Once again, dear entrants, you have made judging the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize an incredibly difficult task – but we did it! Huge thanks to this year’s Jury Panel – including esteemed Arts Champions Emilie Dietrich of RAYMAR, and painter Jana Brike who have been going through the entries and making the incredibly difficult decisions. We are deeply grateful to the entire 2025 Jury Panel for giving their time and expertise to this year’s judging process!
So without any further ado, we are thrilled to announce the 50 Finalists for this year’s RAYMAR Painting Award.
We have enjoyed painting entries made with oils, acrylic, watercolour, inks, gold and silver leaf, mineral pigments, gouache, spray paints, airbrushed acrylic, mica powder, tempera and mixed media.
The Prizes
RAYMAR Painting Award
The RAYMAR Painting Award 1st prize winner will receive:
- $3,000 USD cash, generously donated by RAYMAR, creators of the finest panels! Panels are their passion. They craft their panels with the world’s finest materials to serve as the foundation for your artwork.
- $1,500 USD worth of art photography and/or Fine Art archival print reproduction from Static Medium.
- A seven-night Artist Residency generously donated by Robert Lange Studios. This is an exceptional grant opportunity for artists seeking inspiration in the vibrant cultural and creative hub of Charleston, SC, in a dedicated artist-in-residence space housed within the renowned Robert Lange Studios fine art gallery, located in the heart of the city’s historic district. Artists will have the unique chance to immerse themselves in Charleston’s creative energy, work alongside esteemed artists, and connect with the gallery’s supportive community. The residency is designed to foster creativity, exploration, and connection, offering both solitude for focused work and engagement with the gallery’s dynamic environment. It’s an unparalleled opportunity to create, grow, and be inspired in one of the South’s most celebrated artistic spaces. **Note that there are black out dates, and travel expenses to/from Charleston, personal painting supplies, food and additional expenses are not included in the grant.
- A bespoke box of paints generously designed and manufactured by Schaal Colors, created especially for the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize 2025.
- A beautiful, specially commissioned glass art award trophy.
- The opportunity to exhibit in the prestigious Beautiful Bizarre Magazine exhibition at Haven Gallery in Northport, NY, USA, alongside 70+ of the world’s best contemporary representational artists.
- Exposure to a successful commercial gallery’s collector base with the opportunity to sell their work.
- 3 month social media advertising package (Beautiful Bizarre Magazine: 2 million+ followers across all social media platforms).
- Winning artwork published in the December 2025 issue of Beautiful Bizarre Magazine.
- Exclusive in-depth interview published on the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize andBeautiful Bizarre Magazine websites + shared across Beautiful Bizarre Magazine social media.
- Profile listing [including artwork gallery] on the Beautiful Bizarre Artist Directory for 12 months. The go-to platform for artists, curators and collectors to discover exceptional artists and explore their work.
- A year’s worth of inspiration – a print subscription to Beautiful Bizarre Magazine.
2nd prize winner will receive:
- $1,000 USD cash, generously donated by Rosemary Brushes, the finest quality handmade Artists’ Brushes.
- $250 USD gift voucher, generously donated by Golden Artist Colors, manufacturer of artist quality materials including colours and mediums for painting in acrylics, oils, pastels and watercolour.
- A bespoke box of paints generously designed and manufactured by Schaal Colors, created especially for the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize 2025.
- Three private 50-minute online mentoring sessions with renowned artist Edward Povey, provided and organized by Quarantine Events. Utilising Edward’s 50 years of experience as an artist as well as his background in psychology, these mentoring sessions will offer a multifaceted and holistic approach to foster further growth and experimentation, providing a learning experience far beyond standard textbook artistic mentoring. The organiser, Quarantine Events, offers unique artist quarantines and a solid support network, helping artists from around the world to shake free the shackles of what holds them back and grow with less fear and trepidation.
