2020’S BEST PORTRAIT ARTISTS NAMED BY 25 GALLERIES:

6 min readOct 27, 2020

TUO YU, FRANCESCO IPSAN, EKATERINA KOVZUS, LINDA IRWIN, GRACE NETANYA, JIAMING WANG, ELENA LEONTEVA, CHER PRUYS, LINDA STEELE, LINDA LOWERY, CINDY KOPENHAFER, MAOQUAN ZENG

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 China, Italy, Belarus, Canada, USA and Russia.

BIO OF FIRST PLACE WINNER: TUO YU

姓名，于拓。辽宁沈阳人，出生1983年5月。美国肖像画协会会员，西班牙画家雕塑家协会会员。擅长人物超限写实油画。 /毕业于东北大学艺术学院艺术系。获得学士学位。/鲁迅美术学院大型绘画研究生班，油画专业第四工作室。获硕士学位。/ 沈阳支点艺术中心主理人。沈阳建筑大学艺术学院，大学教师。/油画作品，在校期间留校收藏。作品参加深圳艺博会参展。2017年参加“鲁艺精神 ”小幅油画展作品参展.2018油画作品在深圳太阳山艺术中心展出，2018 作品《扇》入选辽宁青年艺术家联合展。2019 作品《白毛衣女孩》入选西班牙国际具象大奖赛展览并获得西班牙美术馆收藏邀请. 2019年作品《凝望》入选美国艺术家杂志大奖赛. 2019作品《凝望》被中国邮政发行限量版邮票 . 2019年10月获得西班牙画家雕塑家协会主席纪念奖.2019年作品《老人》参加大连写实油画三人展. 多幅作品被私人收藏. 2020年油画作品《穿绿花衣服的女孩》入选西班牙莎拉哥萨具象展 — 你最好的作品。

Yu Tuo, born in May, 1983, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, P.R. China. Member of US Portraiture Association and Spain Painters & Sculptors Association, specializing in transfinite realistic painting on characters. He graduated from art academy of Northeast University in China for bachelor degree on art, graduated from workroom 4# for painting major of Luxun Academy of Fine Art for master degree. Director of Fulcrum Art Center in Shenyang, lecturer of art academy of Shenyang Architectural University. Some of his artworks during his academic years are collected by his universities. His works were exhibited in Shenzhen Art Exhibition, Luyi Painting Exhibition in 2017, Shenzhen Sun Hill Art Center in 2018. The work Fan was selected in Liaoning Young Artists Exhibition in 2018. The work The Girl in White Sweater was selected Spain International Figural Art Exhibition and was invited for collection by Spain Art Museum. His 2019’s work Staring was selected by the Grand Prix of American Artist Magazine and was published as limited edition post stamp by China Post. He won Memorial Award of Spain Painters & Sculptors Association Chairman in Oct 2019. The work The Old was displayed in Dalian Realistic Oil Painting Exhibition in 2019. Many of his works have been kept as personal collections. His 2020 oil painting work The Girl in Green Flowered Dress was selected by Zaragoza Figural Art Exhibition in Spain in 2020 as the theme Your Best Work.

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 32. PORTRAIT OF SOMEONE NOT FAMOUS

1ST PLACE-TIE TUO YU CHINA yutuo111777@qq.com
“Grandma” 40x60cm Oil on linen.

1ST PLACE-TIE FRANCESCO IPSAN ITALY https://www.instagram.com/ipsan.francesco/ “Sara” 30x45cm Pastel on paper.

2ND PLACE-TIE EKATERINA KOVZUS BELARUS www.behance.net/ekaterina_kovzus “Beauty In People Around Us. Portrait Of A Groupmate” 40x40cm Oil on grounded paper.

2ND PLACE-TIE & MASTERPIECE LINDA IRWIN CANADA www.calgarysketchclub.com/artists/irwin/index.htm “Bedouin Elder” 14x18" Acrylic on birch board.

3RD PLACE-TIE GRACE NETANYA USA http://gracenetanya.com/
“The Secret Garden” 35.50x28cm Colored pencil on Bristol board.

3RD PLACE-TIE JIAMING WANG USA https://www.artrenewal.org/artists/jiaming-wang/7515
“Tibetan Herder” 32x24" Tempera on board.

4TH PLACE-TIE ELENA LEONTEVA RUSSIA https://www.instagram.com/elena_leonteva_artist/?r=nametag
“Indian” 100х80cm Oil and canvas.

4TH PLACE-TIE CHER PRUYS CANADA www.artbycher.ca
“Catching Snowflakes” 10x12” Acrylic on paper.

5TH PLACE-TIE LINDA STEELE USA www.steeleoriginals.faso.com “Sebastian” 11x14" Acrylic metallic glaze over fluid metallic acrylic on canvas.

5TH PLACE-TIE LINDA LOWERY USA www.LindaLoweryArtist.com “See Me” 24x36” Encaustic on panel.

6TH PLACE-TIE CINDY KOPENHAFER USA www.cindykopenhafer
“Tyler II” 24x17" Graphite on Bristol board.

6TH PLACE-TIE MAOQUAN ZENG CHINA 2532617508@qq.com
“The Little Boy Of Langmu Temple” 80x60cm Oil on linen.

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/