3rd Annual (and probably last) Melancholy Exhibition Coming Up

Submissions are already starting to roll in for Projekt30's third annual Melancholy Exhibition. The work we're receiving looks outstanding. The original 2009 Melancholy show received more submissions then any other art show in Projekt30's history. It hit a nerve in the art world, so we decided to do it again in 2010.

Ophelia by Kalliope Amorphous

Melancholy: At the Bottom of Everything, 2009 Projekt30

Originally we conceived of the Melancholy Exhibition as the second part of a two part series exploring two of the four temperaments Hippocrates developed. Its sister show, Sanguine: The Temperament of Blood occurred in spring 2009. Sanguine is the boisterous, hedonistic personality type, while Melancholics are introverted and sensitive. The two temperaments seemed a good foil for one another, and made great exhibition themes, but people really latched on to the later.

Wordlessly Watching, She Waits by the Window

by Dave Foss

Melancholy: At the Bottom of Everything... Again, 2010 Projekt30

My hunch is that artists are responding to the melancholy aspect of the prospectus more than the melancholic bit. Perhaps a show about melancholy really resonates right now, given how difficult the past couple of years have been for nearly everyone in the community. I really hope things are finally starting to improve.

New Proximity by Douglas Malone

Melancholy: At the Bottom of Everything, 2009 Projekt30

That optimism is why this will be the final Melancholy exhibition. If you want to participate, this is your last chance. The subtitle we chose (At the Bottom of Everything... Forever) is a bit bleak, but not prophetic. Next year Projekt30 will host Melancholy's spiritual successor "The Road to Recovery", which with any luck, by then will be an idea that reverberates just as well. 

I particularly like the opening paragraph of the "Road to Recovery" description:

"We all could use a little relief. A time without our burdens chaining us to the soil. In a more beautiful world there is always a road to recovery, though even in that winsome world the road is always long."

It's not often you see a prospectus written so lyrically.

~justin