World’s Best Pastel Artists Named By America’s 25 Best Galleries: BROGI, IPSAN, ZHAO, MICALETTO, PEI, CHIN, WINTERS, CHANG, VARSAMOUDIS, DRAYO & RACHINGER/ 2021 AMERICAN ART AWARDS

7 min readSep 29, 2021

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.

America’s 25 Best Galleries scored almost 2,000 works in 50 categories from 64 countries.

Winners in this category are from ITALY, CANADA, CHINA, TAIWAN, USA, GREECE, FRANCE & GERMANY

BIO OF 1ST PLACE ARTIST FRANCESCO IPSAN : I am an artist and teacher with a focus on painting representative realism. I was born as a photographer of whom I still have a real passion. I teach drawing and painting in an artistic association in Rome, called La vigna. The great love for art, painting studies and intense practice especially with pastels, was necessary to reach high levels of knowledge and awareness of the pastel painting. I ‘ve participated in many different art competitions and got awards especially for portraits of women.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010388468895

BIO OF 1ST PLACE ARTIST: Ronnie Brogi was born on January 29, 1979 in a small town in central Tuscany called Ponte a Poppi, three steps from Florence.

“From an early age, art, in particular the works of the great masters of the Renaissance enchanted my eyes, leaving me not indifferent to their splendor … I approached painting only after many years, work and life do not allowed .. the call, however, was too strong and I gave in .. I paint at night where, astride the notes of my i pod, I create the melancholy necessary to grasp the inspiration .. I have no teachers, I am totally self-taught..I go instinctively kidnapped by something that drags me into limbo where, without an explanation and a reason, I am in turn a master..I chose portraits focusing on the gaze because I really believe that looking at them describe a soul in its every nuance.

“I tend to a realistic, hyper-realistic style where I love to alternate the marked strokes of the pastel with the more subtle ones of the pencils, I love to make them embrace in a concert of colors that give as a result an emotion that is born clean from the heart … what to say … art and lucky in the air is whoever grabs it and gives it away…”

Ronnie has participated in various exhibitions and competitions:

Pro biennale di venezia 2019, 2020 organized and presented by Vittorio Sgarbi. He won the Canaletto prize organized by spoleto arte in Venice 2019.
Won the Modigliani and Caravaggio awards respectively held in Spoleto and the island of Malta 2019. Won the critics’ award at the Lazio biennial 2019.
He has been awarded various prizes including: Salvador d’Ali award, city of Matera award, world art ambassador award, etc..

He organized a solo show at the Castello di Poppi, and a group show “from impressionism to hyperrealism, always at the Castello dei Conti Guidi di Poppi ..

The professor. Vittorio Sgarbi dedicated a personal criticism to him praising his art. The sociologist Francesco Alberoni wrote about him extolling his artistic skills.

Ronnie works on commission .. He expresses himself mainly on portraits .. His portraits are abroad and in the possession of collectors.

For contacts …
Ronniebr79@gmail.com
.

ARTIST CONTACTS FOR ART COLLECTORS:

Category 5. PASTELS/COLORED PENCIL — HUMAN FIGURE

1st Place-Tie RONNIE BROGI ITALY ronniebr79@gmail.com
“Giulio” 50x70cm Dry pastels on cardboard.

1st Place-Tie FRANCESCO IPSAN ITALY francesco.ipsan@gmail.com
“Blue Turban” 25.5x19.6" Soft pastel.

2nd Place-Tie CLARE ZHAO CANADA Www.Instagram.com/qq.clare “Guardians” 12x16” Pastel on pastelmat.

2nd Place-Tie MONIA MICALETTO ITALY Monia.micaletto@hotmail.it
“Innocenza” 28x40cm Softpastel on pastelmat.

3rd Place FANGBANG PEI CHINA 1429941749@qq.com
“Eagles On Icebergs” 76x56cm Soft pastel on paper.

4th Place-Tie LU YA CHIN TAIWAN artmamalulu@gmail.com
“Teacher-Student Relationship” 39x54cm Pastels.

4th Place-Tie MONIA MICALETTO ITALY Monia.micaletto@hotmail.it
“La Speranza” 50x70cm Softpastel on pastelmat.

5th Place-Tie VERONICA WINTERS USA https://veronicasart.com “Celestial Night” 16x20” Colored pencils & markers on wood board.

5th Place-Tie YU-LI CHANG TAIWAN https://artgo.info
“Butterfly And Ella" 54x39cm Pastel.

6th Place-Tie GIANNIS VARSAMOUDIS GREECE www.jovarsam@yahoo.gr 30x40cm myartjohn.blogspot.com “Beautiful Smile” Pastels, inspired by: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/d8/a3/6c/d8a36c057f60805ea87608f79fe4f7d8.jpg

6th Place-Tie DRAYO FRANCE www.drayo.fr drayo@gmx.fr
“Portrait of Georges Brassens” 70x70cm Dry pastel on pastelmat paper.

6th Place-Tie ALENA RACHINGER GERMANY http://www.alenarachinger.de “Anna” 39x29cm Pastel on velour paper.

Click below to see the relaxing hour-long movie revealing 2021’s hundreds of winning artworks:

Artworks from 59 countries won among the 50 categories: paintings, drawings, photography, digital and sculpture. (Americans won more because Americans entered more since the competition is better known here.)

Number of winners per country: Argentina 1, Australia 12, Belarus 2, Belgium 2, Brazil 3, Bulgaria 2, Canada 30, China 85, Croatia 2, Cyprus 1, Denmark 2, England 2, Finland 1, France 7, Georgia 3, Germany 18, Ghana 1, Greece 3, Hungary 2, Japan 1, India 10, Iran 1, Ireland 1, Israel 1, Italy 14, Kazakhstan 1, Kuwait 2, Latvia 6, Lithuania 27, Macedonia 5, Malaysia 2, Mexico 2, Moldova 1, Morocco 1, Netherlands 3, New Zealand 1, Nigeria 8, Norway 1, Oman 1, Pakistan 1, Philippines 5, Poland 8, Republic Of Korea 12, Romania 2, Russia 45, Serbia 1, South Africa 8, Spain 11, Sweden 3, Taiwan 7, Thailand 1, Turkey 3, Uganda 1, UK 10, Ukraine 5, USA 264, Uzbekistan 1, Zambia 1, Zimbabwe 2.