Aedra Fine Arts
International Call for Artists - Curatorial Review Catalogue Publication:
No application, publication, participation, or selection fees. No fees.
For each catalogue edition, up to six artists are selected for detailed curatorial review essays, written by the curator.
How to apply:
1. Email your CV, 3 image samples, and artist website to curator@aedrafinearts.com
2. Provide a *letter of interest explaining why you desire to be published with a curatorial review.
*The letter of interest should be of minimum 200 words with no length limit in PDF format. Additionally, the letter of interest should be focused on just explaining why you want to be published with a curatorial review by Aedra Fine Arts Publishing and should not be a summary of your CV, biography, or artist statement.
The curatorial review articles are observational essays which focus on an analysis of the artists' work and accomplishments as well as providing insight into their process and potential audience interpretations.
Artist Feature Catalogue articles are published on the AFA website at
https://www.aedrafinearts.com/afcatalogue , Substack page at https://aedrafinearts.substack.com , and in linen wrap hardcover book editions.
What is 'the catalogue'?
The AFA Catalogue is not a magazine but rather a collection of scholarly essays published in a hardcover artbook format as well as presented digitally in a manner similar to an exhibition catalogue. Only prize winners from AFA edition competitions are included in all formats of the catalogue, digitally and in print. The catalogue includes artists who have works in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Artists included in the catalogue have also been critically published by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, National Geographic, Financial Times, and The Guardian. There are also quite a few artists in the catalogue who are represented by some of the most respected galleries in the world. AFA editions include notable award achievers such as National Endowment for the Arts and Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant recipients as well as International Photography Awards (IPA) winners.
*AFA does not accept Instagram links or portfolios made with artificial intelligence.
Terms & Conditions: By applying or agreeing to participate in the publication competition the participating artist agrees to allow permission for Michael Athanasius Hanna and AFA representatives to use images from your online art portfolio and art for inclusion in publications and promotions, both digitally and in print. Michael Athanasius Hanna and AFA representatives will not under any circumstances pay any participating artist royalty fees for usage of their art in publications and promotions. If you do not agree to these terms you need to notify us through email that you wish to not participate in the competition.
Rules for Reentry:
-Artists previously published in the catalogue must wait one year before they can be eligible for the publication prize again.
-Artists who have previously participated in the competition must wait 3-6 months (depending on how much work they produce) before being eligible for selection again.
Future Opportunities after Winning the Publication Prize:
At Aedra Fine Arts Publishing, we always strive to build professional networking relationships with the artists who are featured in the publications. The Catalogue is much more than just a book and online feature, it is a database and intricate network of some of the finest established artists in the world. Becoming published is not the end of the story, it's not 'game over' once an artist becomes published. There are many future opportunities for artists with AFA after becoming published, such as features in the press releases, book screenshot previews, videos, showcases in Titan Contemporary Journal, and future publications in the Artist Feature Catalogue. Becoming published in the catalogue is not an automatic guarantee to become published again, but if the artist has been published before, they have an advantage over other applicants who are being considered in the application process because the artist has seniority.
There have been a number of artists who were published more than once in the catalogue. Although we require a one year waiting period before the artist can become published again. If you have been published in the catalogue, read the publication and look up the various artists included within on social media so you can network. Being in the catalogue is a prestigious honor because of the reputation of those who are in it. The catalogue includes artists who have works in collections of major museums, represented by outstanding galleries, published by the most notable publications, and have won the most prestigious awards. The catalogue is an authentic competitive process, nobody can pay to be in the AFA publications.
Aedra Fine Arts Publishing
Atlanta, Georgia - United States
formerly based in Jersey City, New Jersey and Paterson, New Jersey
Administration:
Curator & Editor: Michael Hanna
email: curator@aedrafinearts.com
About:
Aedra Fine Arts Publishing was founded in 2014 in Jersey City, New Jersey and initially started as an artist community and curatorial organization hosting physical exhibits and artistic events across New Jersey. AFA evolved its focus on publishing an international catalogue with curatorial reviews on some of the finest established artists in the world. The AFA catalogue is published in three formats consisting of the AFA website, Substack page, and linen wrap hardcover books. In addition, the Titan Contemporary Journal also publishes articles but with a focus on artbook reviews and philosophical interpretations of concepts engaged in discourse surrounding contemporary art. An international art publisher, AFA offers the public insight and analysis through scholarly essays on groundbreaking, innovative contemporary art.
