3rd Prize Winner: Laura H. Rubin
3rd Prize Winner
Laura H. Rubin
“Apophis”, Digital painting
Laura H. Rubin is a Swiss artist, illustrator and graphic designer based in Thun/Bern. She has been drawing since she was a child, inspired by her father’s realistic drawings. Later she studied Film and VFX before she started working in the advertising industry for several years. Laura is searching for aesthetics in imperfection and loves to give her characters strong emotions. She wants people to wonder what her characters might feel and try to understand what the characters are all about, not just focusing on the surface.
“Apophis”: Apophis is named after an asteroid and Egyptian god, who is the embodiment of dissolution, darkness and chaos. The feathers in the picture symbolize the dissolution of the human being, because already in the Middle Ages black birds or ravens were considered as harbingers of disaster and death.
2nd Prize Winner: Josh Dykgraaf
2nd Prize Winner
Josh Dykgraaf
“Koobor”, Photomanipulation
Josh Dykgraaf is a photographic manipulation artist and illustrator based in Melbourne, Victoria. His work centres around transforming his photography into other forms exploring a sense of place by deconstructing of our natural and built environments.
“Koobor”: It is currently projected that Koalas will become functionally extinct in the wild in the coming decades as a result of habitat destruction caused by human activities and bushfires. Koobor is a response to this, created from burnt out landscapes shot in East Gippsland Australia December 2019.
1st Prize Winner: Vini Naso
1st Prize Winner
Vini Naso
“Foresters”, Digital 3 Dimensional
Vini Naso began his career as a self-taught designer. His school was the creative industry, which allowed him to explore many tools, mediums and a great variety of art styles. His commercial portfolio spans icons of the design world, brands such as Nike, Microsoft and Audemars Piguet. His commercial success is anchored on his unique and uncompromising eye as a digital artist. His artistic work is often described as intricate and evocative, bringing together detailed cultural references from his heritage, travels, modern fashion and architecture. Born and raised in Rio, he now lives with his family in Toronto where he balances his time between his commercial and artistic practice – experimenting and expanding his knowledge of mythology and psychology, both lifelong passions that fuel his art. He believes that his art is an innate drive to intuitively express aspects of the collective unconscious.
“Foresters”: This artwork is inspired the spirits that inhabits special trees in Japanese and Greek mythology.
Thank you & Acknowledgements
Congratulations to the 2020 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize ZBrush Digital Art Award Winners, Vini Naso, Josh Dykgraaf, and Laura H. Rubin!
I would like to take a moment to thank all of the artists that entered, sharing their work and their artistic passion with us. It was such a pleasure to immerse myself in the work of so many creatives from all corners of the globe and read their inspirational stories. Thank you also to all the artists that entered in previous years, and again this year!
As Beautiful Bizarre Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief I have the pleasure and honour of curating each issue of the magazine and curating our yearly exhibitions! The many wonderful and talented Art Prize entries we received have given me a plethora of new ideas and choices to pursue in future. I will also be taking the opportunity to share many of the amazing entries submitted over the coming months on our social media platforms, as I truly believe that all of these artists deserve more recognition and promotion of their work. So thank you again for your interest in the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize, I very much hope to see how your work has grown and developed in next year’s Prize.
I would also like to sincerely thank the 2020 Jury Panel, particularly the Digital Art Category Judge Rafael Grassetti, who gave his time and expertise to the panel, the other Category Judges: Kate MacDowell [Sculpture], Ellen Rogers [Photography], Hannah Yata [Traditional Art]; Museum Gallery Director Rachael Parsons of New England Regional Art Museum; representatives from our amazing sponsors INPRNT, ZBrush, iCanvas and Yasha Young Projects, Directors of Modern Eden Gallery Kim Larson and Bradley Platz, and of course to my partner, Beautiful Bizarre Magazine‘s Co-Founder Richard Purssey. The judging process was extremely difficult with so many exceptional entries, so thank you again!
Finally I would like to once again extend my thanks to this year’s Digital Art Award sponsors listed below. It is through your generosity that the Digital Art Award Winners will be able to enrich their practice.
Danijela Krha Purssey, Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Beautiful Bizarre Magazine.
ZBrush Digital Art Award
The ZBrush Digital Art Award 1st prize winner will receive:
- US$3,000 cash, generously donated by sponsor ZBrush, a digital sculpting tool that combines 3D/2.5D modeling, texturing and painting
- A beautiful specially commissioned art glass trophy.
- The opportunity to exhibit in the prestigious Beautiful Bizarre Magazine exhibition at Modern Eden Gallery [San Francisco] alongside 80+ 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: 1 Million + followers across all socials platforms)
- A Wacom One, Creative Pen Display. It comes with all the essentials to spice up your digital life. There’s the natural pen feel on the 13.3” screen, the included creative software – even the ability to connect to certain Android devices.
- Exclusive in-depth interview published on the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize and Beautiful Bizarre Magazine websites + shared on social media
- A year’s worth of inspiration – a print subscription to Beautiful Bizarre Magazine
2nd and 3rd prize winners will receive:
- The opportunity to exhibit in the prestigious Beautiful Bizarre Magazine exhibition at Modern Eden Gallery [San Francisco] alongside 80+ of the world’s best contemporary representational artists
- Exposure to a successful commercial gallery’s collector base with the opportunity to sell their work
- 2nd Prize: Wacom Intuos Pro Medium which offers you more natural creative control than ever before. Combined with the super-sensitive Wacom Pro Pen 2, Wacom’s sleek new tablet looks and feels amazing.
- 3rd Prize: Wacom Intuos Medium with a light, super-accurate pen and free downloadable software to suit your style; Wacom Intuos is built to bring your wildest ideas to life.
- A year’s worth of inspiration – a print subscription to Beautiful Bizarre Magazine
- An exclusive in-depth interview published on the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize and Beautiful Bizarre Magazine websites.
Timeline
- 1st week of September: Winners announced
- 1 Sept: Yasha Young Projects Sculpture Award Winners announced
- 2 Sept: iCanvas Photography Award Winners announced
- 3 Sept: ZBrush Digital Art Award Winners announced
- 4 Sept: INPRNT Traditional Art Award Winners announced
- 5 Sept: Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize 1st Prize Winner, Honourable Mentions & People’s Choice Winner announced
- 24 October – 13 November 2020: Beautiful Bizarre curated exhibition ‘Midnight Garden’ at Modern Eden Gallery, San Francisco.
