2026 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize: Sculpture Award Winners Announced!

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 2026 Jury Panel, particularly Matthias Verginer (Sculpture juror) for his time and expertise. Additionally we would like to thank artist Judges: Brad Kunkle (Painting juror), Ed Binkley (Drawing juror), Bastien Lecouffe Deharme (Digital Art juror), Franz Szony (Photography juror), along with Co-Founder of IX Arts Patrick Wilshire, Vicki Fox, Owner of Quirky Fox Gallery (Emerging Artist Category Juror), April Carter, Curator at PoetsArtists and 33 Contemporary Gallery; and Co-owner & Director of Modern Eden Gallery, Kim Larson.

To our major sponsors: RAYMAR President & Creative Director, Emilie Dietrich; the team at MPB; Owner & Art Director of BearWolf Books, Catherine K. Gyllerstrom; Didi Menendez, Founder of 33PA and Gallery Director of 33 Contemporary Gallery, and Joshua Zika, founder of INPRNT – 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 thank you 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 Sculpture Award sponsors listed below. It is through their generosity that the Sculpture Award Winners will be able to enrich their practice.

Sculpture Award

The Sculpture Award 1st prize winner will receive:

• $1,500 USD cash, generously donated by Nanny Goat Gallery, a gallery celebrating new and contemporary representational art predominantly in the pop surreal, narrative, and fantasy genres.
• $1,500 USD cash, generously donated by Jan Corey Helford. Jan Corey Helford is the co-owner of Corey Helford Gallery (CHG), first established in 2006 and has since evolved into one of the premier galleries of New Contemporary art. CHG represents a diverse collection of international artists, primarily influenced by today’s pop culture and collectively encompassing style genres such as New Figurative Art, Pop Surrealism, Neo Pop, Graffiti and Street Art, and Post-Graffiti.
• $400 USD worth of services from Stan Winston School, including an all-access 1 year subscription which includes unlimited access to their Course Library by The Masters of FX, with new courses added every month. Plus exclusive access to the Behind-the-Scenes Documentary stream.
• $250 USD worth of supplies of your choice from Sculpey, making polymer oven-bake clays for over 50 years.
• A beautiful, specially commissioned glass art award trophy.
• The opportunity to exhibit in the prestigious Beautiful Bizarre Magazine exhibition at Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco, USA, alongside 100+ 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 printed in the December 2026 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.
• 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 Beautiful Bizarre Magazine and Naia Museum. Located in the park of the castle of Rochefort-en-Terre, a picturesque village in Brittany, the Naia Museum is a unique place in Europe: both a private museum and art gallery. In the fantastic and visionary universe of Naia, sculptures, paintings, digital works, kinetic works, photographs, videos, comics and illustrations are exhibited.
• $220 USD worth of services from Stan Winston School, including a 3 month subscription including full access to the entire course library. Plus exclusive access to the Behind-the-Scenes Documentary stream.
• The opportunity to exhibit in the prestigious Beautiful Bizarre Magazine exhibition at Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco, USA, alongside 110+ 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 Naia Museum. Located in the park of the castle of Rochefort-en-Terre, a picturesque village in Brittany, the Naia Museum is a unique place in Europe: both a private museum and art gallery. In the fantastic and visionary universe of Naia, sculptures, paintings, digital works, kinetic works, photographs, videos, comics and illustrations are exhibited.
• $100 USD worth of services from Stan Winston School, including a 1 month subscription including full access to the entire course library. Plus exclusive access to the Behind-the-Scenes 
• The opportunity to exhibit in the prestigious Beautiful Bizarre Magazine exhibition at Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco, USA, alongside 110+ 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 Directoryfor 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 the Beautiful Bizarre Magazine curated exhibition ‘Glimmer’ at Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco, CA, United States later this year, alongside 100+ of the world’s best contemporary representational artists!

A glimmer is the exact opposite of a trigger. Glimmers are small, everyday moments that make you feel joy, happiness, peace, or gratitude – which can help cue your nervous system to feel safe or calm. [The term was coined by Deb Dana.]

From the 200 Finalists across all Award categories, the Jury Panel will select the Grand Prize Award Winner.