- The opportunity to exhibit in the prestigious Beautiful Bizarre Magazine exhibition at Haven Gallery in Northport, NY, USA, alongside 70+ of the world’s best contemporary representational artists.
- Exposure to a successful commercial gallery’s collector base with the opportunity to sell their work.
- Exclusive in-depth interview published on the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize and Beautiful Bizarre Magazine websites + shared across Beautiful Bizarre Magazine social media.
- Profile listing [including artwork gallery] on the Beautiful Bizarre Magazine Artist Directory for 12 months. The go-to platform for artists, curators and collectors to discover exceptional artists and explore their work.
- A year’s worth of inspiration – a print subscription to Beautiful Bizarre Magazine.
3rd prize winner will receive:
- $500 USD cash, generously donated by Rosemary Brushes, the finest quality handmade Artists’ Brushes.
- A bespoke box of paints generously designed and manufactured by Schaal Colors, created especially for the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize 2025.
- The opportunity to exhibit in the prestigious Beautiful Bizarre Magazine exhibition at Haven Gallery in Northport, NY, USA, alongside 70+ of the world’s best contemporary representational artists.
- Exposure to a successful commercial gallery’s collector base with the opportunity to sell their work.
- Exclusive in-depth interview published on the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize and Beautiful Bizarre Magazine websites + shared across Beautiful Bizarre Magazine social media.
- Profile listing [including artwork gallery] on the Beautiful Bizarre Magazine Artist Directory for 12 months. The go-to platform for artists, curators and collectors to discover exceptional artists and explore their work.
- A year’s worth of inspiration – a print subscription to Beautiful Bizarre Magazine.
The Winners in each Award category and the Grand Prize Award Winner will be invited to participate in ‘Reverie’ exhibition at Haven Gallery in New York, United States later this year, alongside 70+ of the world’s best contemporary representational artists! ‘Reverie’ is an international group exhibition Curated by: Beautiful Bizarre Magazine.
‘Reverie’ explores themes of a state of being pleasantly lost in one’s thoughts; a daydream
From the 175 Finalists across all Award categories the Jury Panel will select the Grand Prize Award Winner.
The Grand Prize Award Winner of the 2025 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize will receive:
- $10,000 USD cash, donated by our Platinum sponsors Catherine K. Gyllerstrom, MPB, RAYMAR, Yasha Young Projects, Victoria Olt Gallery, and Prof. Dr. Ulrich Seibert.
- A beautiful, specially commissioned glass art award trophy.
- The opportunity to exhibit in the prestigious Beautiful Bizarre Magazine exhibition at Haven Gallery in Northport, NY, USA, alongside 70+ of the world’s best contemporary representational artists.
- Exposure to a successful commercial gallery’s collector base with the opportunity to sell their work.
- 10 page in-depth interview editorial published in Beautiful Bizarre Magazine December 2025 issue.
- Winning artwork printed in the December 2025 issue of Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, as part of the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize editorial.
- Exclusive in-depth interview published on the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize and Beautiful Bizarre Magazine websites + shared across Beautiful Bizarre Magazine social media.
- Profile listing [including artwork gallery] on the Beautiful Bizarre Artist Directory for 12 months. The go-to platform for artists, curators and collectors to discover exceptional artists and explore their work.
- 12 month social media advertising package (Beautiful Bizarre Magazine: 2 million+ followers across all social media platforms).
- A year’s worth of inspiration – a print subscription to Beautiful Bizarre Magazine.
People’s Choice Award
The People’s Choice Award Winner will be selected by popular vote from the 175 Finalists. The People’s Choice Award Winner will receive $1,000 USD cash, generously donated by Co-Founders of Beautiful Bizarre Magazine; and Deco Pro (Gen2) MW generously donated by XPPen.
Voting will open on 22 August [AEDT, Australian Eastern Daylight Time]. To ensure you don’t miss your chance to vote, please join our email mailing list here.
