2020’S BEST STILL LIFE IMPRESSIONISTS NAMED BY 25 GALLERIES:

Thom Bierdz
7 min readOct 18, 2020

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ROELOF ROSSOUW, SIWOO CHOI, CHOWON KIM, DAVID GEORGE PEARSON, YANQI ZHAI, CINDY ROESINGER, CHLOE YIM, CARMEN SCHAEFER, XIN XU, LYNNE GUESS, VLADIMIR JARMOLO, RIZHANG HUANG, CAROL BROWN, ELENA PETROVA, LYN ARNOLD

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 South Africa, Republic of Korea, South Korea, USA, China, Lithuania, Russia and Australia.

BIO OF FIRST PLACE WINNER:

ROELOF ROSSOUW

I was born in Benoni, South Africa in 1957. I completed my last three school years at Kimberley Boy’s High. When I was seventeen my art teacher took us on an European Art Tour and I fell in love with Europe and travel. Since 1995 I have visited a foreign country almost every year, mainly England and Europe.

I have painted in Italy, Kiev, France and USA. After three years at Johannesburg Art School I gained a National Diploma in Art and Design (Graphic Design). In April 1982, I started my first and last salary job working for MEDUNSA (Medical University of Southern Africa) as a graphic artist and medical illustrator.

I started painting seriously on a daily basis in 1992 and in 1995 I became a successful full time artist never looking back. A total of 44 solo exhibitions at top galleries in South Africa and one in Cheltenham UK. Numerous group exhibitions in South Africa, London, Cheltenham, Glasgow, Jersey, Galway, Armagh (N. Ireland) Montreal, San Francisco, Miami and New York.

INVICTUS ARTWORK : In 2009 three of my oil paintings of South African landscapes featured as props in Clint Eastwood’s movie ‘’Invictus.’. When Eastwood arrived on the set he decided to buy two of the paintings for his personal collection

AWARDS: First prize for Eric Bolsman Book cover competition.
First, second and third place in the 2014 American Art Awards: Human Impressionism.
First place in the 2019 American Art Awards: Human Impressionism.
First place in the 2020 American Art Awards: Still Life.
2 second place ties in the 2020 American Art Awards: Human Impressionism.

LOCKDOWN INSPIRATION: The lockdown period that started seriously in April caused me to be far more creative, painting scenes that I would never have painted before.

The above painting was inspired by a movie I watched and changed it by removing a figure and replacing it with items on my own desk. I managed to create a sense of 3 dimension. The first space is the office and then there is another dimension of space beyond the dirty glass windows. I don’t know how I achieved that. http://art.co.za/roelofrossouw/

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 23. IMPRESSIONISM — STILL LIFE

1ST PLACE ROELOF ROSSOUW SOUTH AFRICA http://art.co.za/roelofrossouw/ “Abandoned Factory Office” 24x36" Acrylic and oil on canvas.

2ND PLACE-TIE SIWOO CHOI REPUBLIC OF KOREA Ziwoo0512@icloud.com “Old Truck” 27x40cm Pen on paper.

2ND PLACE-TIE CHOWON KIM SOUTH KOREA sharonkim7489@gmail.com
“Dawn In Hunter’s Cabin” 18x20" Charcoal on paper.

2ND PLACE-TIE DAVID GEORGE PEARSON USA davidgpearson@me.com
“Striped Sofa” 18x24” Graphite and Prismacolor pencil on paper.

3RD PLACE-TIE YANQI ZHAI CHINA www.yqzart.com
“Blue Temptation” 30x40cm Oil on canvas.

3RD PLACE-TIE CINDY ROESINGER USA http://www.cindyroesingerfineart.com “Cadence #16” 11x14" Oil on canvas.

4TH PLACE-TIE CHLOE YIM USA Juhyungyim@gmail.com
“A Duck’s Life” 18x24" Watercolor on paper.

4TH PLACE-TIE CARMEN SCHAEFER USA tuckertc@aol.com
“Quarantine Portfolio Absence2” 24x32" Colored pencil and ink on paper.

4TH PLACE-TIE XIN XU CHINA 652537813@qq.com
“Blue And White Porcelain” 38x56cm Watercolor on paper.

5TH PLACE-TIE LYNNE GUESS USA lynneguess@msn.com
“Flying Onions” 18x24" Charcoal on paper.

5TH PLACE-TIE VLADIMIR JARMOLO LITHUANIA https://www.artfinder.com/artist/vladimir-jarmolo/#/
“The Warmth Of Morning” 50x80cm Oil on canvas

5TH PLACE-TIE RIZHANG HUANG CHINA 376704233@qq.com
“Figs №1” 35x53cm Watercolor on paper.

5TH PLACE-TIE CAROL BROWN USA https://www.stuartandbrowngallery.com/ “The Artists Lunch” 16x16" Oil on canvas.

6TH PLACE-TIE ELENA PETROVA RUSSIA http://sunny-art.store
“Orchid” 38x61cm Oil on canvas.

6TH PLACE-TIE LYN ARNOLD AUSTRALIA www.larnoldart.com
“Tea And Peonies” 12x16" Acrylic on canvas board.

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.