DEADLINE for submissions: February 8, 2026
Only artists based in the US are eligible for this open call.
Fee to apply: $35* (for up to 3 works) via Zelle
(if submitting the submission fee through PayPal, the fee is $36.21 to cover the transaction fee)
Curated by Aaron Wilder, "A Long Train: 250 Years of Hypocrisy" is an online-only exhibition hosted by Amos Eno Gallery on Artsy.net, from February 22 to April 4, 2026. This exhibition invites artists to engage critically with the Declaration of Independence as a historical document of selective freedom—one whose promises were unevenly distributed and whose consequences remain unfinished.
*Submission fees may be considered charitable donations and be tax-deductible for the submitting artist.
Exhibition Description:
The Declaration of Independence claimed “a long train of abuses and usurpations,” which its authors enumerated as grievances against their colonial overlord. 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of this Declaration. This exhibition does not commemorate independence as a completed achievement. Instead, it interrogates the Declaration as a historical document of selective freedom—one that promised liberty while authorizing dispossession, slavery, and exclusion. The Declaration proclaims universal ideals while emerging from—and helping to entrench—systems of slavery, settler colonialism, racial hierarchy, and gendered exclusion. Its language condemns “abuses and usurpations” even as it legitimizes the dispossession of Indigenous peoples, the enslavement of Africans, and the political erasure of women.
“A Long Train: 250 Years of Hypocrisy” asks who was included, who was erased, and what freedoms remain incomplete; and explores how colonial language, property, and sovereignty shaped—and continue to shape—systems of value, belonging, and authority. Rather than treating the Declaration as a fixed historical document, this exhibition approaches it as an ongoing structure, one that has enabled colonial expansion, racialized violence, gendered exclusion, and capitalist exploitation, even as it has been rhetorically expanded to claim broader inclusion.
Platform & Economic Disclosure:
This exhibition will be presented on the Artsy.net profile of Amos Eno Gallery, a nonprofit, artist co-op. Artsy requires that all exhibited works be listed for sale, and standard submission and platform commissions apply. Rather than masking this reality, the exhibition foregrounds the market as part of the historical systems it critiques: just as independence was bound up with property, capital, and exclusion, this exhibition circulates within contemporary systems of cultural and economic value. By making these tensions legible—between celebration and critique, commerce and complicity, freedom and exclusion—the exhibition positions itself as intervention, reflection, and dialogue, rather than spectacle. Participation in the market is not framed as virtue; engagement with history and language is.
The $35 submission fee supports administrative costs, jurying, platform fees, and the operational sustainability of the gallery. If sold, artworks are subject to a 20% gallery commission and a 19% Artsy commission. Artists receive 61% of sales. Submission fees and sales commissions support the operational survival of the gallery. These economic structures are acknowledged as part of the broader systems of value, property, and circulation that this exhibition critically examines. Participation does not imply endorsement of these systems. “A Long Train: 250 Years of Hypocrisy” illuminates the unfinished project of independence and viewers are invited to consider the legacies we inherit, the exclusions we perpetuate, and the possibilities we have yet to realize.
Submission Information:
All forms of media will be considered as long as they have a material form (purely digital media with no physical form, for example, do not meet the Artsy requirement that exhibited works be for sale). Artists based anywhere in the U.S. are encouraged to apply.
Artist images will be posted and artworks will be listed as for sale on Artsy.net in a special curated exhibit.
This open call rejects the notion that authoritative interpretations of the Declaration of Independence must come from established institutions or canonical voices.
Questions this exhibition asks include:
“How can the enumerated abuses in the Declaration of Independence be reinterpreted from different perspectives?”
“Who was protected by independence and who was subjected to its violence?”
“What does ‘independence’ mean for communities whose sovereignty, labor, bodies, and land were never recognized within the nation’s founding framework?”
“What are the contemporary echoes of foundational exclusion?”
“How can the ‘convulsions’ mentioned in the Declaration of Independence be understood as both threat and necessity?”
“What new forms of usurpations accompanied the political independence achieved by the end of Revolutionary War?”
