finalists

First ArtCurated PrizeTop Finalists from around the world. Amazing artists are selected fromItaly & Solvenia to Japan...Read all about it!

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Giuseppe Mariotti ITALY

www.webalice.it/giuseppemariotti

“I was struck by the emo-tional balance and rigor-ous composition of Piero della Francesca, the plas-ticity and drama of Cara-vaggio and Rembrandt, as well as the poetry and delicacy of Vermeer.”According to Giuseppe: I have never attended an art school, so I am self-taught. As a child I began to draw and experiment with color.

While in high school art history ap-pealed to me more than Latin or Greek.

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I was fascinated by the Italian Renaissance and the great artists of that period, as well as by the Flemish masters. I was struck by the emotional balance and rigorous com-position of Piero della Francesca, the plas-ticity and drama of Caravaggio and Rem-brandt, as well as the poetry and delicacy of Vermeer. Modern painting, on the other hand, fascinates me for its freedom of lan-guage as well as its capacity for continual innovation.

During my university years, my scientific background contributed to the maturation of the two innate aspects of my personal-ity: the imaginative and the rational. Fol-lowing my degree, in addition to working in my profession, I have also dedicated much time to other artistic expressions. I have drawn comic strips and done book illustrations, as well as graphic art, and I have become deeply interested in digital art. Since the moment I discovered paint-ing this has become a consuming interest for me. I do mostly oil paintings, and the themes I portray are very diverse: I enjoy representing reality, but also adventuring into the dimensions of the imagination and of the surreal, as well as sounding the depths of Man’s feelings and inner life.

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Ulla Gmeiner GERMANY

www.ullagmeiner.com

“My work (paintings, col-lages and objects) can be described as a “controlled chance”: my paintings and collages are based on a dialogue with experi-mentally induced processes and I meet them with a conscious artistic develop-ment. ”

Ulla Gmeiner is a virtual artist (painting and objects) from Germany with her own studio in Bonn. She is a member of different art groups and a curator of an International Competition (Kulturpark Tapetenfabrik Bonn)

Exhibitions in Germany, Sweden (Stock-holm), Austria (Linz), Italy (Bologna) and France (Paris).

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Galleries:Galerie Sassen, BonnKG 52, StockholmArtGermany, MunichVernissage Atelier, HeidelbergTrevisan International Art, BolognaCarré d’Artistes, Paris

Ulla's artistic work was published in differ-ent art magazines and books:

PrizesArt Majeur Silver Award, 2010 and 2011

PhilosophyMy work (paintings, collages and ob-jects) can be described as a “controlled chance”: my paintings and collages are based on a dialogue with experimentally induced processes and I meet them with a conscious artistic development. Light, tex-ture and colors play an important role. I like to apply different materials like glass fiber, aluminum foil, eggshells, fragments of old books and wood engravings. My interest in philosophy, mythology and na-ture subjects is strongly expressed in my artwork. There is often a hidden sense in it which is not directly visible. I always look for “poetic possibilities” that often reveal surreal features and represent the themes of transience. Artistic education in Munich

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Hung Wong AUSTRALIA

“I learned Chinese paint-ing from an art master, Mr Lai Yuk-hay in Hong Kong before I migrated to Australia in 1989. I have a studio and create my own style in water-color and chinese painting. Drawing goldfish is my favorite, which no one did it in this way before.”

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The piece shown, has won a special award in International Contest & Masterwork Exhibition Of Chinese Painting Calligraphy in Shanghai in 2009. Meaning of Hung's artwork:The title of my piece means "whatever will-be, will be". In our life, we cannot control our fate, but if we have good morals and do good things to help others, our fate will change for the better. These days, major disasters happen so often and we as humans are so small that there is very little we can do to predict or avoid them. Let us all show love and show our good heart to each other so this world can change of the better...

The background of the picture means life is an unknown, but we are all swimming in the same pond. We hope to live in freedom and happiness like goldfish. Free from worries, wars and crimes....become a consuming interest for me. I do most-

www.facebook.com/xueniqi

IzumiSajiki JAPAN

www.bramanda.jp

"Like space,considering the life of man,In the expression of the eternal possibility without the limit of a single life,Continue our search for the real world that we will find through ourspiritual struggle."

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Solo exhibitions1982 Galerie Ichiyo, Tokyo1984 -96 Kunugi Gallery, Tokyo2000, 01 Cast Iron Gallery, N.Y., U.S.A.2006 O Art Museum2009,03 Gallery Gaku , Tokyo2010,04 Gallery Gekkoso , Tokyo2010,06 The blue box Gallery , Okazaki2011,01 1/FGallery , Tokyo

Group exhibitions1981 -87 Association of Jiyu Bijutsu, Tokyo1994 -96 Contemporary Art Festival, Tokyo1997 Salon des Artistes Français, Paris1999 Salon de Mai, Paris2001-03 Asian Art Now, Las Vegas, U.S.A.2006 Grand prix at « Artists Today Franco-Japanese », Tokyo2006 Galerie Atelier Visconti, Paris2009,09 Shanghai Art Fair

