2020’S BEST FIGURE PHOTOGRAPHERS NAMED BY 25 GALLERIES:

Thom Bierdz
5 min readNov 8, 2020

DAVE ACTON, STEPHEN HONICKI, KSENIYA SHAMAEVA, MARIA NOWAK, LESLEY BOHM, DAVID VANCE, GIEUN CHAE, JIANG FENG, POLINA SOYREF, JAAP DE JONGE, EKATERINA MAVRODI

Painters, photographers, sculptors and digital artists from 62 countries competed in the most prestigious online art call, AMERICAN ART AWARDS, https://www.americanartawards.com/, where America’s 25 best galleries and museums score art in 50 categories. In this column, I’ll reveal the world’s best contemporary artists of 2020 one category at a time.

Winners in this category are from Canada, France, USA, Taiwan, Estonia, Netherlands and Russia.

BIO OF FIRST PLACE WINNER Dave Acton:

From Canada

“Art in one fashion or another has always been part of my life and I have worked in many genre and media. Figurative based work has often been my interest. In recent years I have been focused on photography and a range of digital media from pure photographic work to a blend that transitions into various forms of digital painting. I invite those who may be interested to my website. www.acton4art.com. Thank you to all that make such competitions possible so we can all share our art.”

Each May the American Art Awards organization selects the 25 Best Galleries and Museums in America, then in autumn these revered art institutions vote on online art to decide the world’s best contemporary artists.

Last month America’s 25 Best Galleries scored almost 2,000 works in 50 categories from 62 countries: Afghanistan, Armenia, Australia, Bangladesh, Belarus, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Haiti, Hong Kong, India, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Republic Of Korea, Romania, Russia, South Korea, Serbia, Singapore, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Uganda, UK, Ukraine, USA, Venezuela, Zimbabwe.

COLLECTORS wanting to acquire these pieces or contact the artists can get direct links here: https://www.americanartawards.com/2020-winning-art/

Enter here: https://www.americanartawards.com/register-to-enter-3/

CONTACTS FOR CATEGORY 42. NONMANIPULATED PHOTOGRAPHY — HUMAN

1ST PLACE DAVE ACTON CANADA www.acton4photography.com
“Gamou” 2357x3000px Photograph.

2ND PLACE STEPHEN HONICKI USA www.stevehphotography.com “The Cleansing (from the series, “The Book of James”)” 18x27" Archival pigment print on German etching paper.

3RD PLACE-TIE KSENIYA SHAMAEVA FRANCE www.krondophotography.com “The Unique Creatures” Photo.

3RD PLACE-TIE MARIA NOWAK USA www.Nowakart.com
“Zuzia” 16x20” Photography.

3RD PLACE-TIE LESLEY BOHM USA www.lesleybohm.com
“Elle Rielle, Mother Daughter” 16x25" Color photograph.

4TH PLACE-TIE DAVID VANCE USA http://www.davidvanceprints.com “Stephane Antlers” 18x24" Photo.

4TH PLACE-TIE GIEUN CHAE USA guineapig0718@gmail.com
“Flower Path” 3392x3844px Digital photography.

5TH PLACE-TIE 江峰 JIANG FENG TAIWAN www.jiangfeng-mine.com/ “U.S. (Unwholesome Shelter) 「美」國” 14x11" Photography.

5TH PLACE-TIE POLINA SOYREF ESTONIA https://soyref.com/en “Fragile” 40x40cm Film photo.

6TH PLACE-TIE JAAP DE JONGE NETHERLANDS www.dutchmaleart.com “Come Together” 60x90cm Photo.

6TH PLACE-TIE EKATERINA MAVRODI RUSSIA mavrodiekaterina@gmail.com
“Unintended” 30x45cm Photography.

100 ARTICLES and 50 VIDEOS on the 50 CATEGORIES of the 2020 AMERICAN ART AWARDS WINNING ARTISTS will be at this link: https://www.americanartawards.com/press-on-2020-artists/

American Art Awards 25 Best Galleries & Museums for 2020, in alphabetical order of state, who were asked to vote on this year’s art submissions:

Arizona / EXPOSURES INTERNATIONAL GALLERY OF FINE ART

California / CODA GALLERY

Colorado / CLYFFORD STILL MUSEUM

Delaware / THE DELAWARE CONTEMPORARY

Florida / MAC ART GALLERIES

Georgia / WESTOBOU GALLERY

Illinois / KOMECHAK ART GALLERY

Louisiana / ARTHUR ROGER GALLERY

Kansas / EVA REYNOLDS FINE ARTS

Maine / PORTLAND MUSEUM OF ART

Massachusetts / QUIDLEY & COMPANY

Missouri / KEMPER MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART

Nebraska / KIECHEL FINE ART

New Hampshire / ROCHESTER MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS

New Jersey / EVALYN DUNN GALLERY

New Mexico / ANDERSON MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART

Ohio / DAYTON ART SOLUTIONS

Oregon / ROGER YOST BAY STREET GALLERY

Philadelphia / PHILAMOCA

South Carolina / MARY MARTIN GALLERIES OF FINE ART

South Dakota / SOUTH DAKOTA ART MUSEUM

Utah / LOGAN FINE ART GALLERY

Virginia / LAZARE GALLERY

West Virginia / PARKERSBURG ART CENTER

Wisconsin / THE MADISON MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART

MORE INFO ON THIS YEAR’S WINNERS

HOW TO ENTER

OR GET AN OFFICIAL GALLERY RATING: www.AmericanArtAwards.com

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Thom Bierdz

One of Medium’s TOP ART CONTRIBUTORS, award-winning author, actor, film-maker, painter. 12 books: 6 on art. President of WAA & AAA & ACCA.