Congratulations to the 2026 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize Sculpture Award Winners: Ernest Massuet, Rachel Ann Stevenson and Jale Soysal!

3rd Prize Winner

Ernest Massuet

Currently resides: Spain

“Into the Blue” (Bronze, 54 x 58 x 23cm)

Ernest Massuet is a Spanish sculptor whose work explores the expressive potential of animal and human form through a contemporary interpretation of classical sculpture. He studied Graphic Design at Elisava and Sculpture at La Llotja School of Arts and Crafts in Barcelona, receiving grants from the Reial Cercle Artístic de Barcelona, Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc, the Centre del Vidre Foundation, and the Lladró School. For over two decades (2000–2023), he worked as a sculptor at Lladró, creating highly detailed porcelain sculptures distinguished by their technical precision and refined realism. His work has been exhibited internationally and is held in museums, private collections, and prestigious collections, including those of Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Sofía of Spain. Since 2024, Massuet has focused on his personal artistic practice with Coderch & Malavia Sculptors, developing sculptures that place animals in unexpected contexts while combining classical craftsmanship with contemporary narratives. His work is rooted in a deep understanding of anatomy and movement, particularly inspired by horses, and seeks to evoke emotion, memory, and wonder. Throughout his career, he has also created commissioned portraits of internationally renowned champion horses and presented his work through exhibitions and live demonstrations across Europe, Asia, Oceania, and the United States.

“Into the Blue”: Into the Blue explores the symbolic act of diving as a gesture of curiosity, trust, and transformation. Through the graceful movement of the animal, the sculpture reflects the human tendency to project emotions, desires, and aspirations onto the natural world. Rather than offering a fixed narrative, the work invites personal interpretation, allowing each viewer to discover their own meaning. The dive becomes a metaphor for exploration, of the unknown, of ourselves, and of the courage required to let go, embrace uncertainty, and move toward new possibilities.

2nd Prize Winner

Rachel Ann Stevenson

Currently resides: United Kingdom

“Tethered” (Bronze, 143 x 51 x 35cm)

Rachel Ann Stevenson: In my work I try to capture the impossible: the swirling mist of a dreamer’s mind. As artists we are day dreamers and our business is capturing the impossible, holding on to it and showing it to the world. But even as we think we have a firm grip, the dream shifts and changes due to each new experience. So as we prepare to project our perfect day dream onto a canvas or through clay, it will take a mighty shift as we then influence and distort our ideal with our clumsy mark making. Let’s say the idea is represented by a wet oil painting: each time we have a new experience we smear our hands from one corner of the canvas to the other distorting our perfect image but seeing new images within the distortion that excite us as before, so by the time the painting or sculpture is complete, it is nothing like our original image. I believe this is why an artist revisits the same themes over and over as it is almost impossible to capture our own absorbing and beguiling thoughts. It’s like trying to catch mist with a net; this is what keeps me up through the night, leaping through the swirling fog of my unconscious mind with a net and a bucket, determined to return home with the impossible silence of these part imagined, part remembered places.

“Tethered”: Tethered (Valkyrie) is inspired by the 13th century Volsunga saga where the hero Sigurd discovers a sleeping Valkyrie, Brynhidr, surrounded by a ring of fire. The sculpture embodies the ethereal, untamed spirit of the Valkyries in a signature dark, surreal style.

1st Prize Winner

Jale Soysal

Currently resides: Australia

“The First Arrow” (Epoxy clay, Metal, Acrylic paint, Resin, Silk, 45 x 41 x 32cm)

Jale Soysal is an Australian/Turkish artist based in Melbourne. She studied at Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School before obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in Animation at RMIT University. Jale works professionally as a sculptor, animator and designer. Her art presents a surreal and darkly whimsical aesthetic and explores organic forms and textures with fantastical elements, often contrasting beauty with macabre imagery.

“The First Arrow”: I am drawn to birds for their extraordinary diversity, beauty, and association with freedom, I use avian symbology as a vessel for longing, escape, and whimsy. ‘The First Arrow’ represents my discomfort in an imperfect world and my inability to change what I fundamentally am, and it explores my interest in blending nature, surrealism, and visceral imagery, altered enough to suggest deeper mythologies beneath the surface.