Thank you & Acknowledgements

Once again, we would like to thank all of the artists that entered and shared their work and their artistic passion with us. It was such a pleasure to immerse ourselves in the work of so many creatives, working across varied mediums and styles, and reading their stories.

Beautiful Bizarre Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Danijela Krha Purssey has the pleasure of curating each issue of the magazine and our exhibitions. The Art Prize entries will continue to give her a plethora of new ideas and choices to pursue in future. So thank you again for your interest in the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize, we very much hope to see how your work has grown and developed in next year’s Prize.

We would also like to sincerely thank the 2025 Jury Panel: Jana Brike, Emilie Dietrich and Professor Dr. Ulrich Seibert (Painting jurors), Matthew Stone (Digital Art juror), Nicolas Bruno (Photography juror), Vicki Fox and Catherine. K. Gyllerstrom (Emerging Artist jurors), Victoria Olt and Anne Murphy Robinson (Drawing jurors), Yasha Young and Amber Cowan (Sculpture jurors), as well as the Directors of Haven Gallery, Erica Berkowitz and Joseph Weinreb.

To our major sponsors: Erica Berkowitz and Joseph Weinreb, Owners and Directors of Haven Gallery; Victoria Olt, Owner and Director of Victoria Olt Gallery; RAYMAR President & Creative Director, Emilie Dietrich; Yasha Young Projects Founder Yasha Young; and the Owner & Art Director of BearWolf Books, Catherine K. Gyllerstrom; the team over at MPB and art collector and philanthropist Professor Dr. Ulrich Seibert of the Seibert-Collection – our deepest gratitude for supporting this year’s Prize. It is through your support and generosity that the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize is able to acknowledge and uplift so many incredible artists and photographers from around the world.

As always a huge thanks also to the Beautiful Bizarre team for their dedication and hard work on behalf of the prize and winners all-year round.

Our sincere thanks to this year’s RAYMAR Painting Award sponsors listed below. It is through their generosity that the Painting Award Winners will be able to enrich their practice.

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 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.
• 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 Northport, NY, 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.

Congratulations to the 2025 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize RAYMAR Painting Award Winners: Jennifer Allnutt, Adrienne Stein & Brad Kunkle!

3rd Prize Winner

Jennifer Allnutt

Currently resides: Australia

“Distintegration”, oils on aluminium, 58 x 39cm

Jennifer Allnutt is an artist based in Brisbane, Australia. She graduated from the University of South Australia with a Bachelor of Visual Arts (First Class Honours) in 2011 and a Master of Teaching in 2016. She has been a finalist in the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize (2024) and was the winner of the Lethbridge Small Scale Art Award in 2024. Her work has been exhibited across Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.

“Distintegration”: Jennifer’s surreal horse bust portrait combines all things individually beautiful, yet the amalgamation is overgrown, globular and essentially grotesque. “Distintegration” plays with the dualities of the beautiful and the grotesque and enhances the uncanny.

2nd Prize Winner

Adrienne Stein

Currently resides: United States

“Swan Fantasy I”, oil on linen, 45″ x 24″

Adrienne Stein is an award winning American artist living and working in Pennsylvania and Colorado. She holds an MFA from Boston University and a BFA Magna Cum Laude, from Laguna College of Art & Design. Adrienne studied under many gifted and influential instructors throughout the United States, France, and Italy. Her paintings celebrate the natural world through bold, vibrant colour. The lush magical environments and figures she depicts blend reality and fantasy, expressed through a world of symbolic imagery. Direct observation of nature coalesces with memory, imagination, art history, folklore, archetypes, and natural elements that are fueled by a sense of personal as well as universal myth. Adrienne is inspired by her travel experiences as well as the beauty of her garden surrounding the Pennsylvania home she shares with her husband, the artist Quang Ho and their son, Liam. She has received numerous awards from organizations such as The Windows to the Divine Foundation, The Portrait Society of America, The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, The California Art Club, and The Art Renewal Center. Her work is collected in the U.S. and abroad.

“Swan Fantasy I”: This painting was inspired by one of my favorite 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.

1st Prize Winner

Brad Kunkle

Currently resides: United States

“Behold, The History Without A Past”, Oil, gold and silver leaf on linen on wood, 40″ x 60″

Brad Kunkle has become internationally known for his unique use of gold and silver leaf in contemporary oil painting. His themes explore the shedding of dogmas inherited from previous generations, intuition, and the power of feminine energies as guides for seeking enlightenment in symbiosis with the natural world. His works are in private collections all over the world, the permanent collection of the New Salem Museum, and in a digital time capsule on the Moon as part of the Lunar Codex in partnership with NASA’s Artemis program. Brad is represented by Arcadia Contemporary in New York City and Pontone Gallery in London.

“Behold, The History Without A Past”: 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 realising 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 romanticised 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 the right perspective.