Sixteen artworks. One bracket. You decide.
Real work by real artists, drawn against each other and voted through round by round until one is left standing. No judges, no panel, no entry fee — just the people who turn up deciding which piece moves them more.
Browsing is free and open to anyone. Voting takes an email and a password.
The bracket is being drawn
—— § 01 · This round
No clash is open for voting right now. Until the first round opens, the bracket is yours to predict.
- Round 1Closes 9 Aug, 14:05 CDT
- QuarterfinalsCloses 16 Aug, 14:05 CDT
- SemifinalsCloses 23 Aug, 14:05 CDT
- FinalCloses 30 Aug, 14:05 CDT
Vote, argue, predict, and back your call
—— § 02 · The season
A clash is two artists, two pieces and one vote. Art Madness is a bracket of them: sixteen works enter, every round halves the field, and a new round opens every few days until one piece is left. Nobody is crowning a better artist — this is a popularity contest with the honesty to admit it.
01 / Vote
Pick the one that moves you
Open a clash, look at both, and choose the piece you would hang on your wall. One vote each, changeable while the round is open, and you can skip any you have no opinion about.
02 / Say why
The argument is the fun part
Every clash has its own comment thread and its own URL. Make your case, tell somebody they are wrong, and send the link to the people who need to see it. Both artists are reading.
03 / Predict
Call the whole bracket early
Before the first round opens, fill the bracket out to a champion. Predictions lock at launch and get scored against the real results as they land.
04 / Win
Climb the prediction leaderboard
The closest brackets rank on the leaderboard as rounds turn over. Each season's prize schedule is published with its round dates.
The prize is being seen
—— § 03 · Why enter
Art Madness is meant to be fun — it is the public arguing about art for a few weeks. It exists because a bracket is the best excuse we know to make people look closely at work they would otherwise scroll straight past.
A clash page
Reach
Thousands of people who have never seen your work
Every clash is a page about two artists. The art runs big and uncompressed, with the bio, the profile link and the follow button right beside it. The exposure is not the prize for winning — it is the prize for taking part.
Example sponsored post
artmadness Round 1 is live. The Look of Liberty by Sharon McClung is in the bracket — vote for the piece you would hang.
The push behind it
We pay to put this in front of the art world
Art Madness runs with advertising spend behind it, aimed at collectors, gallery owners and buyers who do not already follow you. That is the part an open call cannot offer, and it is the reason to be in the bracket rather than watching it.
A permanent page
Stays up after the season closes, with a link to the artist’s profile.
No downside
The half who lose still leave with something
Half the field goes out every round — that is what a bracket is. Whoever gets fewer votes keeps a permanent page, the round they reached and their work in front of the whole community. That is more than most open calls give you for a forty-dollar entry fee.
Three steps, and none of them cost anything
—— § 04 · Entering
Step 01
Make an ArtHelper account
Free, and it takes a minute. Art Madness runs on ArtHelper, so the account you vote with is the account you would compete with.
Step 02
Build out your profile
Also free. Upload your work, write the bio, add your links. This is what a clash page shows off when your piece comes up, so the fuller it is, the more a visitor has to look at.
Step 03
Opt in when we call for entries
Before each season we ask the community who wants in. Say you are in — that is the whole application. No jury, no submission fee, no portfolio review.
The field is curated rather than open, so this puts you on the list of artists who want in rather than into the bracket. Free, and there is no portfolio review.
What is on the table, and when it happens
—— § 05 · Prizes
Everyone who takes part
Reputation points on your ArtHelper profile for being in the field, win or lose.
The champion
A larger points award, a permanent winner page, and a badge that stays on the profile after the season closes.
The closest brackets
Predictions are scored against real results and ranked on a leaderboard as rounds turn over.
The full prize schedule is published with each season’s round dates, before entries are confirmed.
This season’s rounds
- Round 1Closes 9 Aug, 14:05 CDT
- QuarterfinalsCloses 16 Aug, 14:05 CDT
- SemifinalsCloses 23 Aug, 14:05 CDT
- FinalCloses 30 Aug, 14:05 CDT
§ 06 · Sign up
Be there when the next round opens
An email, a password, and whether you are an artist. That is the whole thing, and it drops you back where you were voting.