History:
Founded in 2014, Aedra Fine Arts was formerly known as the Jersey City Artist Initiative which was initially a membership-based artist community which engaged in bi-weekly artistic gatherings, projects, networking, fine art exhibits and publishing exhibition catalogues. JCAI at that time was primarely a fine arts organization which also had other types of artists such as writers, filmmakers, & performance artists. During this time, the organization built a solid & large network of connections and a reputation as being efficient in its goals & achievements.
In April of 2015, the membership was disbanded in favor of developing a more dynamic art scene through an improved organic process. The organization was then restructured into specializing in acting as a curatorial entity which hosts & organizes fine art exhibits & the Artist House series.
On June 16th 2015, the Jersey City Artist Initiative changed its name to Aedra Fine Arts and had a residency at the Art Factory in Paterson, New Jersey then in turn relocating back to Jersey City.
From 2016 - 2018 AFA was focused on publishing.
August 19th, 2023, AFA was revived into an art publisher.
April 19th, 2024, AFA changed its iconic multi-colored, blurred logo, in use since 2015, to the current minimalistic and elegant logo.
March 22nd, 2025, AFA started an additional publication titled Titan Contemporary Journal. Part artbook reviews and part philosophical essays, the articles engage on the aims and purpose of art in contemporary discourse. Titan Contemporary Journal is published in addition to the Artist Feature Catalogue, which has been in circulation since 2014.
Press Links:
Jersey Journal & NJ.com News Article 4/3/2015 & Hudson Happening on NJ.com 4/1/2015
Jersey Journal & NJ.com News Article 8/13/2014
How to Support Aedra Fine Arts Publishing:
The best way to support AFA is to purchase the Artist Feature Catalogue book volumes in either linen wrap hardcover or paperback editions. AFA remains mostly concerned about archiving the catalogue. We encourage readers to donate a copy of the paperback or hardcover catalogue to your local library, for sharing with others, in order to preserve the essays and art for many years to come. You can also support the operational endeavors of AFA by purchasing copies not only for yourself, but also for your professional and personal contacts. The catalogues also make for great gifts or reading material during long commutes for work or as a travel companion. Ideally, the Artist Feature Catalogue would be best served as archived in a professional or personal collection so as to be safeguarded to stand the test of time.
Global Audience:
Aedra Fine Arts Publishing always strives to reach a global non-artist audience, in other words, the wider general public. We perform such outreach in several ways. AFA sends regular email blasts and press releases about the latest articles published in the catalogue to our extensive network of email subscribers, numbering in the thousands. Also, whenever AFA releases a new edition of the catalogue, we encourage all the artists featured in the catalogue edition to spread the word on social media and to their contacts via email. Through Google Analytics data, AFA will sometimes track 100-150 unique visitors to the site and catalogue sourced from just a single artist. Another way AFA reaches a global audience is through publishing the catalogue on Substack, a popular platform for publishers and writers to reach a readership interested in various topics. Some of AFA's website subscribers and traffic comes directly from Substack, but everyday we receive website email subscriptions from all types of sources, such as raw Google searches. Finally, AFA google-crawls every single published article and update to the website, which means when anyone googles a particular artist, over time the artist's AFA curatorial review catalogue article will pop up near the top of search results.
Although located in the United States, a slight majority of Aedra Fine Arts Publishing's website traffic comes from outside the U.S., making AFA a truly international publisher. Educating the wider general public on the latest cutting edge contemporary art remains the primary purpose of the catalogue. The AFA website and catalogue receives traffic from every country on every habitable continent. In addition, our email list, which has been built over many years containing thousands of organic subscribers, receives regular updates on newly released curatorial review catalogue articles, Titan Contemporary Journal essays, and brand new volumes of the Hardcover Catalogue. Subscribe to our mailing list today and become part of our global community.
