WORLD’S BEST ANIMAL REALISTS: DUROCHER, HOEP, LEE, SERSTINSKAJA, SPAINK & BRUZGULIENE
Animal realism painters from Netherlands, Canada, Malaysia, Lithuania and UK get highest scores in Category 33 of the 2018 AMERICAN ART AWARDS.
This year the American Art Awards (www.AmericanArtAwards.com), juried by the 25 Best Galleries & Museums In America (listed below), had online art images in 50 categories submitted from artists in 59 countries: Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, El Salvador, England, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Great Britain, Greece, Haiti, Iceland, India, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Serbia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, UK, Ukraine, USA, Venezuela.
The 1st Place to 6th Place winners in all 50 categories will be revealed in the news about a category a day — stretching into November, making this one of the longest winner announcements of any art competition in the world.
Nanda Hoep is a self-taught artist from Holland (The Netherlands) and started her painting career many years ago as a portraitist, starting with pastels, after which the switch soon followed to oil paint.
At that time she already had a lot of technical knowledge of oil paint because she worked as an analyst at a laboratory of a paint factory. She worked for many years on commission, besides her daily full-time job. During a long journey through South Africa, she experienced the tension between the wild animals and the people, who live there together. But she was also impressed by the majestic appearance of the animals in their own habitat, which is essentially different from the same species in zoos in Europe. This was the start of a first attempt to capture this appearance in oil portraits, and now, a few years later, she can certainly call herself a “wildlife-painter”.
In the meantime she has exhibited in her own country and abroad, and her paintings find their way all around the world from Europe, Australia, to the USA. Occasionally she also works on commission by painting pets, and the winning painting is “Binky”, the wannabe-chihuahua of her daughter, which she made for her as a wedding gift.
Chantal P. Durocher, a Canadian professional artist for 35 years, studied at the College of Old Montreal and Mission renaissance Fine Art Institute in Montreal.
In 2009, She moved to central America. She has set up her studio in Panama, where she currently lives with her husband and 12 rescued dogs.
Forever an animal lover, a few years ago, after reading and doing some research, Chantal decided to use her talent to raise awareness on the plight of today’s farm animals, by painting the beauty and vulnerability of those beautiful and sensitive beings on oversized canvas. She paints animals we exploit, in a way we cannot walk away from them. They are fully there, fully conscious, fully aware. Chantal P. Durocher’s dearest wish is “May all beings be well, free and happy”.
CATEGORY 33. REALISM — ANIMAL
1ST PLACE-TIE NANDA HOEP THE NETHERLANDS www.nandahoep.nl “Binky” 40x50" Oil on canvas.
1ST PLACE-TIE CHANTAL POULIN DUROCHER CANADA www.chantalpoulindurocher.com “I Am Not A McNugget” 60x72" Charcoal on linen canvas.
2ND PLACE MONICA LEE MALAYSIA https://www.facebook.com/monicaleeart “Cloudy” 78.7x54.3cm Graphite on paper.
3RD PLACE-TIE DANGUOLE SERSTINSKAJA LITHUANIA www.petdrawings.net “Lion” 17x12" Oil on paper.
3RD PLACE-TIE TALITHA SPAINK THE NETHERLANDS www.artbytalitha.com “Split Decision” 12x16" Panpastel on Clairefontaine Dessin à Grain paper.
4TH PLACE-TIE CHANTAL POULIN DUROCHER CANADA www.chantalpoulindurocher.com “Please Don’t Ham Me” 60x72" Oil and pastel on linen.
4TH PLACE-TIE DANGUOLE SERSTINSKAJA LITHUANIA www.petdrawings.net “Lemurs” 17x12" Oil on paper.
4TH PLACE-TIE DEIMANTE BRUZGULIENE UK db@polypostal.co.uk “Cat” 9.5x13' Oil painting on paper.
5TH PLACE-TIE MONICA LEE MALAYSIA https://www.facebook.com/monicaleeart “The Playful Bunch” 45x55" Graphite and charcoal on paper.
5TH PLACE-TIE CHANTAL POULIN DUROCHER CANADA www.chantalpoulindurocher.com “Miss My Mom” 60x84" Oil and pastel on linen canvas.
6TH PLACE-TIE DANGUOLE SERSTINSKAJA LITHUANIA www.petdrawings.net “Fluffy Gemstone” 28x20" Pastel on pastel mat.
6TH PLACE-TIE DANGUOLE SERSTINSKAJA LITHUANIA www.petdrawings.net “Gizma” 13x19" Oil on paper.
This year’s 25 Best Galleries & Museums asked to vote on art were:
BEST IN ALABAMA — ALABAMA CONTEMPORARY ART CENTER
BEST IN ARKANSAS — FORT SMITH REGIONAL ART MUSEUM
BEST IN CALIFORNIA — REVOLVER GALLERY
BEST IN COLORADO — COLORADO FINE ARTS CENTER AT COLORADO COLLEGE
BEST IN FLORIDA — LIK FINE ART MIAMI + LIK FINE ART KEY WEST
BEST IN ILLINOIS — TRICKSTER ART GALLERY
BEST IN KANSAS — BIRGER SANDZEN MEMORIAL GALLERY
BEST IN KENTUCKY — E&S GALLERY
BEST IN LOUISIANA — NEWCOMB ART MUSEUM
BEST IN MASSACHUSETTS — BOSTON SCULPTORS GALLERY
BEST IN MISSISSIPPI — THE OHR-O’KEEFE MUSEUM OF ART
BEST IN MISSOURI — UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI MUSEUM OF ART AND ARCHEOLOGY
BEST IN NEBRASKA — KIECHEL FINE ART
BEST IN NEVADA — THE METROPOLITAN GALLERY OF LAS VEGAS ART MUSEUM
BEST IN OHIO — LEE HAYDEN GALLERY
BEST IN OKLAHOMA — JOSEPH GIEREK FINE ART
BEST IN OREGON — JORDAN SCHNITZER MUSEUM of ART
BEST IN PENNSYLVANIA — JAMES A. MICHENER ART MUSEUM
BEST IN SOUTH CAROLINA — MARY MARTIN GALLERY OF FINE ART
BEST IN SOUTH DAKOTA — SOUTH DAKOTA ART MUSEUM
BEST IN TEXAS — ART ON 5TH
BEST IN UTAH — THE LEONARDO
BEST IN WASHINGTON — MARYHILL MUSEUM OF ART
BEST IN WEST VIRGINIA — WEST VIRGINIA STATE MUSEUM
BEST IN WISCONSIN — MUSEUM OF WISCONSIN ART
Enter art at www.AmericanArtAwards.com
