure artwork.
- Selection is based on the call’s theme, curatorial direction, and overall composition of the exhibition. All curatorial decisions are final.
RULES
Not Shockboxx welcomes artists age 18 and older at every career level. We care about the work, not your résumé, education, exhibition history, or follower count.
Calls are open to artists throughout the United States. International artists are welcome to apply when they can meet the call’s shipping and delivery requirements.
Current Not Shockboxx Gallery Artists and Backboxx Artist Society members may apply to all open calls without an application fee.
Submitted work must be created by the applying artist. Collaborative work is welcome when every participating artist is identified.
AI-generated work is not accepted. Not Shockboxx is an artists’ gallery. Work created wholly or partially using generative AI is ineligible.
Original work, reproductions, editions, and prints are welcome unless a call states otherwise. All reproductions and editions must be clearly identified in the application. Artists are encouraged to submit original work while also making prints available for sale when appropriate.
Not Shockboxx welcomes work that is provocative, political, sexual, unsettling, profane, experimental, or weird. Work that promotes hatred, harassment, or dehumanization of a protected group will not be considered.