Oddball Art Labs presents
Mythological Mayhem
Every culture has its own mythology. Tales that have been passed down verbally through the ages and eventually put to writing. Some of those tales are very strange indeed.
Our 2025 Summer show will celebrate these strange tales and mythologies.
Sure, we’re looking forward to seeing new takes on Hercules, Medusa, and many others, but we’re hoping everyone digs deep to find the strangest stories they can locate, or affectionately twist and misinterpret them to create something new.
(A few artists have already mentioned what they have planned, and we can’t wait!)
This is an open call show challenging the Elgin and Chicagoland creative community to share their visions. We are hoping to inspire the same mix of strangely surprising paintings, drawings, and mixed media 3D work that makes people smile while at our shows.
Hey, will this show be ‘All Ages’?
We’re glad you asked. The art displayed at the Robin and Mark Seigle gallery in Elgin Artspace Lofts at ArtSpace will definitely need to be tasteful and ‘All Ages’. We are hoping to arrange to have an after party at a 21+ venue. If they are open to hanging artwork, we plan to coordinate hanging artwork there that is not ‘family friendly’ in their venue. Tasteful nudity and/or innuendo is fine for the 21+ venue’s walls.
This is intended to be a lighthearted and fun show for everyone.
No AI Art
All artwork submitted must be Made by Humans!
While many of us rely on Adobe, Affinity, Corel, and other creativity tools to make our art…they are just tools to leverage our creativity. AI “Art” is not welcome in this show. Of course, digital prints of work created by humans have always been welcomed with Oddball Art Labs.
Artwork Pricing
Oddball will retain 20% of all art sales to help pay for the show and misc expenses. Please price your work accordingly.
Elgin Area Drop-off and Pickup
We don’t have a budget for shipping artwork across the country. As such this show is focused on artists local to the Elgin / Chicagoland area. If you won’t be able to handle in-person drop-off & pickup, please talk to use prior to submitting.
So which mythologies will you accept?
We’re hoping artists dig deep and educate everyone about all the different mythologies around the world.
Some mythology artwork we’d love to see:
- Family Portrait “Fails” of the Greek and Roman Pantheon
- Unearthed “Proof” of your favorite mythology
- “Mash-Ups” of modern heroes and ancient myths
- 1970’s Mythology Cartoons that “Could Have Been!”
- The true purpose of Stonehenge
- …and any other ways you can surprise us!
These are just a few ideas…but we really want to see what you’ll come up with. Surprise us with your Mythological Mayhem!
Mythology Artwork Drop-off!
The drop-off for this year’s show is:
Saturday, June 21, 2025
10am-3pm
Sunday, June 22, 2025
11am-1pm
The Robin and Mark Seigle Gallery at Elgin ArtSpace Lofts
51 S. Spring St.
Elgin, Il 60120
Opening Reception
Friday, June 27, 2025
Hours: 6pm-9pm
The Robin and Mark Seigle Gallery
at Elgin ArtSpace Lofts
51 S. Spring St.
Elgin, IL 60120
Closing Reception
Saturday, July 26, 2025
Hours: 11am-2pm
The Robin and Mark Seigle Gallery
at Elgin ArtSpace Lofts
51 S. Spring St.
Elgin, IL 60120
The show was made possible by grants from the Elgin Cultural Arts Commission