World’s Best Portrait Painters Named By America’s 25 Best Galleries:
WALDECK, VODESIL-BARUFFI, GHETIU, GAMAN, HOSKINS, EISENBRAUN, IRWIN, DAVIS, BECHTOLSHEIM, PARK, KOPENHAFER, WALKER, NHANANGA, PRUYS, YANG & ECHEIN/ 2021 AMERICAN ART AWARDS
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 Best Galleries & Museums scored almost 2,000 works in 50 categories from 64 countries.
Winners in Category 32 are from LITHUANIA, SOUTH AFRICA, AUSTRALIA, RUSSIA, USA, CANADA, ZIMBABWE & CHINA.
BIO OF 1ST PLACE WINNER: RON WALDECK
Detailed realism is the name of his game, being self-taught, he has developed a unique style of his own, that is unmistakable. Producing a consistently high standard is very important to him and all his paintings must meet these personal criteria, or they are simply rejected and not offered for sale.
Ron has been painting for the past 40 years so he has matured in his chosen field and the mediums of his choice, acrylic being the one, and then a combination of watercolour and gouache, the other.
Now resident in the Cape for the past 14 years, the sea and all its aspects have had an influence on his attitude and a more recent innovation is the painting of boats, harbours, wine estates, and landscapes of this beautiful area of South Africa. www.ronwaldeck.com
BIO OF 1ST PLACE WINNER: Jana is a WA-based fine artist an art educator grown up and schooled in the best traditions of Europe. Her realistic portraits, landscapes and fantastic realism works have won prestigious state and national competitions and sell both nationally and abroad. Jana had countless solo and group exhibitions, list of them can be find on www.janavodesil.com.
Her work can be divided into two categories: Portraits and Landscapes (paintings from my extensive travels).
Jana loves painting portraits, be it traditional or in Fantastic realism style.
The desire to look deeper into the soul of a person and express what she sees is irresistible. An intimate love of nature and the human body, their shapes and colours helps her to lead you into a world of fantasy — controlled illusion, charged with emotions, which seems almost believable.
Painting landscapes gives her a needed respite from other works. These realistic and impressionistic works from my travels shows the beautiful world we live in.
Jana is a founding member of the Contemporary Australian Surrealists Movement in WA as well as a member of WA portrait artists.
“Art gives me an opportunity to express feelings, ideas and values without speaking.”
BIO OF 1ST PLACE WINNER: SERGHEI GHETIU — Art for me is primarily emotions, which I get in the process of work. As far as I remember myself back in my early childhood, I loved to visualize my feelings and moods that is why I paint everything without selecting one direction, since there are many things in this world that I want to capture in my paintings, whether people, nature or still lives. My love of detail does not complicate this perception at all, and my many years of experience in painting allow me to work quickly, without much searching, to solve the tasks in the painting. My paintings reflect my state of mind and emotions that is why they are so bright and saturated with detail. Serghei Ghetiu | Saatchi Art
ARTIST CONTACTS FOR ART COLLECTORS:
Category 32. PORTRAIT OF SOMEONE NOT FAMOUS
1st Place-Tie SERGHEI GHETIU LITHUANIA https://www.saatchiart.com/all?query=serghei%20ghetiu
“The Birdman Mime” 75x60cm Oil on canvas.
1st Place-Tie RON WALDECK SOUTH AFRICA www.ronwaldeck.com “852 A Vanishing Race Bushman Woman” 60x80cm Acrylic on gesso board.
1st Place-Tie JANA VODESIL-BARUFFI AUSTRALIA www.janavodesil.com “Matt Ottley” 150x122cm Oil on canvas.
2nd Place-Tie VIKTORIA GAMAN RUSSIA www.instagram.com/viktoriagam_art/ “Lovers In Tango” 65x50cm Pastel on pastel paper.
2nd Place-Tie SAMUEL HOSKINS USA www.samuelhoskins.com “Portrait Of A Broken Heart” 22x28" Charcoal and white chalk on paper.
3rd Place-Tie KRISTEN EISENBRAUN USA https://www.kristeneisenbraun.com/ “The Yuma Biker” 20x16" Oil on linen.
3rd Place-Tie LINDA IRWIN CANADA lindairwinart.calgaryab@gmail.com
“Little Miss Fashionista” 11x14" Acrylic on board.
4th Place-Tie SALLY DAVIS AUSTRALIA davis_sally@rocketmail.com
“Ella And A Butterfly” 20"X 30" Oil on linen.
4th Place-Tie ANOUSCHKA BECHTOLSHEIM USA https://artbyanouschka.com/ “Reaching For You” 40x30" Oil.
5th Place-Tie ASHLEY PARK USA ashleypark924@gmail.com
“The Hand We’re Dealt” 18x24" Acrylic on board.
5th Place-Tie CINDY KOPENHAFER USA www.cindykopenhafer.com “Party’s Over” 18x13” Graphite with pastel.
5th Place-Tie KERRY WALKER USA kerbear6713@gmail.com
“Not Willie” 14X17" Graphite pencil on Bristol paper.
6th Place-Tie TAKUDZWA ALLAN NHANANGA ZIMBABWE allanartworld@gmail.com “My Mother” 90x65cm Acrylic on canvas.
6th Place-Tie CHER PRUYS CANADA www.artbycher.ca “Unforgettable” 13x15” Acrylic on paper.
6th Place-Tie HUIMING YANG CHINA 1647242150@qq.com
“Girl In The Village” 115x82cm Oil on linen.
6th Place-Tie MAKSIM ECHEIN RUSSIA
https://instagram.com/maksechein?igshid=77zxzf5levf
“Nastya” 40х30cm Oil on canvas.
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.
ART COLLECTORS: all winning images and corresponding contact info of all the artists will soon be uploaded to this page:
This year’s 25 Best Galleries & Museums asked to vote on art were:
BEST IN ARIZONA: Exposures International Gallery of Fine Art
BEST IN CALIFORNIA: Revolver Gallery
BEST IN COLORADO: Mirada Fine Art
BEST IN FLORIDA: Art Fusion Galleries
BEST IN HAWAII: Sunshine Arts
BEST IN ILLINOIS: Trickster Cultural Center
BEST IN IOWA: Moberg Gallery
BEST IN KANSAS: Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery
BEST IN KENTUCKY: E&S Gallery
BEST IN LOUISIANA: Jonathan Ferrara Gallery
BEST IN MASSACHUSETTS: Boston Sculptors Gallery
BEST IN MISSOURI: Hilliard Gallery
BEST IN MONTANA: Dana Gallery
BEST IN NEBRASKA: Kiechel Fine Art
BEST IN NEVADA: Metropolitan Gallery Las Vegas Art Museum
BEST IN NEW JERSEY: Evalyn Dunn Gallery
BEST IN NEW YORK: LIK SOHO
BEST IN NEW MEXICO: GF Contemporary
BEST IN NORTH CAROLINA: The Arts Council of Fayetteville| Cumberland County
BEST IN SOUTH CAROLINA: Mary Martin Galleries Of Fine Art
BEST IN SOUTH DAKOTA: South Dakota Art Museum
BEST IN TENNESSEE: Stanford Fine Art
BEST IN TEXAS: Ao5
BEST IN WASHINGTON: Maryhill Museum of Art
BEST IN WEST VIRGINIA: Parkersburg Art Center