Additionally, the People’s Choice Award Winner will enjoy a year’s worth of social media advertising through the Beautiful Bizarre Magazine to ensure they are able to connect with the right audience, raise their profile, and of course to grow their social media following. They will also enjoy a Profile listing [including artwork gallery] on the Beautiful Bizarre Artist Directory for 12 months, plus a 12 month Beautiful Bizarre Magazine print subscription, and an in-depth interview published on the Beautiful Bizarre Magazine and Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize websites, giving readers an insight into their vision and practice!
In addition, each sponsor will choose one outstanding work from their award category to receive an Honourable Mention. Stay tuned to learn more!
See the Catherine K Gyllerstrom Emerging Artist Award finalists here, Yasha Young Projects Sculpture Award finalists here, MPB Photography Award finalists here, the Digital Art Award finalists here, and the Victoria Olt Drawing Award finalists here.
RAYMAR Painting Award Finalists
2025 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize
“Family” (96in x 48in oil and acrylic on panel)
It can be said that our individual work is so disparate that drawing any connection between them is an exercise in futility. While our approach to painting could not be more different, our visual “volume” is quite similar. They are both stylized, comprehensive and painstakingly detailed. The paintings exist well in proximity to one another as evidenced by nearly two decades creating under the same roof. Our studio is in a large “L” shape with one of us in one wing and one in the other. If you imagine the letter “L” and observe the simplicity of the shape it is very telling of our collaborative work. We are not attempting to merge philosophies, but rather move towards the single intersection where our individual efforts as artists meet… the visual volume. The challenge of our work
“Message for the Mystic” (oil on panel, 14 x 11″)
‘Message for the Mystic’, created for ‘The Portrait Show 13; Magic’ at Modern Eden Gallery, features a slightly more challenging composition than recent works. Mid-way through painting, I reached a cross road, unsure on how to finish. So, I sat down and penned the following, in order to unearth the composition from another part of my mind; Winged messengers follow the occupied mind threading the thin veil, summoning thought from spirit. Intercepting some unseen course of soul unborn in human form. Celestial string in hand gliding creaseless, through lunar archways. Just as the ancient brook floods the umber shadows of the moonlit stone, stars regenerate and cells divide. Memory trapped in marrow is released and synapses fire in some blessed union, of sacred vision and virtuous will.
“Pasithea” (oil paint 24 x 24″)
I have always had a great love of Greek Mythology. This painting is of Pasithea, one of the Graces. Her domain is that of rest, visions and hallucinations. I wanted to capture a dream-like state and a setting that felt otherworldly and supernatural but rooted in reality.
“The Woman of Metamorphose.” (Mineral pigments, Gofun, Nikawa, Polyester canvas, Japanese paper, 53 x 53cm)
The world is filled with spirits — this is the core theme of my work. Inspired by ancient beliefs, I create symbolic art that gives form to supernatural beings. This piece depicts a female figure, representing the soul (Anima), transforming into a radiant mineral. Japan’s animistic worldview, where spirits dwell in all things—known as Yaoyorozu no Kami—is deeply rooted in our culture and art. Using traditional Japanese painting techniques, I strive to capture the invisible presence of the spiritual world through the unique spatial, color, and material beauty of Japanese aesthetics.
“The Slithering Veil” (oil on panel, 60 x 42cm)
Slithering Veil explores the space between the conscious and the unconscious and nature and self. A nude figure is shown from behind, enveloped by dark serpents that wind around her body. Set against a fog-drenched forest, the scene feels both ancient and otherworldly—evoking mythological undertones. The serpents serve as a symbol of both danger and protection. Their sleek forms contrast with the softness of the figure’s skin, creating an unsettling tension. Rendered in a monochrome palette, the painting is intended to highlight themes of beauty and danger, as well as femininity and fear.
