The Prize seeks to inspire creatives from around the world to pursue a life and career in the arts, and to help careers grow through funding and increased exposure of their work to galleries, collectors and media globally!

DANIJELA KRHA PURSSEY, CO-FOUNDER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, BEAUTIFUL BIZARRE MAGAZINE

Thank you & Acknowledgements

Once again, we would like to thank all of the artists that entered – who 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 inspirational stories.

Danijela Krha Purssey, Beautiful Bizarre Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief has the pleasure, and the honour of curating each issue of the magazine, and our yearly exhibitions. The incredible Art Prize entries that we received 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 2023 Jury Panel: particularly the Traditional Category Judge Rebecca Leveille, who her time and expertise to the panel. Additionally, I warmly thank the other Category Judges:  Ellen Sheidlin (Photography juror), Ellen Jewett (Sculpture juror), and Laura H. Rubin (Digital Art juror), as well as the Directors of Haven Gallery, Erica Berkowitz & Joseph Weinreb.

Our deep gratitude goes to our amazing Gold Partners: RAYMAR, INPRNT, Yasha Young Projects, and iCanvas for their ongoing support of the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize, and the life changing opportunities it brings to artists from around the world. Thank you also to the Beautiful Bizarre team for their dedication and hard work on behalf of the Prize all-year round. The judging process was extremely difficult with an incredible amount noteworthy entries, so thank you again!

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

RAYMAR Traditional Art Award

The RAYMAR Traditional Art 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 cash, generously donated by Rosemary Brushes, the finest quality handmade Artists’ Brushes.
• $1,500 USD worth of art photography and/or Fine Art archival print reproduction from Static Medium.
• A beautiful, specially commissioned glass art award trophy.
• The opportunity to exhibit in the prestigious Beautiful Bizarre Magazine exhibition at Haven Gallery, in New York, USA, 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 social platforms).
• Winning artwork published in the December 2023 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 Magazine Artist Directory for 12 months. The go-to platform for artists, curators and collectors to discover exceptional artists and explore their work.
• A coupon to enjoy Linktree PRO for free for 12 months.
• A year’s worth of inspiration – a print subscription to Beautiful Bizarre Magazine.

2nd prize winner will receive:

• $200 USD cash, generously donated by SmArt School, providing superior online art mentorships since 2011, where you learn from professional artists. 
• The opportunity to exhibit in the prestigious Beautiful Bizarre Magazine exhibition at Haven Gallery, in New York, USA, 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.
• A coupon to enjoy Linktree PRO for free for 12 months.
• 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:

• The opportunity to exhibit in the prestigious Beautiful Bizarre Magazine exhibition at Haven Gallery, in New York, USA, 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.
• A coupon to enjoy Linktree PRO for free for 12 months.
• 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.

Congratulations to the 2023 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize RAYMAR Traditional Art Award Winners: Stephanie Rew, Jason Mowry, and Markus Akesson!

3rd Prize Winner

Stephanie Rew

Born: Scotland, Currently residing: United Kingdom

“Sail To Me”, Egg Tempera and 24ct gold leaf, 40 x 30 cm.

Born in 1971, Stephanie Rew was raised in Edinburgh, Scotland leaving for Dundee in 1990 to study at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, graduating in 1994. She curated the first Women Painting Women Exhibition in the UK as part of the WPW (Revolution) movement in 2013. She was a finalist in the ModPortrait Award in 2017 & 2019, a multiple finalist in the Art Renewal Centre Salon 2014-2019 and won Best Nude Award in the ARC 13th Salon in 2018 and the FWSD prize in 14th Salon in 2019. She was a finalist at the Scottish Portrait Award 2017. She has exhibited at MEAM Barcelona in the ‘Women Painting’ exhibitions in 2018/19. She won the Beautiful Bizarre magazines People’s Choice Award in 2021.

“Sail To Me”: This painting is created using traditional renaissance techniques of egg tempera painting and water gilding over gesso. It is inspired by the song ‘Song to the Siren’ by Tim Buckley.

2nd Prize Winner

Jason Mowry

Born and Currently residing: USA

“Abominable Companion”, Watercolor, Gouache, pencil, and ink on paper, 15 x 15 in.

Jason Mowry’s work blends myth and archetypal ideas, personal narratives, and illustrative techniques to engage a human story. Jason grew up between the local art museum and comic book shops, combining the rhythms of each walking the line between formal art and the fantastic space. Jason calls Ohio home, where he keeps a studio and teaches at a local art college. When Not in the studio, Jason can be found Sketching at a cafe or wandering the nature preserve near his home studio.

“Abominable Companion”: The vision for the piece evolved from a series of paintings, drawings, and writings depicting an emerging symbolic garden. In several instances, Jason considered Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of earthly delights in my sketchbook. The shapes and floral tensions inspired by Bosch’s painting found their way into the composition like unconscious weeds. The figure and the abominable mythic exist on a stage for the viewer. The work to cultivate the garden is ongoing.

1st Prize Winner

Markus Åkesson

Born and Currently residing: Sweden

“Witch Riding Backwards (Indigo)”, Oil on canvas, 145 x 100 cm.

Markus Åkesson (b. 1975) lives and works in Nybro, Småland, Sweden. He has been participating in a large number of exhibitions at galleries, art fairs and institutions in Paris, Berlin, Brussels, London, Vilnius and Sweden. Åkesson had an early focus on the French art scene and has made several solo exhibitions at Galerie Da-End in Paris (the most recent in the winter of 2022-2023, with the solo exhibition “The Roses of Heliogabalus”) and the French art fairs Galeristes, Art Paris and YIA Art Fair. In Sweden he is represented by Berg Gallery in Stockholm, where he has shown his works in several solo and group exhibitions since 2021. He has also been shown in several solo exhibitions at VIDA Museum, Öland, Sweden and in the retrospective exhibition “Sleeping Beauty” at Kalmar Art Museum 2018, one of the museum’s most visited exhibition to date. Åkesson is represented by The Public Art Agency of Sweden, Fondation Francès, VIDA Museum, Småland Museum as well as in several private collections, including Alice Walton Family Collection, Château du Rivau, and Jacques-Antoine Granjon Collection. “

“Witch Riding Backwards (Indigo)”: This work is from a series of paintings Markus call “Now You See Me”. The models are shrouded in patterned textiles. The narrative takes place in the pattern while the models remains hidden. He has made this particular pattern from a famous print by Albrecht Durer, “Witch Riding Backwards On A goat”, which Markus have combined with florals in a pattern.