The Artist Space Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of the second Animals Art Exhibition. Along with the selected artists, the jury selected award winners in the following art categories: painting, photography, and sculpture. The show displayed a variety of artistic styles and mediums: oil on canvas, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, gouache, ink tint, photography, digital, porcelain, bronze. Out of all submissions received 66 artworks were selected to be included in the exhibition.
Best of Show
Jason Shih
Short Biography and Statement
Jason Shih was born in 1971 in Lukang Town, Changhua County, Taiwan, where traditional craftsmen are active. He has been interested in folk crafts, temple architecture, wood and stone carvings since childhood. From elementary school to high school, he attended a special art education class for 10 years in Taipei City. In 1993, he began to specialize in metal sculpture when he was a sophomore in the Fine Arts Department of Taipei National University of the Arts. In 2001, Jason SHIH graduated from School for American Crafts, Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, USA, and majored in Metal Sculpture. And then, he served as the famous American metal sculptor Albert Paley's assistant, involved in metal crafts and large-scale public art work practices. Furthermore, he earned his Art Ph. D. from China Academy of Art, China (2015). Now, Jason lives in Taoyuan City, Taiwan, and consistently engages in the both areas of sculpture and public art. Jason Shih's abstract sculptures adopt a simplified aesthetic that uses simplicity to control complexity. Jason Shih is good at translating the aesthetic insights in daily life into profound and timeless elements, gathering pure energy in concise and concise words. His creations start from the delicate humanistic thinking of oriental sentiments and invoke the bright expression techniques of contemporary visual art in form and color. The characteristics of the work are simplicity yet grandeur, attention to detail and full of dramatic tension. In a lively and creative modern style, it elaborates on contemporary humanities. As a professional sculptor, Jason likes to experience the taste of life with perceptual observation in the subtle moments, and also likes the ever-changing situation of game shapes in the poetic imaginary space. For Jason, art creation is to share various moods and stories in daily life.
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Painting Prize
Cher Pruys
Short Biography and Statement
Cher Pruys, ASAA SCA, IGOR, AAPL, CSAA, AMS, LMS, OSA, MAA, CFA, NOAPS, PSOA, AWA., AAOA. I am a self taught artists working in water based medium, mainly acrylic, but also at times gouache and water-colour. I am a hyperrealism painter fascinated by the world around me. I am very drawn to shiny surfaces as well as transparent objects, especially when the lighting brings them to life. I look for beauty in everyday objects that most people take for granted or just don’t truly see them as they are. The seemingly boring and mundane subjects can truly be like magnets if portrayed in the right light. Shiny metal is one of those materials that can host endless visions….the light hits it and the reflections are captured on the smooth, sleek surface…people and animals especially the eyes...an artists dream! My future art plans are to paint the countless subjects I have chosen to become paintings and to share my art with as many people as I can. "To take my inner visions with my hands and create a work of art for you the viewer .... That is the ultimate in self expression."
Sculpture Prize
Daniel Baharier
Short Biography and Statement
danielbaharier-artandsculturesite.com
1992 with the unveiling of Israel’s largest sculpture grouping in Rishon le Zion, consisting of 24 figures ranging from 2.5 to 3.5 meters in height. Baharier’s works grace the Sculpture Park at the Wingate Institute, Israel's national sports center, where several of his sculptures, ranging from 2.5 to 4.5 meters in height, have found a home. A selection of his smaller sculptures was on display at the park for over two decades. twice life-sized portrait of Michael "Misha" Kogan, the founder of Taito Corporations, for their Head Office in Tokyo. Tel Aviv Museum of Art, where he has exhibited his works. His talent was further acknowledged when his artwork was chosen to represent his country at the World Jewish Ice Hockey Championship. , Baharier’s s sculptures adorn private collections worldwide, notably in France, Australia, the USA, and Japan .Mediums I work in are the [plastic of the sculpture lexicon microcrystalline wax for maquettes which is like working with room temperature bronze the material is so alive and needs no preplanned metal armature and can be moulded in the hand and turned around and around seeing your visualization from all possible angles and views as you broadcast the image from your mind to your hands to form the wax in 3D. From here I go to natural clay or plaster I am at home in both are rich in possibilities in creating textures of different hardness and softness according to how you pack the material and if its wetter or drier soft or hard burnished or filed. Inspiration comes from many places branches plants and cracks in the paving stones at our feet working with wax from flat sheets
Photography Prize
Shawna Hinkel
Short Biography and Statement
Shawna Hinkel is a Master Photographer and Certified Professional Photographer from Dallas, Texas. She has a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from Texas A&M University, and has been a professional photographer since 2004. She earned her PPA Certification in 2014 and PPA Master of Photography degree in 2019. She was awarded Life Membership in Dallas PPA in 2020, and earned her Accredited Professional of Animal Imagery degree in 2021. In 2023, she became the second Master of WPE from the United States, and also became a Master Photographer in Fine Art from MPI. Her work has been accepted in the PPA International Photographic Competition Annual Exhibition every year since 2016, with images published in the annual Showcase Collection and Loan Collection books as well. She was the Dallas Professional Photographers Association Photographer of the Year in 2017 and 2018, and was named as one of the Top 10 photographers in Texas in 2020. She also received the American Society of Photographers’ State Elite Award in 2020. She has won a variety of other awards, and has been featured in multiple art gallery exhibitions. There are so many wonderful animals in the world. Some are jovial and funny; some are shy and reserved. It is amazing to watch them interact with each other and observe how much like humans they are. They show a variety of personalities and emotions. Spending the time to get to know them and see their individuality is very rewarding. I hope more people can find a deeper understanding and affection for them. If we spent more effort helping to save them and their environments, what a better world it would be.
Winners