Call to Artists
SIREN SONG: CURATED BY KRISTY GORDON
Submission deadline: August 1
In Siren Song, Era Contemporary aims to gather a chorus of contemporary artists whose work plunges into the mythic and symbolic terrain of the sea—specifically through the lens of its most haunting emissaries: sirens, mermaids, and other oceanic archetypes.
The siren—half woman, half wave—has long existed as a liminal figure: both seductress and sentinel, muse and monster, threshold and warning. In ancient myths, she represented temptation and danger; in more recent tellings, she is cast as protector, exile, and even feminist icon. This exhibition seeks to explore the evolution of aquatic feminine power across time, through a modern visual language.
From welcoming figurative paintings that channel the hypnotic allure of mermaids to surreal seascapes populated by spectral beings and submerged dreams, we envision the artists being inspired to create works for Siren Song that speak to the emotional fluidity and narrative depth of the sea; drawing upon personal mythology, ecological anxiety, ancestral storytelling, and psychological symbolism.
This exhibition is not merely about the sea; it is about what the sea brings to the surface in us: longing, vulnerability, power, danger, transformation.
Set against the backdrop of our shifting cultural tides—where femininity, nature, and myth are being reexamined and reclaimed—Siren Song invites artists and viewers to descend, to drift, to surrender to that eternal voice beneath the surface.
View our Siren Song inspiration board on Pinterest by clicking here.
ABOUT THE CURATOR
Kristy Gordon is a Canadian-born artist based in New York City. Her paintings have been described by Galleries West as “contradictory and enigmatic scenes (that) unravel centuries of power relations and imagine a new future.” Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Uris Center in New York City; the European Museum of Modern Art (MEAM) in Barcelona and the National Academy Museum in New York City.
Gordon earned her BFA from OCAD University (2011) and MFA from the New York Academy of Art (2013), where she now teaches as an adjunct professor. She is a three-time recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant, and her paintings have been recognized with numerous awards and honors. Residencies have taken her to the Vermont Studio Center, Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, Shanghai University, and Florence, Italy, and she has apprenticed with Norwegian figurative painter Odd Nerdrum.
Her work has appeared in Hyperallergic, Vogue, and Fine Art Connoisseur, among others. Gordon has lectured and demonstrated at institutions including Sotheby’s in New York City and the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. Her paintings are held in over 600 private and public collections worldwide, including the Government of Ontario Art Collection, The Clearing House (New York City), and the Touchstones Nelson Museum of Art and History.
She is represented by Garvey|Simon (New York City), Blumka Contemporary (New York City) and Grenning Gallery (Sag Harbor, NY).
As an artist who has dedicated her work to myth, Gordon is uniquely qualified with a keen eye to curate Siren Song. Find out more about Kristy Gordon by clicking here.
Paintings, sculpture, video (under 10 minutes), photography and experimental works and installation will be considered.
Deadline to digitally submit work: August 1, 2025
Notification of acceptance: by August 15, 2025.
This is a digital exhibition, with the art being up for sale on eracontemporary.com from September 1 to October 1, 2025.
For submission guidelines, click the button below.
Image credits:
Birth of Venus, 1907, by William Cot, public domain.
Bathing Nymphs (detail), by Hans Dahl, 1900, public domain.
Kristy Gordon in her studio in New York City.