Colors

Our third Art competition “Colors” started in March 2020 and concluded on April 16, 2020. Art Room Gallery received entries from many countries around the world: USA, Brazil, Canada, France, Portugal, Australia, South Korea, United Kingdom, Singapore, Nigeria, Italy, India, Germany, Netherlands, Jordan, Belgium, South Africa, Hong Kong, Sweden, Russia and Bulgaria. The Colors theme in this competition included a diversity in types, styles and mediums (oil on canvas, acrylic, photography, screenprint, marker, ink, color pencil, watercolor, pastel, mixed media, collage). The following evaluation criteria has been used for judging the artwork: creativity, interpretation of the theme, originality and quality of art, overall design, demonstration of artistic ability, and usage of medium. Jury decided to select 87 artworks for inclusion in the exhibition. Aside from First, Second, and Third place Jury also presented Merit awards and Honorable Mention awards.

Thank you, and enjoy the exhibition!

First place

Statement:

Bryan Kosciolek is an artist living and practicing in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was born in Macomb, Michigan in 1994. Growing up Kosciolek was influenced by the manufacturing industry and street culture. Being engaged in the traditional media of drawing and painting from a young age, Kosciolek developed a colorful, figurative aesthetic. In 2017, he received his Bachelor of Fine Art degree in Illustration from Kendall College of Art and Design. Since 2017, Kosciolek has been working in Dinderbeck Studio, on the Westside of Grand Rapids. His experience at Dinderbeck has commanded graphic elements to emerge in his artistic practice, fusing with his manufacturing background, influencing his work today.

Statement:

Lake Roberson Newton is an artist/teacher who resides in Memphis, Tennessee. His photographic based practice situates itself between the mental and the physical, between the territory of ideas and the territory of materials and places. The work explores both banal moments and discarded matter, and tests how these can be elevated as signifiers or signs of human existence and communication. The work I am submitting for review is part of an ongoing project titled Chroma. The series explores the functionality of color as a visual medium and how perception can be altered when engaging certain forms developed primarily through the application of color structures. The images in Chroma are a deliberate attempt to subvert a physical environment or object and transform it into a new kind of visual language that both reflects and denies the represented form. Through this process, I am attempting to generate imagery that activates the imagination, perception and emotional state of the viewer in order to provide a space for open/altered thinking. Lake’s work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally, with recent shows at Masur Museum of Art (2020), Middle Tennessee State University (2020) Susquehanna Art Museum (2020), Texas Woman's University (2020), Crosstown Arts (2019), Oklahoma State University (2019), Lemieux Gallery in New Orleans (2019), Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts (2019), Marshall University (2019), Fort Wayne Museum of Art (2018), School 33 Art Center in Baltimore (2018) and others.

Statement:

I am an artist originally from Anchorage Alaska whom now lives and works in Portland Oregon. Growing up in Alaska has shown me not only the beauty in nature but the vastness as well as how much is still unknown. My work explores and is a reflection of my curiosity in myself and my surroundings as well as nature and place and its affects on us as humans and myself. I am intrigued by light, color, shape, texture and little moments in nature we don’t always see. My process often involves documentation, however, I also rely on memory, feeling, chance and intuition to create and reveal my vivid impressions. Painting with acrylic allows me to openly explore these impressions and to allow chance to happen by letting the paint flow freely. I have also explored mixed media such as by using netting as well as fabric in my work to build on a sense on place. My artistic vision helps me to slow down, to question, to reflect and to explore the ever changing qualities in myself as well as nature and place.