“Mel” (oil on linen, 28 x 22″)
This portrait shows tattooist Melanie Milne in her self-renovated bathroom, a project taken on during COVID and early pregnancy. Her own artwork is included in the background, reflecting her skill and creativity. With 14 years of tattooing experience across Australia, Mel is known for her dedication, talent, and generosity. Captured here after a surprise wedding, she radiates calm and strength—a true artist and friend whose story inspires.
“Verðandi” (oil on linen, 16 x 12″)
Verðandi, the winder, the allotter of time, the one who decides the length of each life’s string. There is a gentle nobility to the idea that some entity would offer each living thing a share of time, blindly and without judgement. No rewards or punishments, just the unspooling of a spring given just so much strength, eventually fading and stalling. We are born with an inextensible horizon, and however long it takes to exhaust our time, it could never have been different.
“A Sweet Melody” (acrylic on linen, 60 x 48″)
“A Sweet Melody” explores the beauty of self-discovery and serves as a celebration of resilience and nurturing your passions and dreams. The painting contains warm hues and bright colors that brighten the composition and gives the piece a more cheerful tone contrasting against a cooler border backdrop. When we were young, most of us contained boundless energy along with a wondrous imagination that could create the most profound things. As time passes, our fondness for those things that initially made us happy changes. That’s when its up to ourselves to look deep inside and learn to nourish and cherish those things so they can flourish and grow.
“Algorithm V” (oil on canvas, 52 x 48″)
Algorithm V is part of the Windows series, exploring themes of social isolation and digital connection. The title reflects the algorithms used by social media platforms to draw users in through the collection of data. Whether these algorithms foster genuine connection or contribute to deeper isolation is a question worth reflecting on. This piece is inspired by Manhattan architecture and iconic fire escapes, the steel and brick setting symbolic of the urban setting, almost engulfing the figure.
“Epicurean Pleasures” (oil on linen, 103 x 91cm)
Everyday experiences can become extraordinary if we change our viewpoint. ‘Epicurean Delights’, is part of the series ‘From The Perspective Of The Angels’. This piece explores familiar themes of bedrooms and solitude, as well as pleasure, luxury and comfort. It is also about being subsumed in a single colour, painted in warm and cool pinks and decorated with roses, madeleines and sumptuous fabrics. Meanwhile the cat breaches the fourth wall and looks up at us, or at the angels.
“Silence” (oil on linen, 200 x 223cm)
In a dreamlike atmosphere, a young woman places her hand over a teddy bear’s mouth. This is a subtle form of domination that requires silence and stillness. The rest of the characters, all stuffed animals, complete a friendly and harmonious scene. The Bear Series addresses the interaction between humans and stuffed animals on the same social level. Metaphorically, the teddy bears’ different gestures act as a mirror, through which the viewer projects themselves psychologically and emotionally.
“Inquietudo III” (oil on linen, 135 x 176cm)
A veiled figure surfaces from the unconscious. Her hands, multiplied like fragments of a broken thought, touch, hesitate, restrain. The birds embody an inner dichotomy. Inquietudo III stages the tension between control and desire, where beauty is merely a skin stretched over the uncanny.
“Melancholy” (watercolor, ink, color pencils, gouache, on watercolor paper, 15 x 23″)
Melancholy expressed in fantastical realism.
“In the Garden on the Isle of Sobek” (oil on linen panel, 50 x 40cm)
One of my earliest memories is of a crocodile walking through the garden on a sunny morning, just after the rain. It dragged itself over my mum’s flowers, crushing them as it passed. I remember the smell of the broken petals, the glitter of its scales, and the warmth of the rain-soaked earth in the sun.
When I think of it now, I get a sudden, vivid flash—lurid colour, shining scales, the scent of flowers and rain. While I didn’t set out to make a painting specifically about this memory, I thought of it often while painting it and I think that’s what it became about.