“Rather than a completed historical action, how can independence be understood as a continuing struggle?”
“How are artists and activists articulating refusals of inherited national myths?”
“What alternative visions of freedom, responsibility, and collective life are being imagined and practiced now?”
Artists are not expected to depict trauma or violence; works may also address refusal, continuity, memory, or counter-narrative. While “A Long Train: 250 Years of Hypocrisy” is unapologetically critical of the Declaration of Independence and its harmful legacies, it is equally invested in celebrating artistic practices that declare independence from those inherited frameworks altogether. The exhibition seeks not only to name exclusion and hypocrisy, but to foreground acts of refusal, survival, imagination, and care; gestures toward alternative futures that are already being practiced.
Participation in this exhibition does not require political alignment, public advocacy, or redistribution of sales. “A Long Train: 250 Years of Hypocrisy” aims to foreground analysis, contradiction, and unfinished histories, not necessarily consensus. Artists are not required to agree with the exhibition’s framing; submissions that complicate, challenge, or expand its premises are welcome.
Submissions must be accompanied by a statement (500 words maximum) describing how the submitted work(s) relate to the “A Long Train: 250 Years of Hypocrisy” exhibition description above. What questions or tensions does your submitted work hold? Statements need not be activist or declarative; reflection and ambiguity are welcome.
Image Specifications:
-JPG format
-High-resolution images are preferred for optimal online presentation
-Maximum file size: 30 MB
-Minimum dimensions: 1000 pixels (width and height)
-Include full details for each artwork: title, date, media, dimensions, and price
-Each image should be labeled in the following manner:
Last Name_ Artwork Title_Media_Size_Price.
(Please don’t use " or $ characters in your file titles.)
Example: Eno_Independence_Acrylic on Canvas_12x12_850
Sales process:
In the event of a sale, Amos Eno Gallery will receive a 20% commission and Artsy will receive a 19% commission, with the artist receiving 61% of the sale price. All transactions and sales will be conducted exclusively through Artsy.
Shipping costs will be covered by the purchaser. The artist will receive a prepaid shipping label and will be responsible for delivering the artwork to the designated courier for shipping to the collector.
For questions, reach out to: amosenogallerysubmissions@gmail.com
APPLY BELOW
To apply, please complete this online form with the following information and agree to the commission terms.
Please note: All accepted artwork will be listed on Artsy.net using the information and image as it is provided here.
About the curator:
Aaron Wilder is an interdisciplinary artist and curator. He received his Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2017. Wilder became an artist member of Amos Eno Gallery in 2020. His recent solo exhibition “Contact Traces” was named “High Brow/Brilliant” in New York Magazine’s The Approval Matrix. Wilder was the curator and interim director of the art gallery at San José State University in California 2017-2019 where he curated many exhibitions, including “Reinterpretation as Resistance: Artists Questioning Normative Iconography.” He is currently the curator of collections and exhibitions at the Roswell Museum where he co-curated the 2022 contemporary art exhibition “Future Shock: (Re)Visions of Tomorrow” featuring artists from around the world. Wilder has served on many juries, including the Rauschenberg Foundation’s Medical Emergency Grant, the Roswell Artist-in-Residence program, and Southwest Contemporary’s “12 New Mexico Artists to Know Now.”
About Amos Eno Gallery:
Founded in 1974, Amos Eno Gallery is one of New York City’s longest operating artist-run gallery spaces. The gallery is a nonprofit organization providing a full season of exhibits by emerging and mid-career artists working in visual, performance, installation, interactive, and digital media. Amos Eno serves as an alternative platform for professional artists in a variety of media, giving precedence to artistic expression freed from commercial restraints. By presenting a rich schedule of exhibits and participatory events, we help promote the cultural growth of our community.
About Artsy:
Artsy is an online platform that connects collectors, galleries, and artists, offering access to a vast selection of contemporary and modern art. It features artworks from leading galleries, auction houses, and art fairs worldwide, making it a key destination for discovering, buying, and learning about art.