4Art Inc Gallery asks imaginative and innovative artists of all media to explore and implore our dreams in Somnambulist.

Your teeth fall out, one by one. You’re being chased by a faceless, nameless nemesis. You’re flying, feeling invincible, when suddenly you start to lose steam. You fall, and soon you’re plummeting towards the earth, out of control. Right before you hit the ground, you wake up. Dreams have captivated, fascinated, and baffled humankind for as long as we have been sleeping. What are they trying to tell us? And if dreams have something to communicate, as if they know something about us that we don’t know, who is saying these things? After all, you’re being chased, but you never really know who is chasing you or why; you fall, but you don’t know why you’re unable to fly. What would the answer reveal about ourselves? We spend an entire third of our lives sleeping—that’s years spent in the dream world, in an entirely different realm, untouched by the crises of our waking lives; all you are left with is your Self, confronting the fabrications of your own mind. If it’s only you, with no one else to cloud your thoughts, shouldn’t it be possible to do whatever you want? What would happen if you were able to take full control of your dream life and use it as the sketchbook for the final canvas of your waking life? Studies have shown that brain activity during the dream state is the same as in our waking state; performing an action in a dream, like memorizing a poem or writing a song, is no different from performing the same action upon waking. An athlete can perfect his technique, an orator can practice her speech… an artist can find inspiration and revelation—all without leaving the refuge of one’s bed. Imagine the dream world as a blank canvas. You are both the painter and the paint.

Somnambulist marks the launch of 4Art's highly anticipated annual curated show, kick-starting in September and overlapping with Chicago Artist's Month in October. The show will take place in the second floor exhibition space of the internationally renowned Zhou B Art Center. The space is 14,000 square feet in size, with 12 feet high ceilings. 4Art is open to a variety of media, including, but not limited to: sculpture, graphic and digital art, oil, acrylic, watercolor, photography, mixed media, video installation, and performance art. The exhibition will run from September 17 through October 15, 2010.

EXTENDED Submission Deadline: July 30, 2010