CollectionsUniversity in JapanCalvin KleinDesigners in New York

JureCekuta SLOVENIA

www.cekuta.com

“...now that there is a retrospective of his work I realize that there have been many changes and exchanges which have al-lowed me to see and cri-tique his work over such a long period of time. But upon refection it is the 90's that have brought about the biggest.”Professor, Barbara Saromines-Ganne University of Hawaii

ccording to Giuseppe:

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According to Renate Bolzer, "In his recent painting, Cekuta has been reducing the intensity of a human figure. Details have somehow disappeared in favour of a stron-ger texture and forms have been integrated more intensively into the background of a picture. Human body and details are built into a picture in such a way that they can-not be defined at the first sight. Graphic details are no more visible on larger can-vases and pictures are more picturesque and homogenous." In his characteristic on-

Richard A. Moore III USA

www.rmooresculptures.com

“As for the visual influ-ences ... here they are: masterpieces of Baroque sculpture and movie monsters made of silicone; some significant, some seemingly trivial... ”

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One of the most frequent questions and, incidentally, one of the hardest to answer refers to the source of inspira-tion; the question “Where do you get the ideas for your artwork?” appears in nearly every conversation I have. While it is relatively easy to explain where the theme of a particular piece originated, it is an overwhelming task to catalog circumstances and list all pos-sible influences that, in a way, forged the idea. After all, nearly every second of our lives shapes us and, although of-ten indirectly, affects what we feel com-pelled to express and create. Although each sculpture presented here was influenced by different experience in my life, they all tend to -- in some de-gree -- incarnate the darker side of my personality which I find to be a more in-triguing, abundant and worth exploring source of inspiration and ideas than my usual lighthearted disposition.

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Anne Skrede NORWAY

www.anneskrede.com

ccording to Giuseppe:

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Jeg har utdannelse innen kunst- og håndverksfag, design, produk-tutvikling og pedagogikk, noe som har gitt meg et stort spekter å spille på i forhold til materialer og uttrykksformer. De ulike teknik-kene påvirker hverandre og gir ideer til videre utvikling.

Mine arbeider er både i store og små formater i et eksperimenter-ende, spontant språk og jeg be-finner meg et sted mellom kunst, håndverk og design. Jeg prøver å handle etter instinktet snarere enn tanken. Jeg søker å uttrykke det

Shanli Chen NEW ZEALAND

www.shan-arts.com

“ In 1983, the very first time I picked up a pen-cil I was amazed that an image could be created with a simple line. Once I discovered the world of sketches, I was hooked. The portrait of self-ex-pression lies within a person’s imagination.”

For the past 20 years I have been working as an accountant actually. In 2003 when I picked up a pencil again I was amazed that I couldn’t believe how much I love it. I can easily spend over 15 hours on it ev-eryday. For me it feels like only an instant and the only hint I have is the slow ache that works its way up my arm.

Art stirs my pulses. I found a space where I can say my say. We are too limited, slight and lonely as human, but art is unlimited. I have come to realize that I have used my artwork as a form of catharsis and through it I am able to express feelings that I could never put into words. My selfhood is op-timistic, but I like forlorn beauty. It always resonate inside my soul.

My goal is for the viewer to connect my arts, their soul, hence Soulful Studios.paint-

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In 1983, the very first time I picked up a pencil I was amazed that an image could be created with a simple line. Once I discovered the world of sketches, I was hooked. The portrait of self-expression lies within a person’s imagination.

Cony Welcker GERMANY

www.conywelcker.de

"Ein Geheimnis der Kunst liegt darin, dass man nicht sucht , sondern findet"

Pablo Picasso

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Seit 20 Jahren klopft sie Steine, haut Schriften in Steinplatten, haucht Mus-chelkalk und Sandstein, manchmal auch hartem Marmor Kinetik, Leben und Seele ein, sie verleiht diesen Materialien Leich-tigkeit oder Strenge, Grandezza oder Hu-mor- kurz, sie schenkt ihren Werken IHRE ei-gene emotionale Kraft.

„In meinen Arbeiten hole ich Echtes raus aus dem Stein und aus mir selbst. Mir ist es wichtig, meine ureigenen Qualitäten he-rauszukristallisieren. Unsere heutige zerriss-ene Welt kann nur heilen über innere Kräfte. Ich möchte deshalb möglichst dicht an mei-ner Essenz sein. „

In Cony paart sich hohes handwerkliches Können, zu dem sie viel physische Kraft braucht, mit der zur Steinbearbeitung er-forderlichen Ausdauer.

Nach der groben Bearbeitung eines Roh-lings mit der Flex oder demPressluftham-mer, danach setzt sie Knüpfel, Fäustel oder Spitzmeißel ein. Erst zum Schluß er-hält die Skulptur den Feinschliff.

Dabei entstehen auch Arbeiten, bei denen nur ein Teil des Steins seine Schönheit im Schliff zeigt. Ungeschliffenes und Ge-schliffenes erzeugen optische Spannung. In der letzten Zeit arbeitet sie auch andere Materialien in den behauenen Stein ein, wie „kleiner Drache mit Diamant“, „Tante Gertrud“, u.ä.

Die Künstlerin beschreibt ihre Arbeit so:

„Die Bildhauerei ist ein Prozess, bei dem abenteuerliche Dinge passieren können! Sie ist spannend wie eine Krimi, weil jed-er Hieb sitzen muss – denn was weg ist , ist eben weg!“

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