World’s Best Contemporary Artists: Bajer, Bunjaku, Dias, Feng, Lacrymal, Yi, Yifan / 2024 AMERICAN ART AWARDS Winners

Thom Bierdz
8 min readNov 7, 2024

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Artists from 64 countries competed in the 2024 AMERICAN ART AWARDS where 20 of the most revered galleries in the USA were sent online images to score in drawing, painting, sculpture, digital and photography. The 300+ winning works, 1st to 6th Place (and ties) in all 50 categories, are being featured in 75 articles and an upcoming movie.

See all winning images:

Art collectors can see the hundreds of winning artworks and corresponding contact info to the best contemporary artists in the world here: https://americanartawards.com/2024-winning-artists-american-art-awards/

Here is more info on some stand-out artists (in alphabetical order):

Marietta Bajer:

Marietta Bajer

Born in Kraków, Poland, Marietta was introduced to art at a young age by her grandfather; an art historian and poet. Marietta graduated from OHSU School of Dentistry in 1984, served as a dental officer in the U.S. Navy, raised two daughters, retired from her 34 year dentistry career and was finally able to fully immerse herself into creating unique pieces of art.

Her attention to detail, play of light, and ability to capture the essence of her subjects is extraordinary. Imagination and the love of creativity give birth to infinite possibilities and endless one-of-a-kind artistic endeavors. Her ability to grow in her style, pour her soul into every art piece, and take on the most difficult and time consuming projects without fear, show her labor of love and passion.

Web site: www.mariettasart.com

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DCAKmQHhH4n/?igsh=MW43OGU0Y2pzNGZjbA==

Melinda Bunjaku:

Melinda Bunjaku

I was born 1 May 1990 and raised in Sweden in Malmö city, but I’m originally from Kosovo Prishtina. When I was 13 years old I started drawing, a teacher noticed this and showed the pictures to her mother who was an artist. She had told the girl that it is a gift and a talent she has. I have never gone to art school but I’m self-taught, I consider my art as the freedom of art and see art as a development. In my paintings I often have a message behind it. I’m not the one who is afraid to express my feelings through my art.

The painting “The Flame” is a remarkable painting. It has a variety of different colors such as orange yellow green black, it’s about a woman that is on fire but not consumed by the fire. The painting represents a part of me, a part that wants to be free, wants to live. I get this passion inside of me, a burning passion That Never Ends so what I feel on the inside can now be shown to the world. That woman is me, a woman that is set on fire but not consumed by the Fire, the holy fire of God.

This came as an inspiration of when Jesus resurrected and breathed into his disciples and they received the fire of the holy spirit.

Anne Dias:

Anne Dias

is an American painter born in 1985 in Cleveland, Ohio. A 2015 graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she participated in several group exhibitions following her graduation.

Anne Dias’ work depicts the search for a neutrality. Her paintings are not intended to denounce anything; rather, they show the world objectively, making bodies and spaces simple objects held together by a complexity internal to the painting. The works are often small or medium-sized, painted in oil, demonstrating a technique that is remarkable for its rigor and photographic realism. However, the subtlety of the work appears as soon as the eye gets closer to the canvas, while the materiality of the painting asserts itself through a cleverly orchestrated play of layers and thicknesses.

The artist’s work is composed of photographic research within European and American rural areas. At first, Anne Dias tries to retranscribe the experiences and the impressions which result from the landscapes but especially from the meetings which she makes on the ground. The photographs are thus enhanced with notes and descriptive texts. There follows a work of workshop in which, finally, the artist comes requalify in the pictorial field, its meetings and exchanges.

Kexin Feng:

Kexin Feng

is an expressionistic figurative painter whose work explores the depths of human emotion and experience. Through bold forms and unusual application of color with tools that aren’t the classical brushes, she creates paintings that are emotionally honest. Her experience close to the Mara Conservation Reserve in Africa has brought a deep imprint in her as an artist as well as an individual, proving the importance of art as a way to digest the world and contribute to small changes. She has strong enthusiasm and a deep thinking on how art can be a universal language and create common lands between east and west, allowing new conversations to be created and thus enriching the contemporary art scene with its many challenges. Her works explore a re-interpretation of Chinese traditions in painting offering though a contemporary voice in figurative art.

https://www.instagram.com/kexinfengclaire?igsh=YTI2MHY4YW9hYnh6&utm_source=qr

Lacrymal (Jimmy)

Lacrymal (Jimmy)

was born in 1990 in Aubervilliers. It is there that he begins his practice in self-taught, painting on the walls of his city of the characters which he mixes with collages assembled with the assistance of software and which he makes print. His works appear as a tension between two typologies of forms and lines.

It is in 2018 that Jimmy appropriated the pseudonym Lacrymal for the realization of his paintings, which here refers to the gland that writes tears. There is a lot of humor in his compositions, which reinterpret works of great masters or works of modern popular culture, such as musicians, actors or other visual artists of the modernity.

Since he has been creating his works on canvas in his studio, he has exhibited in many places in France as well as in Spain and Switzerland.

Catherine Yi:

Catherine Yi

is an 8th-grade student at Tenafly Middle School in New Jersey. “My art journey hasn’t been long — it probably started around the fall of 7th grade. However, I have already been recognized for my talent in many competitions. I am excited to see where my art journey takes me in the future.” yi2022usa@gmail.com

Zhu Yifan:

Zhu Yifan

From China, a junior student in the Experimental Class of Architecture and Planning at Nanjing University, has loved painting since childhood and has participated in and won numerous painting competitions. 1271067886@QQ.com

In 2024, AMERICAN ART AWARDS had submissions from these 64 countries: Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, China, Congo Democratic Republic, Cyprus, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea (Republic, South), Lebanon, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Macedonia, Norway, Pakistan, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tobago, Togo, Trinidad, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Vietnam, USA, Zambia.

American Art Awards 20 Best Galleries & Museums for 2024 (in alphabetical order by state) asked to score art:

BEST IN ARIZONA: Exposures International Gallery Of Fine Art

BEST IN COLORADO: Mirada Fine Art

BEST IN CONNECTICUT: Fairfield University Art Museum (FUAM)

BEST IN FLORIDA: MAC Art Galleries

BEST IN IDAHO: Capitol Contemporary Gallery

BEST IN ILLINOIS: Jackson Junge Gallery

BEST IN INDIANA: Kuaba Gallery

BEST IN KANSAS: 2010 Gallery

BEST IN LOUISIANA: GRYDER

BEST IN MINNESOTA: Kolman & Reeb Gallery

BEST IN MISSOURI: The Museum of Art and Archaeology

BEST IN NEW HAMPSHIRE: Candita Clayton Gallery

BEST IN NEW JERSEY: Evalyn Dunn Gallery

BEST IN NEW MEXICO: Thornwood Gallery

BEST IN NORTH CAROLINA: Ambleside Gallery

BEST IN PENNSYLVANIA: Morton Contemporary Art Gallery

BEST IN SOUTH CAROLINA: Mary Martin Galleries Of Fine Art

BEST IN UTAH: Modern West

BEST IN VERMONT: The Current

BEST IN WASHINGTON: ArtX Contemporary

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Thom Bierdz
Thom Bierdz

Written by 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.

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