“FIGURATIVELY SPEAKING” - JULY 2011 |
AWARDS - “FIGURATIVELY SPEAKING” - JULY 2011
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| BEST IN SHOW - #81 - Craig Monroe, “Siesta” (Award sponsored by Elaine Vice and presented in memory of Edward Ajello) FIRST PLACE - #70 - Jan Reeder, “Rainy Day” (Award sponsored By Mary Anne James) SECOND PLACE - #107 - Rafael C. Torres, “Daydreaming at Work” (Award sponsored by Friends and Family of Joseph Parrino) THIRD PLACE - #91 - Brayden S. Hooper, “Venus de Milo” DISTINCTION - #109 - Fay Samini, “Beauty and the Bird” DISTINCTION - #74 - Kathy O’Meara, “Temptress” DISTINCTION - #86 - Jerod Dunn, “Uprest” DISTINCTION - #21 - Connie Moitinho de Almeida, “Family” ACHIEVEMENT - #31 - Carson Kapp, “The Ideal Hat” ACHIEVEMENT - #98 - Nathan Seay, “Blue Bandana” ACHIEVEMENT - #57 - Janis Murray, “Piercings” ACHIEVEMENT - #35 - Harriet Wadro, “Napping” RECOGNITION - #78 - Carrie Perman, “Washington Highway, Have to Adjust A” RECOGNITION - #61 - Jon Miller, “Anguish” RECOGNITION - #104 - Fred Samuelson, “Watermelon Vendor” (Award sponsored by Rolfe Daniels) RECOGNITION - #102 - Esther Pacht Goldstein, “Nude” MERIT - #76 - Katherine Searle Acevedo, “Dale, Tranquilo” MERIT - #111 - Bernie Goldstein, “Nude, Light” MERIT - #83 - Julie Wolfgram, “I Dreamt I was a Mermaid” MERIT - #95 - Jordan Neumann, “Brianna” HONORABLE MENTION - #18 - Grace Senior Morandi, “You and I” HONORABLE MENTION - #68 - M.S. Reynolds, “Dreadful News” HONORABLE MENTION - #67 - Carol Richardson, “Dancing in the Moonlight” HONORABLE MENTION - #71 - Betty Morris Parker, “Widow’s Mite” |
FIGURATIVELY SPEAKING, 2011 |
It was a sheer honor to have been chosen as the juror for the 2011 Figuratively Speaking show. I enjoyed the visit and I thank the Art League of Daytona Beach for the opportunity. As soon as I entered the gallery I was struck by the vibrancy of works; the already hung and tastefully displayed exhibition was one of the best I had seen in the region. As I scrutinized the works, what revealed to me was the exhibition was a high caliber one, and works were diverse in their execution and media, while they all shared a common imagery, directly or indirectly, which was human figure. As a juror, it’s always exciting to see new work, and the selection process sharpens my critical opinion. I was asked to look at 111 works, from which I had an enormous task of picking 24 best works. Well, the problem was there were one hundred and eleven best works. One thing I always enjoy is giving money to artists, but 24 was the unfair limit. But here is what I did - I went through the works five times—once for an overview, a second time to make an initial selection, on my third review I tried to understand each work a little deeper, possibly to understand their allegories, if there were any. All of the 111 works displayed a sense of thoughtfulness. Round four is where I made my final selection. Finally, on the fifth review, I questioned myself relative to each of the selected 24 works for why they need to be in the winner’s circle. The 24 winning pieces strongly appealed to my aesthetic sense. I looked for how an idea or poetry is visually expressed, and how faithfully and expressively the subject of Figure is explored. My own educational and cultural background also played an important role in the process. My heartiest congratulations to all the winners. ACHIEVEMENT: “Napping” by Harriet Waldro was a very nice oil on canvas, reminisce of the classical era. I felt this painting was an earnest attempt at understanding the nature’s (realism) vocabulary. ACHIEVEMENT: “Piercings” by Janus Murray. The sensitive rendering of black and white charcoal was very appealing – we could kind of sense the sensual skin of the model and its beauty – charming. ACHIEVEMENT: “Blue Bandanna” by Nathan Seay. This work seems like technically a sound piece, but the model’s expression drew me to it – contemplative, perhaps a thinker. ACHIEVEMENT: “The Ideal Hat” by Carson Kapp. This was a playful piece. The lyrical aspect of rendition seems to be explored while retaining minimal residue of figure – poetry becomes more important than grammar; understandably, grammar is never the point, poetry is. DISTINCTION: “Family” by Connie Moitinho. While this was a small sculpture, the proportion of all the members of the family was robust and generic, but it evoked a wonderful basic fact – togetherness yields to strength. It would be great to see this one as a life size public sculpture. DISTINCTION: “Uprest” by Jerod Dunn. This piece was technically polished. Its diagonal configuration of the composition was dynamic; the usage of mannequin as a figure was different, very thought provoking. Wonder if there was a specific message or a story behind it. What spoke to me the most however was its Achromatic color scheme. There was depth and volume in the painting. DISTINCTION: “Temptress” by Kathy O’Meara. Yes, she was temptress. She did evoke that, rather she was very evocative, or is it provocative? This was an excellent work. Its composition was at the top layer of the surface, very Matisse-like. DISTINCTION: “Beauty and the Bird” by Fay Samini. Beautiful piece. It was a metamorphosis of several forms, parts of several life forms integrated into one, but not concealing them. A wonderful creation of metaphysical reality – a surrealism of sorts. THIRD PLACE: “Venus de Milo” by Brayden Hopper. This was a simple drawing, but sometimes a simple drawing of a powerful subject can be so immensely pleasurable. This was a good specimen of Visual Art in drawing academically. The cloth behind the Aphrodite kind of gives an impression of curtains, a kind of theatrical backdrop. Do make note, the Aphrodite appears as thought she is on stage acting a play. SECOND PLACE: “Daydreaming at Work” by Raphael C. Torres. A beautiful photograph indeed; there are four figures in this photo – two human, one mannequin, and piano the fourth figure. Piano looks like holding all of it together, perhaps in the form of music. There is something psychologically provoking about these figures, including the piano. It reminded me of Hitchcock movie characters – sharp, dark, but kind of ambivalent too. FIRST PLACE: “Rainy Day” by Jan Reeder. There may be three important aspect of a painting – forms/shapes, composition, application technique, but sometimes the fourth one supersedes the other three, simply put, the “feel” of it. I liked this piece very much for its feel. It is simply about what it appears without reading much into it. BEST IN SHOW: “Siesta” by Craig Monroe. I cannot quite remember ever seeing a photograph so beautiful photographed a beautiful composition of a beautiful subject. All aspects of visual art seem to have come together excellently. An outstanding work – the composition is very meticulous. There is a thoughtfulness, but not forced. The puissance of the subject and its composition is elegant and serene. -Vilas Tonape www.VilasTonape.com |