20 Art Collectors Decided World’s Best Contemporary Artists: Bolen, Geeawan, Kuperman, Peterson, Rossouw, Reske / 2024 ART COLLECTORS CHOICE AWARDS
20 international art collectors were sent online images to score in drawing, painting, sculpture, digital and photography for the first annual ART COLLECTORS CHOICE AWARDS. Artists from 62 countries competed. The 300+ winning works, 1st to 6th Place (and ties) in all 50 categories, will be featured in an upcoming movie and 75 articles.
The six cash prizes go to fine artists in Japan, Germany, South Africa, USA, Trinidad and Tobago, winning in oil, acrylic, graphite, digital and photography.
Winners of the 6 cash prizes are:
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
MOST WINS — 16 WINS — goes to Japan’s TERESA BOLEN for realistic portraits of people and animals in graphite, oil or digital. https://teresabolen.com
BIO: Teresa Bolen “Uniquely Beautiful Pieces.” As a youngster Teresa Bolen always loved making art. However traditional atelier training was unavailable to her, so she pursued other passions until the worldwide connecting possibilities of the internet brought training that would allow her to create the kind of artwork she had always dreamed of right into her home. She has been able to study online from Jason Seiler, been mentored by Dirk Dzimirsky, and in 2021 she began a mentorship program from living master Steve Huston. With his gentle guidance and mentorship, Bolen is flourishing, and decided to learn oil painting last January, 2023, just fifteen months ago.
Huston says of Bolen, “I’ve seldom seen an artist work so hard and so intelligently with a passion to refine their craft. Teresa’s uniquely beautiful pieces with their stand out colors and composition is a much needed addition to realist paintings. Teresa, your work you’re producing blows me away!” Bolen says she feels incredibly blessed and grateful for these opportunities, she’s just getting started, and is looking forward to the many thousands of hours of joyous labor in becoming the best artist she can possibly be.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
The MASTERPIECE cash prize goes to HAYDEN GEEAWAN of Trinidad and Tobago for his lively acrylic portrait of “Elvis” onstage in his prime, which scored in 5 categories.
BIO: Hayden Geeawan is a self-taught artist, born in St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. With preferred mediums of acrylic and canvas, he has painted countless portraits (people, animals, birds) and 30,000 simple black line drawings for books. Other notable projects include two sets of Trinidad and Tobago postage stamps (2005, 2020). Hayden has exhibited/sold paintings at the three top art galleries of Trinidad & Tobago, selling over 160 original works. Hayden is also a very proud American Art Awards, World Art Awards and Art Collectors Choice Awards winner.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
BEST OF SHOW / Highest Score goes to EUGENE KUPERMAN of USA for his realistic large oil “Boulevard Of Broken Dreams” depicting a suffering man curled up on Hollywood’s walk of fame, ignored by tourists. http://www.kuperart.com
BIO: Eugene Kuperman is a published and an award winning artist. Eugene’s work is in many private collections including in a private collection of Robert Harris Rothchild who has many notable works in his collection by artists like: Rembrandt, Chagall, Dali, Ernst, Lichtenstein, and many more. Eugene Kuperman studied painting the landscape in the impressionistic style with the Russian painter, Alexander Antonyuk Senior since he was a child and up until his teens. An art catalog came out in 2012 featuring many of those artists as well as the work commissioned from Eugene. Eugene Kuperman studied with a renowned Russian artist Leonid Steele (from 2010 to his passing in 2014) whose works are in many museums in the world, including pieces in the notable Tretyakov Gallery in Russia. One of Leonid’s former teachers was a student of a famous Russian landscape painter: Isaac Levitan and another teacher he had, was a student of the famous Russian artist: Ilya Repin. From the end of 2014 since Leonid’s passing, Eugene studied painting with an award winning artist Lance Richlin until 2016 whose technical lineage goes back to the French Academic Masters of the 19th century and one of the teachers that he studied under taught Norman Rockwell.