“Vanity’s Whisper” (oil on linen, 120 x 100cm)
Reimagining Fiaschi’s marble nymph, her classical perfection disrupted by a mortal mark: an embroidered tattoo. It critiques our need to “enhance” the sublime, merging idealism with contemporary intervention to question permanence versus trend. In an age of filters & curated identities, her stillness mocks our obsession: Do embellishments elevate or reveal our insecurities?
“Backdrop” (oil on linen, 30 x 40″)
A follow up piece to Endless County Roads, this is a meditation on how my sense of self and environment has shifted. I have felt more entrenched in my environment, trapped almost, but both bouyed and threatened by the density of my current city.
“The Coral Within” (oil on wood panel, 24 x 30″)
The Coral Within is inspired by the diverse ecosystems of the Mediterranean. This surreal fusion of classical portraiture and marine life highlights the deep interconnection between human life and the fragile ecosystems that surround us. A key part of the process used is glazing, a traditional technique used by the Old Masters. This method involves building up thin transparent layers of paint over a dried underpainting. As light passes through these layers, it creates a sense of depth and inner glow that can’t be achieved with opaque paint alone. The glazes gently shift the colors beneath them and enrich their vibrancy much like the way light moves through water. This makes glazing an ideal technique for capturing the layered, fluid, and ever-changing nature of aquatic environments.
“Worship from afar” (Acrylic paint, coloured pencil, 53 x 46cm)
Abe no Nakamaro, a Japanese envoy to the Tang Dynasty, wrote a famous poem in which he compared the moon he saw in China with the moon over his homeland. Tragically, he never made it back to Japan and died abroad. The world is smaller now. I watched the sunrise in Tokyo and, half a day later, witnessed the sunset in Paris. Despite the distance, I found comfort in knowing that the same sun watched over me. This profound reassurance inspired me to express my experience through a painting.
“The Home” (Acrylic on canvas, 60 x 72″)
In my ‘Home’ series I’m combining architecture in a wild landscape with my dog and wildlife. I’m interested in the blurred lines between the contemporary world we inhabit, and living in harmony with nature. I have a strong sense of nostalgia or being home when I’m in the wilderness and I try to bring those feelings into the paintings and recreate some of that magic that is so special. Beauty and inspiration is everywhere and it’s fulfilling being able to share what’s meaningful to me. The possibilities are endless.
“Restless souls” (Oil on canvas, 50 x 40cm)
People once believed that, when someone dies, a crow carries their soul to the land of the dead. But sometimes… the soul can’t rest.” (The Crow, 1994). Restless Souls evokes rebirth after loss: a soul caught between silence and chaos finds a guide. The visual glitch mirrors inner fracture and the struggle to reconcile pain and hope, blending memory and present in a fragile balance.
“Grass Will Grow” (Water-mixable oil on paper, 42 x 30cm)
Grass Will Grow contemplates the fractured legacy of Buddhist sculptures in the liminal spaces of Chinese history, particularly in the northwest regions where I was born. These figures – once carved with reverence under intersecting influences of Chinese, Central Asian, and Indian visual traditions – now sit abandoned, damaged, or dispersed. Over centuries, they have endured not only environmental erosion but also waves of political iconoclasm, anti-Buddhist campaigns, and colonial looting. This work does not aim to restore these sculptures to a state of lost wholeness, but rather to witness them in their afterlives: as bodies that bear the scars of trauma, silence, and resilience. Their fragmentations are records of violence, survival, and forgetting. Rendered in softened layers of black and
“Serena’s Worlds” (Oil and acrylics on canvas, 162 x 114cm)
Serena’s Worlds belongs to a series of paintings I am currently working on, made in 2025, full of symbolism and with a touch of naivety and semi-adolescence, as if she wanted to refuse to grow up.
“The Manipulator” (Oil on canvas, 30 x 40″)
My goal in becoming and practicing as a contemporary artist is to infuse a personal commentary and sensory awareness that explores and experiences the period of time we collectively live in. This expression of our culture has been gathered through my interactions, visual connections, and curiosities of our world of diversity. We live in a culture of continual visual stimuli and instant access to information, and we are globally interconnected more than ever. The questions of why we are here and what our purpose is in this advanced world continually arise for me as I explore the plethora of technical and creative outlets in creating each new body of work.
