Entries to the 2023 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize have officially closed, and the judging process is now underway. Our sincere thanks to all of the artists and photographers that entered. We are super excited with the array of entries and have already discovered a host of new creators!
As well as discovering many new artists, we love seeing artists who have entered in previous years entering again. It’s a delight to see the ongoing evolution of their work.
Additionally, the amount of talent entering our new Emerging Artist Award category has made this another difficult year to select the Finalists!
Danijela Krha-Purssey
The variety of entries has provided a considerable mix of styles and themes, and we have found ourselves energized by the amount of a talent. From incredible fantasy to quick-witted contemporary creations, spellbinding dark art and unconventional figurative portraits – you continue to impress us! Additionally, the vast array of experimental techniques and mixed mediums shows us that many of you are still pushing the boundaries and thinking outside-the-box. The array of stories shared through the artworks have provided many thought-provoking narratives. And with much excitement, we find ourselves discovering a host of magnificent new artists.
It is also wonderful to see artists who entered in previous years entering again this year. As we have mentioned before, every year is a new Art Prize complete with a new Jury Panel who choose the Winners. We love seeing the evolution of artists’ works year on year!
A truly international Art Prize
Artists from an incredible 85 different countries entered the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize 2023!
We have received entries from an incredible 89 different countries this year – wow!! Entries have been received from: Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong Sar China, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam.
Excitingly, we saw entries from a host of new countries as well. New entrant countries include entries from: Azerbaijan, Barbados, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Lesotho, Macedonia, Martinique, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Turks & Caicos Islands, Vietnam. Welcome new entrants, and good luck!!
Entries were received in various Traditional mediums across the fields of painting, drawing, collage, installation, fibre art, art dolls, embroidery and mixed media. We have received sculptures in multiple mediums including metal, marble, wood, gold, plaster, stone, many resins, ceramic, clay, wool, found objects, and even skeletons! The Digital Art category has seen an array of digital painters, digital sculptors, digital 3D artists and photomanipulation artists enter, and in-line with our business ethos, AI art has not been eligible to enter. Last but not least, the Photography category provided the opportunity for fine art photographers from around the world to enter both their digital and analogue photography.
Judging Underway
Thanks to this process, our Editor-in-Chief Danijela Krha Purssey and her team have once again discovered a remarkable amount of incredible new talent. We look forward to sharing with you more of these wonderful entries over the coming weeks and months! The December issue will also feature a special editorial presenting the Grand Prize Winner of the 2023 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize and the Winners in each category, plus the Grand Prize Winner will have a 10 page in-depth interview published in this issue. Purchase a print subscription now to make sure you don’t miss out on this and many other inspiring stories.
Judging has now commenced by this year’s Jury Panel. The jury panel is made up of: Beautiful Bizarre Co-Founders, Danijela Krha Purssey and Richard Purssey; Directors of Haven Gallery Erica Berkowitz and Joseph Weinreb; Vicki Fox, Director of Quirky Fox Gallery; representatives from our major partners: INPRNT‘s leader of Independent Design + Creative Strategy, Ashley Heafy; RAYMAR President & Creative Director, Emilie Dietrich; Yasha Young Projects Founder Yasha Young, and the Licensing Manager at iCanvas, Sally Wolff.
These are joined by esteemed contemporary artists: Rebecca Leveille (Traditional Art juror), Ellen Sheidlin (Photography juror), Ellen Jewett (Sculpture juror) and Laura H. Rubin (Digital Art juror) who will be reviewing work in their respective areas of expertise.
As you can imagine, this is NOT an easy job with so many exceptional entries in all categories! Stay tuned for the big reveal soon.
2023 Award Categories
- RAYMAR Traditional Art Award
- INPRNT Photography Award
- iCanvas Digital Art Award
- Yasha Young Projects Sculpture Award
- Beautiful Bizarre Magazine Founders’ Emerging Artist Award
- People’s Choice Award
Timeframes & Deadlines
- 7 – 13 August 2023: Judging
- 15 August onward: Shortlist of 140 Finalists [25 per Award category: Digital Art, Photography, Sculpture; 50 from the Traditional Art Award category; and 15 from the Emerging Art Award category] announced
- 24 August [AEDT, Australian Eastern Daylight Time]: People’s Choice voting opens
- 31 August [AEDT, Australian Eastern Daylight Time]: People’s Choice voting closes
- Week of the 11th of September: Winners announced
- 11 Sept: Beautiful Bizarre Magazine Founders’ Emerging Artist Award winners announced
- 12 Sept: Yasha Young Projects Sculpture Award Winners announced
- 13 Sept: INPRNT Photography Award Winners announced
- 14 Sept: iCanvas Digital Art Award Winners announced
- 15 Sept: RAYMAR Traditional Art Award Winners announced
- 16 Sept: Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize Grand Prize Winner, Honourable Mentions & People’s Choice Winner announced
- 4 November – 3 December 2023: Beautiful Bizarre curated exhibition ‘Serendipity’ opens at Haven Gallery in New York, USA. (Note: Winners of the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize will be invited to exhibit a work in the ‘Serendipity’ exhibition in November 2023. Winners may exhibit their prize winning entry if it was created within 12 months of the entry date, and not hung in any other exhibition or prize previously. Work already exhibited or hung in a Prize will not be accepted to the ‘Serendipity’ exhibition. If the prize winning work is not eligible to be exhibited in the exhibition, or if the artist chooses, they may create a new work for the exhibition.)
Until then, enjoy some of the wonderful entries below…
Diana Unrein: “Khrysallis” (Porcelain / Oil)
Lisa Falkenstern: “Monsieur Reynard” (Oil on Wood)
Amy Rose Mills: Candy (Digital)
Helena Calmfors: “Ephemeral I” (Analogue photography)
Ilze Egle: “Reflection” (mixed media on canvas)
Raygyan Yumnam: “Dreamers (I)” (Oil on linen)
Quinn M Miller: “Onerous” (digital photograph)
Ivana Bukovac: “A wires’ game” (oil on canvas)
Lena Sellberg: “Replacement” (digital photograph)
Julie Loen: “Mother Decay” (Analogue photograph)