Eugene has been exhibiting since 2006. In September 2019, Eugene went back to Italy for further individual studies. He experienced first hand the Medici Tombs designed by Michelangelo as well as many other invaluable Italian works of art which gave Eugene further understanding of art as well as inspiration. Since late 2014, early 2015, Eugene took a new direction in art. He took upon himself to create works of social commentary which to any extent educate, enlighten, and promote a positive change in society. Eugene Kuperman has been published in various art books, magazines, and newspapers. http://www.kuperart.com
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
2nd HIGHEST SCORE IN CONTEST goes to DAVID A PETERSON of USA for his surreal photograph “Bridge In The Fog.”
BIO: David A Peterson / Born and raised in Montana. Moved to San Francisco and slowly, on my own, developed my art. Using 35mm photography as my main format and working in Photoshop. Attended many art gallery shows to extend my unknown possibilities. My photo subjects often show-up unexpectedly, my greatest art moment.
I have used a digital camera, but my preference is yet for film and film is a big seller in the camera photo market today.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
3RD HIGHEST SCORE IN CONTEST goes to ROELOF ROSSOUW of SOUTH AFRICA for his moody colorful impressionistic oil “Last Train To London.” https://www.roelofrossouwart.com/
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
4th HIGHEST SCORE IN CONTEST goes to SUSANNE RESKE of GERMANY for her mixed-media pop ingenue titled “Series: Bathing Women IX- Deepness.” https://www.atelier-kunst-fluss.de
BIO: Susanne Reske: “I do not only paint what is recognizable at first glance, I also paint the story behind the external appearance.” Susanne Reske is a contemporary abstract and mixed media artist who has won national and international art awards. She lives at the Lake of Constance / Germany. In addition to studying social pedagogy, she completed her studies in fine arts.
Among other things, the artist creates contemporary portraits that contain a distinctive style between figuration and abstraction. Susanne Reske is interested in the history, the biography and the individual personality of the person to be depicted. This researched knowledge flows into her large-format portraits as colored expression and emotion through various techniques. Her works of art are thus not an exclusive depiction of reality, but at the same time an expression of what is hidden behind the first impression.
Influenced by her social pedagogical studies, her contemporary works also deal with socially critical, ecological and female specific topics of the present and the past. In her paintings she often works with acrylic, graphite, tissue paper and experiments freely with different textures. Her works are shown in national and international solo and group exhibitions in Germany and abroad. www.atelier-kunst-fluss.de
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Art collectors can see the hundreds of winning images and corresponding contact info to all the artists here: https://americanartawards.com/portfolio/2024-acca-winning-art-contacts/
In 2024, ART COLLECTORS CHOICE AWARDS had submissions from these 62 countries: Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Denmark, England, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tobago, Togo, Trinidad, Turkey, United Arabian Emirates, UK, Ukraine, USA, Vietnam, Wales, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
The 20 international art collectors asked to score art:
Andrew Cameron & Marcus Hamilton — Australia
Jason Stuckless — Toronto, Ontario
Floyd M. Elwell, III — Rancho Mirage, California
Jan Gold — Roseville, California
Michael Gregg Michaud — Los Angeles, California
Judi Evans — Los Angeles, California
Alec Wilder — Los Angeles / Las Vegas / New Orleans
Eddie Dyer — Los Angeles / Las Vegas / New Orleans
Michelle Foglesong Wilson — Las Vegas
Thomas Zora — Las Vegas
Paul Iacono — Chicago
Ron Lundin — Naples, Florida / Chicago, Illinois / Vail, Colorado
Jay H. Brewer — Orlando, Florida
Celeste Miller — St. Petersburg, Florida
Alan McMullen — Fannettsburg, Philadelphia
Brian Townley — Waco, Texas
Blaine L. Richards-Miller — Wichita Falls, Texas
Aimee Unakis — Georgetown, Illinois
Karen Valentine — Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Mitchell Antesky — Toledo Ohio