“Swan Fantasy I” (oil on linen, 45 x 24″)
This painting was inspired by one of my favourite works of art: Frank Brangwyn’s “The Swans”. The dappled light on those swans contrasted with the bed of red nasturtiums influenced the colour palette I chose for my painting. I had the opportunity to observe this pair of mated swans in Colorado and I wanted to capture their grace and romance.
“The Grand Hall” (Oil on canvas, 174 x 138cm)
In the painting, a pristine white staircase is flanked by lions standing like sacred pillars. On a table rests an egg, placed on a plate, seeming to promise sparrows: reach this grand hall and become kings like the lions. But sparrows remain prey, still striving to enter. Some reach the hall only to find a fallen chess king and an egg that is not perfectly presented, while others bring grapes unaware the king is a disguised pawn. They ignore the warning behind the lions and forget the connection between the sparrows and the egg. In the end, one sparrow lies fallen, wearing a paper crown.
“Ephemeros” (Oil on canvas, 90 x 70cm)
Inspired by the transient beauty of human connections, “Ephemeros” explores the tension between ephemerality and the desire to endure. Three figures weave a silent dialogue between fragility and resilience, yearning to leave an eternal mark. The scene mirrors the soul’s quiet rebellion against time, inviting viewers to pause and reflect on their own fleeting moments.
“RE:BORN-To Soar Beyond the Edge, Led by the White Crow” (oil paint, 91 x 135cm)
The white crow symbolizes liberation from fixed norms. The central figure, wearing a futuristic costume that blurs armor and ornament, strikes a vogue dance pose, expressing rebirth through movement. Originating in the 1960s, voguing has resurfaced over time. Its cycle of reinvention mirrors inner transformation. With the crow in flight, she soars beyond boundaries into a future she defines.
“Ouroborean Sonata” (Oil on linen, 100 x 100cm)
A meditation on the self-evolving nature of the psyche. Multiple threads of impulse and identity twist and weave from out of the bodily material, one’s organic nature, and into subtle channels of mind then back into the body.
“Distintegration” (oils on aluminium, 58 x 39cm)
Jennifer’s surreal Horse bust portrait combines all things individually beautiful, yet the amalgamation is overgrown, globular and essentially grotesque. It is this interplay between the dualities, such as the beautiful and the grotesque, that enhances the uncanny.
“OSMOSE 01” (Acrylic and coloured pencils, 100 x 70cm)
The OSMOSE collection is an artistic journey that bridges the rich cultural heritage of diverse ethnic groups with the contemporary world. At the heart of this narrative are women, depicted as the guardians of cultural identity. Their faces, adorned with elegant traditional accessories inspired by global museum artifacts, are juxtaposed against the rough texture of concrete, symbolizing the modern era. This contrast between traditional beauty and modern minimalism not only underscores the differences but also reveals the shared cultural roots that connect us across nations. Through this collection, I aim to explore the enduring and evolving nature of cultural identities in our rapidly changing society.
“Comfort Zone II” (Oil on linen canvas, 180 x 160cm)
Comfort Zone II emerged without a preconceived idea, constructed layer by layer through an intuitive process. I allow the work to unfold freely, responding to each mark, gesture, and moment of tension as it arises. The title is always given only at the very end, once the painting reveals itself. My work is deeply intuitive. It is not important what I feel about this painting. I prefer to leave that space open for the viewer. One person may see a dream, another may sense both comfort and unease. I don’t want to steer the emotional response by offering explanations. The meaning belongs to whoever is drawn to it.
“Solve” (Oil on canvas, 100 x 85cm)
Solve represents the moment of dissolution of the ego, letting it return to earth, to extract the essence of the being and finally conceive spiritual coagulation.
