2020’S BEST RELIGIOUS / SPIRITUAL PAINTERS NAMED BY 25 GALLERIES:

6 min readNov 2, 2020

YONG ZHANG, ARKADY BABICH, LINDA BESSE, WEI SUN, VERA UTEKHINA, HENDERIKUS “HARRIE” G.A.M. VONK, AVADKA COLEZ, CHAITALI. V. PURUSHOTHAMAN, EDI MATSUMOTO, TANIA VOLOBUEVA

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, Russia, USA, India and Italy.

BIO OF FIRST PLACE WINNER: YONG ZHANG

Born in 1964, Yong Zhang graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts and the Fine Arts School of Capital Normal University in Beijing, China. Starting as a full-time designer, Yong Zhang designed and publicized more than 200 philately works from 1991 to 2001, 8 of which won the Best Philately Design Awards. From then on, his career as a painter officially took off during his first exhibition in the 10th China Art Exposition, with his five exhibited tempera paintings all bought by Galerie du Monde, Hong Kong. He participated in Zhejiang Merchants Autumn Art Auction and Chinese Realistic Oil Painting A&F Auction in 2007 and 2013, with the tempera paintings “Into the Winter” from the Old Times series and “Green” from the Scattered Triviality series, respectively.

Zhang’s hometown Beijing has become the chief inspiration for most of his works. He primarily paints in the realism genre, and his artworks generally express a sense of nostalgia for the lost Beijing Hutong traditional culture. As one of his most significant works, “Demolish!” (Old Times Series №30), the painting depicts a critical realistic scenario with two elderly deep in conversation while standing in front of a half-visible word “Demolish” in Chinese. This painting made its appearance in the 20th New Works Exhibition of China Artists Association, along with “Old Wall Root”. Approximately ten artworks were selected as model paintings published on official textbooks used by universities. In July 2020, his tempera painting “Play Chess” was chosen in the 107th Annual Exhibition held by Allied Artists of America. Later in September, his “Monk in Red”, tempera on wood board, won 1st place in the 2020 American Art Awards.

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 38. RELIGIOUS OR SPIRITUAL

1ST PLACE YONG ZHANG CHINA romedawn@163.com
“Monk In Red” 100x80cm Tempera on wood board.

2ND PLACE-TIE ARKADY BABICH RUSSIA babich-design@yandex.ru
“Silence Of The Warrior” 150x80cm Oil on canvas.

2ND PLACE-TIE ARKADY BABICH RUSSIA babich-design@yandex.ru
“Russian Samsara” 60x80cm Acrylic on canvas.

2ND PLACE-TIE LINDA BESSE USA www.besseart.com
“Introduction to Fine Art” 15x13.75" Oil on panel.

3RD PLACE WEI SUN CHINA w_sun@hotmail.com Oil on linen.
“The Buddhist Scripture Printing Workshop In Tibet” 116X146cm

4TH PLACE VERA UTEKHINA RUSSIA http://verautekhina.bravesites.com/ “Happiness Of The Two” 90x70cm Oil on canvas.

5TH PLACE-TIE ARKADY BABICH RUSSIA babich-design@yandex.ru
“Raven Knows” 90x80cm Acrylic on canvas.

5TH PLACE-TIE HENDERIKUS “HARRIE” G.A.M. VONK USA www.facebook.com/TheHarrieArt/ “Sacred Heart Church” 14x11" Colored pencil.

5TH PLACE-TIE AVADKA COLEZ USA www.colesbrightcolors.com
“Heaven” 49x40" Acrylic on upholstery.

6TH PLACE-TIE CHAITALI. V. PURUSHOTHAMAN INDIA cv.artist.painter@gmail.com “Higher Consciousness — Turiya Avastha” 55x70" Acrylic, & painted frame.

6TH PLACE-TIE EDI MATSUMOTO USA https://www.edimatsumoto.com “White Tara” 48x30" Oil on canvas.

6TH PLACE-TIE TANIA VOLOBUEVA ITALY www.taniavolobueva.ru “The Goddess Athena Turns Her Spear Into An Olive Tree” 100x150cm Oil on canvas, silver and gold leaf.

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/