//poster artwork by Jeff Miles

Puddle gallery is now accepting submissions for its Fall 2026 exhibition, I Thought California Would Be Different, curated by Eugenia Moreeva and Jeff Miles.

Deadline: the open call ends on Sunday, October 11 2026, at 11:59 pm PDT. No late applications will be accepted.

Accepted media: painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, sound, and mixed media. We are unable to accommodate complex installations. Photographs and works on paper must be framed and ready to hang.

Artwork delivery policy: because the gallery is located in Los Angeles, make sure you can potentially hand deliver or ship your work for the show if you are not based in LA. Unfortunately, Puddle gallery can’t cover artwork shipping expenses.

About the show: I thought California Would Be Different takes its title from Raymond Pettibon’s No Title (I Thought California Would Be Different) and uses the phrase as a starting point rather than a conclusion. The exhibition considers the distance between an imagined California and the one we actually encounter: a place so heavily pictured in advance through ideas of sunlight, freedom, reinvention, beauty, glamour, success and failure that arriving here can feel like meeting something you already know.

We invite work that responds to what happens when those expectations shift — through disappointment or disillusionment, but also through affection, surprise, belonging, or the discovery that California is stranger, richer, or better than anticipated. The prompt can be approached literally, personally, politically, humorously, or abstractly; we are interested in the many ways a real place exceeds, contradicts, fulfills, or transforms the version of it we carried with us.

Please apply here by 11:59 pm PDT on October 11 2026: https://forms.gle/5M3t7Q8uT4HMHNQJ8

We are looking forward to seeing and reviewing your work! All submissions will be reviewed by the curatorial team. Please note that submission does not guarantee inclusion in the exhibition.

There is no application fee and, if accepted, no fee to participate in the show. Puddle gallery retains a 40% commission on works sold during the exhibition.