WORLD’S BEST PHOTOGRAPHY / MANIPULATED: RHODES, NATOLI, ASL, LAVENDAR, GONZALES, MENDOZA & BARULINS
Photographers from USA, Iran, Venezuela and Latvia win Category 46 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 have been revealed in the news about a category a day — making this one of the longest winner announcements of any art competition in the world.
Maria’s work can be seen in Poland, Europe, Canada and the United States.
Maria is an artist from Poland who was born with a passion for drawing and painting. In the 70’s, she graduated from the School of the Fine Arts in Wroclaw, Poland, where she studied drawing and painting under Jerzy Wojciech Biniec. After carrier in marketing and visual advertising in Warsaw (Poland 1993–2000) she immigrated to the United States in 2001.
The artist continues her creative work in the US. In 2003 she presented her work at the Polish Festival in The Science & Technology Museum of Atlanta, Georgia. After the success of her first exhibition in the US, Maria continued showing her artwork for a few years at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center, in association with the Chopin Society of Atlanta.
In 2011, Maria moved to New Jersey where she continues her artistic pursuits in the fields of painting and photography. In addition, she promotes Polish-American artists in the Polish Daily News (Nowy Dziennik), the largest Polish-American publishing house. Furthermore, Maria is a frequent author of artistic reviews, articles and serves as an event photographer at exhibitions.
Maria’s work is distinguished for her creative diversity combining drawing, portrait skills and photography. Her artwork is sought after with great interest by art enthusiasts and collectors. According Maria “The world is creative and my consciousness has no limit, so I am emotionally
and energetically related to the source of life, colors, lights and non-predictable human nature. Among these offerings from the world, I search for truth about me in the context of nature and existence. I paint the beauty and music of the world on canvas, and these values complement each other in perfect harmony.”
“I was born in the ancient city of Worcester and I live in a small village called blidworth which is situated about 5 miles outside Mansfield Nottinghamshire. I went to rushcliffe Comprehensive in west Bridgeford Nottingham. My interest in art first started when I was about 6 years old, I used to sit for hours drawing birds and people experimenting with shading and hatching using a selection of pens,pencils and charcoal on scraps of paper and old cereal boxes. As I have grown older my drawings have become more diverse and now include a variety of surreal figures and scenes alike. I have a very vivid and extended imagination, this helps me to create very descriptive pictures time over with dramatic effects. My drawings are often quite Asymmetrical with Geometric focal points and negative spaces some include strange quirky objects and amusing creatures. I want my art to entice the viewer by skillfully arousing the eyes and the imagination to draw them in keeping them focused not only on the main images but towards the smaller hidden images within that make the picture come to life and give it depth.”
CATEGORY 46. MANIPULATED PHOTOGRAPHY — LANDSCAPE OR STLL LIFE
1ST PLACE-TIE GRAHAM EDWARD RHODES USA https://www.artmajeur.com/graham-edward “Irradiated Skies” 16.5x23.4” Metallic paint and photo manipulation on canvas.
1ST PLACE-TIE MARIA NATOLI USA m.natoli53@gmail.com “Leafs Of Summer” 17x11" Photography.
2ND PLACE HADI PANAHI ASL IRAN hadi.panahi.asl88@gmail.com “Inverse White” 30x70" Photography.
3RD PLACE DIAMANTE LAVENDAR USA www.diamante-lavendar.pixels.com “Dusk” 20x12.25" Photography.
4TH PLACE ELIA GONZALES USA elleggphotography@gmail.com “Something Unexpected” Manipulated photography.
5TH PLACE-TIE JORGE MENDOZA VENEZUELA https://www.jorgemendozas.com/ “Reflections In Blue And Gold” 20x30" Manipulated photography.
5TH PLACE-TIE IGORS BARULINS LATVIA www.barulins.art barulini@gmail.com “Blue Tulips” 33x50cm Digital photography.
6TH PLACE ELIA GONZALES USA elleggphotography@gmail.com “Nuke Town” Manipulated photography.
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
