POINT PLEASANT PUBLISHING
International Call for Artists - Experimental Visual Art for Hardcover Book Editions & Online (Art Reviews)
Point Pleasant Publishing publishes the finest contemporary art books in the world.
100% Human-Authored Essays...ZERO AI Writing or Editing.
Premium Linen-Wrapped Hardcover Books
Point Pleasant Publishing was founded in 2014 in Jersey City, New Jersey (currently based in the New Jersey Shore as well as beyond) and is an international contemporary arts publisher specializing in writing critical essays.
Selected artists are featured with detailed curatorial review essays in the catalogue. Each featured artist has a generous six-page spread dedicated to them. This extensive linen wrap hardcover art book also includes Point Pleasant Journal and Shoreline Voice publications in addition to the catalogue articles and artist features. The writing by Point Pleasant Publishing is 100% human-authored, absolutely no artificial intelligence used. Essays are available on the Point Pleasant website and on Substack. The Artist Feature Catalogue is internationally registered with both an ISBN and ISSN (US Library of Congress). Point Pleasant Publishing books are available to global retailers such as Amazon, online bookstores, independent and major retail platforms.
Additionally, published artists will have one work of art on permanent display within our online gallery on Saatchi Art.
Eligibility Criteria:
Point Pleasant Publishing accepts alternative and experimental forms of visual art including photography, performance, moving-image (video / film), installation, fiber / textiles, assemblage, collage, jewelry, light design, printmaking, fashion / costume design, text-based fragments, and analogue digital (no AI).
Artists are selected based on a variety of factors including originality, conceptual impact, overall cohesiveness of portfolio, and aesthetic qualities of the art. We especially encourage alternative / experimental and underrepresented artists to apply.
Modest Selection Requirements:
There is no application fee. Point Pleasant Publishing has modest selection requirements for artists to become published online and in print with a curatorial review essay. Every essay is published in both print and online, regardless of the level of contribution by the selected artist.
Option # 1: Selected artists need to make a $35 donation at the following Donation Link or purchase of any one current paperback edition (or 3 economical editions) from our bookstore .
Option # 2: Selected artists who donate $100 (instead of $35) will also receive a premium linen wrap hardcover book of the volume they are published in, which includes free priority mail shipping.
Option # 3: Selected artists who donate $170 (instead of $100 or $35) will also receive two copies of premium linen wrap hardcover books of the volume they are published in, which includes free priority mail shipping and saving 15% off the listed price.
Option # 4: Selected artists who donate $300 (instead of $170 or $100 or $35) will also receive four copies of premium linen wrap hardcover books of the volume they are published in, which includes free priority mail shipping and saving 25% off the listed price. You save $100 with this option!
Option # 5: Point Pleasant Publishing can publish and design your very own paperback and linen wrap hardcover book featuring only your art. The paperback edition will be available on Amazon and other global distributors. Your published book will also contain an essay of a minimum 1200 words, double the length of the average essay published in the catalogue. You will receive 50% of all profit from any potential sales from your book. This requires a donation of $500. Does not include any free book copies.
Option # 6: Selected artists who donate $150 will receive one premium linen wrap hardcover book of the volume they are published in and a specially curated permanent online solo exhibition with their art and essay on Artwork Archive.
If selected, we recommend choosing the second, third, or fourth option, as having a physical record of your critical essay is vitally important for documentation and sharing with others in real-time. Point Pleasant Publishing linen wrap hardcover books are archival, strong, sturdy, beautiful, and are made from the finest materials.
Rules:
Point Pleasant Publishing does not accept Instagram links as portfolios or works made with artificial intelligence.
How to apply:
*Read all guidelines before sending an application.
*We highly recommend reading a couple of essays within our various publications before applying in order to understand our writing style, format, and ability.
Email your CV, 3 image samples, and artist website or online portfolio to editor@pointpleasantpublishing.net
Terms & Conditions: By applying or agreeing to participate in the publication the participating artist agrees to allow permission for Michael Athanasius Hanna and Point Pleasant Publishing representatives to use images from your online portfolio and art for inclusion in publications and promotions, both digitally and in print. Michael Athanasius Hanna and Point Pleasant Publishing representatives will not under any circumstances pay any participating artist royalty fees or any other form of financial compensation for usage of their art in publications and promotions. Artists retain the copyright to their artworks. If you do not agree to these terms, you need to notify us through email that you wish to not participate with Point Pleasant Publishing.