“Thirteen” (Oil on canvas, 100 x 100cm)
I am exploring the boundaries of Eros and Thanatos, the intertwining of life and death. The fragility of existence, where decay gives birth to new forms and a prelude to transformation reveals unexpected beauty. When creating my works, I combine glazing and thick layers of paint; this method helps achieve greater expressiveness in revealing my concept.
“L’autre | The Other” (Acrylic on canvas, 92 x 60cm)
This painting is part of a recent series in which I explore absurd balances, drawing inspiration from 16th-century Flemish still lifes. These works were not only symbolic and allegorical, but also served as technical demonstrations. They often featured objects arranged in strangely irrational ways, placed seemingly at random – yet always in service of the overall composition. In this piece, I play with a similar tension. The nautilus shell, a classic object often seen in cabinets of curiosities and traditionally used as a vase in such compositions, becomes both the vase and the bouquet itself. This inversion blurs the line between container and content, echoing the surreal logic and visual poetry that fascinate me in historical still life.
“Leda and the Swan” (oil on board, 28 x 22″)
A modern interpretation of the classic Greek myth, Leda and the Swan.
“L’Aurore du Verbe” (oil painting on canvas, 60 x 40cm)
L’Aurore du Verbe The Dawn of the Logos captures the very ephemeral and fragile instant that precedes an act of creation or a thought, where ideas hover delicately, poised to descend and crystallize. It is a place, a moment suspended between obscurity and brightness.
“Quietude” (Oil on linen panel, 28 x 20″)
‘Quietude’ was largely inspired by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’ ‘The Valpinçon Bather.’ I knew I wanted to pose the model in a seated manner similar to the bather with drapery wound around the models arm to echo Ingres’ posed woman. While I originally intended to paint a back pose, this angle ended up, to me, more interesting with the light effect and composition of the drapery. The colour palette was intentional to echo the work of Johannes Vermeer using red, blue and yellow in varying degrees of intensity and amount.
“Tempus Amoris XVIII” (Acrylic on Panel, 50 x 50cm)
A graceful cheetah guarding a large Delftware apple. The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) represents speed, agility, and grace. She’s Nature’s quintessential ‘Poetry in Motion.’ Even in repose she exudes poise and nimbleness. In mythology, the apple is associated with Aphrodite, goddess of love. Tempus Amoris means ‘Time to Love’ in Latin. It symbolizes the magnitude of Love in all its forms, stretching beyond humanity to include flora and fauna.
“Tangerines And Star Machines” (Oil on canvas, 24 x 23″)
Avoiding any literal messaging, I built this composition in an intuitive manner, as a process of discovery, similar to the interpretation of a dream. I feel that it ultimately it represents the difference between the common path of society, versus the occasionally lonesome, difficult, yet, magical path of the artist. Both are acceptable, yet very different ways to happiness and personal fulfillment.
“Genevieve Estelle Jones’s Dream” (Oil on Linen, 40 x 40″)
In this homage, I have imagined what Genevieve Estelle Jones would have felt and looked like if she were dreaming. The dream sequence of nests floating around her head is sourced from the paintings found in the book she conceived and illustrated, entitled “Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio”.
“The Mermaid’s Sister” (Watercolour, watercolour pencil and gouache, 61 x 47cm)
‘The Mermaid’s Sister’ is a commission for an Italian client, who got in touch after seeing the ‘parent’ painting, ‘Mermaid’ on my social media. I love to combine elements of the vast with the intimate; entire worlds contained within a single being. The merging of city scapes with the softness of the human form deconstructs conventional imagery around this mythical creature, giving the painting a surreal quality, hinting at an elusive narrative.
“The Atlantic Is An Eldritch God” (Watercolour on hot press watercolour paper, 20 x 16″)
So much of my work draws from sensory experiences, and the ocean is full of harsh contrasts. Running in bare feet on soft hot sand into blisteringly cold water. Razor sharp edges of millions of barnacles and clam shells. Solid masses of granite layered with bladderwrack seaweed, soft and squishy underfoot when it’s alive, and dangerous when slippery. Entire felled tree trunks turned into driftwood and almost slippery smooth to the touch. Brittle sea vegetation dead and shriveled in the sun. Scrapes, sunburn, chill, splinters, salt-sticky. Everything alive and dead in the water, the air, the surface, underground. The piece is something about life and death, and the blurred threshold between them. Rather than subsequent stages, they’re symbiotic. Time just… works differently, in the water.
“Incendios” (Oil on canvas, 171 x 143cm)
When I was a child, my grandmother’s house was always full of women; I felt safe and protected there. This work is an idealized vision of that house. The characters are guided by the main figure, dressed in black and representing my grandmother. She leads her daughters and granddaughters through a Galician mountain devastated by the flames of a fire that will return to their lives repeatedly. Stoic as caryatids, they try to overcome adversity by remaining united.
“Qu’ils Mangent de la Brioche” (oil on panel, 48 x 36″)
It is okay to feel exhausted as we navigate the dichotomy of the what it means to live in an age where we watch billionaire oligarchs unravel our social norms to the soundtrack of tick-tock dances and social media influencers living a life of big hats and 40$ bottles of water. Let them eat cake.
“Behold, The History Without A Past” (Oil, gold and silver leaf on linen on wood, 40 x 60″)
When I created this painting I was thinking a lot about invisible worlds and the effects of social media on our society and well-being as individuals. I’m realizing there are a lot of parallels between Artificial Intelligence and this concept as well. We interact with versions of people that aren’t entirely real, or in some cases are not at all real, and we’ve romanticized what this future would be like. In the painting, mocking birds were chosen to symbolically represent the mimicking ability of social media personas to be people they are not or represent lives they are not actually living. There is hope and beauty and there are real people and connections to be seen in all of this though… if you look from right perspective.
“Dreaming Bird” (Oil paint, canvas, mixed media, 162 x 162cm)
This work was inspired by Zhuangzi’s “Butterfly Dream” and a supernova explosion. While painting, there are times when I can no longer distinguish between dream and reality, much like in Zhuangzi’s tale. Art is the act of creating something from nothing – it is almost divine. Even to create life, a man and a woman are required, yet an artwork is brought into existence by artist alone. The mind of an artist during creation is like the universe itself — constantly shifting and infinitely looping through thought.
“Sirin’s Song” (Oil on panel, 41 x 51cm)
The Sirin is a mythological creature of Slavic legends – she has the head of a woman and the body of a bird. She is often seen in an apple tree early in the morning, with the sunrise, singing a mournful lament.
“Nectar” (Acrylic on canvas, 58 x 38″)
Honeybees, which pollinate many agricultural crops in the world, are dying in record numbers, ranging between 60 and 100% in 2025. Honeybees face pressure from pesticide use, habitat loss, climate change and mite infestations.
“Hunger” (Oil on canvas, 110 x 170cm)
The Composition of my work Hunger is based on the popular motive in History of Art – The Last Supper. The painting itself is about the eternal feeling of hunger, a common human emotional state, that there is an inner emptiness that must be filled with something endlessly (food, drink, substances, people, etc.), conditions of consumer’s mind when nothing is actually lacking, yet everything is always too little, an obsessed state of consciousness and unquenchable abstract longing.
“Run!” (Acrylic on linen, 160cm x 150cm)
The painting is part of the Tales from the Last Days series, exhibited at Poulsen Gallery in September 2025. It depicts two lovers fleeing, tormented by the wind, which distorts their bodies and clothes. As they run, they form a heart shape, its vertex on her left foot. The work references Dante’s Divine Comedy, where Paolo and Francesca are swept away by a fierce wind as punishment. Their desperate escape through a desolate marsh highlights the impossibility of eluding the relentless wind.