site-specific installation and moving-image still by Mari Amman
performative photography by Damira Tagaeva
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lenticular printmaking and text-based photo collage by Masha Luch
LinkedIn Recommendations from Notable Artists who have Worked with the Editor:
Photographer, Installation, Moving-Image, and Performance Artist (and other multidisciplinary practices)
Michael Hanna has the ability to write about my artwork like no other critic has. He has precisely made every layer of my work able to be understood to anyone who reads English. I wish to work with him for the entirety of my career. Being introduced to him by a colleague helped me create an enormous step forward in having my art understood. Arts writers hold a unique and burdensome responsibility in the humanities, and Michael exceeds any expectation for humility, grace and understanding. He’s a delight to work with. I recommend anyone to work with him. He can surely benefit the humanities, as well as any sector that requires thorough research and thoughtfully constructive feedback.
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Contemporary Multimedia Artist (moving-image, photography, installation, printmaking, collage, and graphics)
Michael is an attentive and thoughtful curator and critic. He writes with rare depth and a genuine respect for an artist’s work, articulating meaning precisely and never turning art into empty rhetoric. You can always feel that he is genuinely invested in the quality of the result and never indifferent to what the work is actually saying. At the same time, Michael is a productive and talented artist himself, which makes him highly sensitive both to the creative process and to the ways we can speak about it. I sincerely recommend working with him.
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Moving-Image & Performance Artist
Michael is an excellent writer and very dedicated to his work. He dives deep into each artist’s body of work with genuine curiosity. He is very passionate, sensitive and empathetic to the artist’s vision.
Having collaborated with him on three published essays about my work, I can definitely say that his insights have enriched the understanding of my practice and even helped me see my own creations from new angles.
If you are an artist with a unique and experimental style, I highly recommend working with Michael.
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Burak Bulut Yildirim
Photographer and Photography Mentor since 2005. SONY EU Imaging Ambassador 2018-Present
It has been a privilege to work with Michael. As an editor, he combines professionalism with a genuine passion for highlighting creative talent. Throughout the process of my feature in Volume 11 and 13, his communication was excellent and supportive. He puts great effort into ensuring that the artist's voice is heard and represented accurately. I strongly recommend connecting and collaborating with him.
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Anastasiia Marinich
Photographer | Art Direction | Fashion & Cinematic Portraiture
I had the pleasure of working with Michael as part of a curated publication. His deep sensitivity to visual storytelling and intuitive understanding of artistic language truly impressed me. The curatorial text he wrote about my work showed not only insight, but genuine attention to the emotional layers behind each image. I’m grateful for his thoughtful approach and clear communication throughout the process.
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Point Pleasant Publishing
New Jersey Shore - United States
formerly located in Jersey City, New Jersey and Paterson, New Jersey.
Administration:
Editor & Curator: Michael Hanna
email: editor@pointpleasantpublishing.net
https://www.michaelhanna.net
Emeritus Writers & Contributors:
Adriana Zofia Zimnowoda, PhD
Joas Nebe
Kristen T. Woodward
Cassie Mckenzie
Yana Brink
All essays written by Michael Hanna unless stated otherwise.
Point Pleasant Publishing has been honoured with the title Project Of The Day by the viral website We,Directory
textiles by Minyu Zhu
What is 'the catalogue'?
The Artist Feature Catalogue is not a magazine but rather a collection of scholarly essays published in a hardcover art book format as well as presented digitally in a manner similar to an exhibition catalogue. With distinction, the catalogue includes artists who have works in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and multiple Smithsonian Institution museums. Artists included in the catalogue have also been critically published by The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, National Geographic, The Boston Globe, Financial Times, Newsweek, 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. Point Pleasant Publishing 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.
What are the contributions of Point Pleasant Publishing?
Point Pleasant Publishing is a leading voice in international contemporary discourse and experimental visual art. We highlight artworks, moving-images, and performances which incorporate integrative and interdisciplinary practices as well as provide unique or provocative conceptual approaches. Point Pleasant Publishing has a curatorial vision and standard to advance contemporary art beyond design principles and technique. We actively push the boundaries of contemporary art by featuring artists whose works are socially relevant, hallucinogenic, provocatively sensual, mesmerizingly enchanted, conceptually ironic, arthouse documentative, and / or engage in institutional criticism. Through detailed yet direct written commentary, Point Pleasant Publishing applies a deeper dialogue to the visual arts beyond presentation and image-sharing.
Archived Permanent Collections:
California State University (East Bay) - Artist Feature Catalogue : Volume 23 in linen wrap hardcover.
United States Library of Congress - Artist Feature Catalogue : Volume 22 in linen wrap hardcover.
Volume 20 cover featuring experimental photography by Mädchen Vivi
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interdisciplinary performance by Fina Ferrara. Echoes of Perception.
experimental graphic-based installations by Meg Lewis
Unedited photography by Michael Hanna
conceptual photography by Olga S. Ortiz
About:
Point Pleasant Publishing was founded in 2014 in Jersey City, New Jersey and initially started as an artist community and curatorial organization hosting exhibitions and artistic events across New Jersey as well as writing exhibition catalogues. Point Pleasant evolved a focus on publishing an international catalogue with curatorial reviews on some of the finest conceptual and experimental artists in the world. The Artist Feature Catalogue is published in three formats consisting of the Point Pleasant website, Substack, and linen wrap hardcover books.
In addition, the Point Pleasant Journal also publishes articles but with a focus on philosophical interpretations of concepts and presenting other information regarding contemporary discourse in the visual arts. Point Pleasant Journal essays are published inside the linen wrap hardcover book editions of the Artist Feature Catalogue in addition to the Point Pleasant Publishing website. Also, Shoreline Voice is a monthly newsletter and spotlight which focuses on just one artist who has been previously published in the Artist Feature Catalogue. Shoreline Voice newsletter articles, like the Point Pleasant Journal, are also published inside the hardcover editions of the Artist Feature Catalogue along with the Point Pleasant Publishing website.
With notable and international recognition, Point Pleasant Publishing has been featured in the press by The London Group, which is the oldest arts organization in the United Kingdom, as well as multiple articles by The Jersey Journal and NJ.com. Additionally, Point Pleasant Publishing is presented on a regular basis in opportunity newsletters posted by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and listed by the Arts Council of Princeton. Artist Feature Catalogue book volumes in linen wrap hardcover are in the permanent archived collections of California State University - East Bay (Volume 23) and the United States Library of Congress (Volume 22). The publisher has also been awarded the honour 'Project Of The Day' by the viral website WeDirectory.
History:
Founded in 2014, Point Pleasant Publishing 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, visual art exhibits and writing / publishing exhibition catalogues. 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 printed exhibition catalogues.
August 19th, 2023, AFA was revived into an arts publisher.
March 25th, 2025, AFA founded an additional publication titled Point Pleasant Journal. The journal contains philosophical essays discussing concepts in contemporary art, news articles about international exhibitions, biographies on notable figures in the art scene, gallery profiles, and book reviews. Point Pleasant Journal is published in addition to the Artist Feature Catalogue, which has been in circulation since 2014.
June 21st, 2025, Aedra Fine Arts Publishing changed its name to Titan Contemporary Publishing.
July 9th, 2025, Titan Contemporary Publishing founded an additional publication titled Shoreline Voice. The Shoreline Voice is a monthly spotlight on a notable artist. This periodical publishes all articles ever written about the artist on one page as well as images of their best and latest works. Only artists who have been previously published in the Artist Feature Catalogue are eligible to be selected for Shoreline Voice.
November 12th, 2025. Titan Contemporary Publishing changed its name to Point Pleasant Publishing
April 20th, 2026. Point Pleasant Publishing established an online gallery on Saatchi Art. Every published artist is entitled to one work of art on display within the gallery. The artist's artwork remains on permanent display within our Saatchi Art exhibition and works are organized by publishing date from the catalogue or journal.
September 9th, 2026. Point Pleasant Publishing received official registration and recognition from the United States Library of Congress for the Artist Feature Catalogue as both a print and digital publication with an ISSN. Every book edition of the Artist Feature Catalogue now comes with both an ISBN and an ISSN.
Format: Print
ISSN: 3144-1076
Format: Online
ISSN: 3144-1084
Press Links:
The London Group. Newsletter. 5/7/2025
The Jersey Journal & NJ.com News Article 4/3/2015 & The Jersey Journal & NJ.com News Article 4/1/2015
The Jersey Journal & NJ.com News Article 8/13/2014
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interactive installations by Luna Qiuwen Lyu
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experimental photography by Mädchen Vivi
background moving-image still by Victoria Gong
conceptual photography by Van O (Ivan Isaev)
Full preview of Artist Feature Catalogue : Volume 22 in linen wrap hardcover.
Volume 22 is in the permanent archived collection of the United States Library of Congress.