Congratulations 16th ARC Salon Competition Winners!

Leading the revival of realism in the visual arts, the Art Renewal Center (ARC), a non-profit, educational foundation, hosts the largest online museum dedicated to representational art and includes works by the old masters, 19th century, and 21st Century artists as well as articles, letters and other online resources. The ARC also runs the ARC Salon Competition, which is the largest competition in the world for representational artists painting, sculpting and drawing today with eleven categories and thousands of works competing, culminating in a traveling live exhibition of many of the winning works.

On January 2nd of this year the winners of the 16th Art Renewal Center Salon Competition were released! We had many alumni, faculty, and students from The Florence Academy of Art among the awarded winners!

Read below to see the winning artworks, honorable mentions, and finalist entries by FAA Collective artists as well as some words from the artists about their artworks. Below you will also be able to view the 2022 ARC Scholarship Competition winners from The Florence Academy of Art!

Click here to learn more about the ARC!

16th ARC Salon Competition

Winners:

Chanel Cha

"Dreaming”, Oil on linen, 91.44 x 66.04 cm (36 x 26 in.) 2022

First Place / Portraiture

Honorable Mention / Fully From Life

"As the young artist would seek refuge in nature, the girl portrayed in the painting is depicted standing in a flowered field, holding a colorful little bird in her hands, whilst other birds are flying around her. Her beaded and ruffled dress, in a delicate pastel tone, recalls the flower petals, slightly wrinkling in the wind, for she belongs in the meadow as much as the peonies. The soft brushstrokes and the warm light immerse the scene in a dreamlike atmosphere as if the girl was staring at us from another dimension, in a moment where reality and fairytales become one. My childhood was a lonely time. I spent much of my youth alone appreciating and connecting with nature. I wished I could just fly away like a bird." - Chanel Cha

Louis Szápáry

"After the Duel", Oil on canvas, 120 x 80 cm, 2021

First Place / Fully From Life

"This scene depicts a man moments after having fought a pistol duel. The man resting, bandaged, is regretting his actions. The pose is inspired by Jacques-Louis David's The Death of Marat.” - Louis Szápáry

Francesco Bianchini

"Portrait of Niccolò", Oil on canvas, 60 x 55 cm, 2021

Third Place / Fully From Life

"The painting was made from life under natural light. It's life size and produced with the sight size method. It was completed in eight sessions of three hours from life. The subject is a fellow artist and friend, so the painting has a personal meaning and the act of painting it was a true irreputable moment of connection, a collaboration between the painter and the sitter, between two humans. I think that facts become art through love. From a moment of sincere connection, beauty can emerge, and that's why for me it's important to work from life." - Francesco Bianchini

Jana Büttner

"Burden", Clay, 150 x 100 x 140 cm, 2022

Third Place / Sculpture

"The constant weight we put on ourselves. We carry it around with us for our whole life. Sometimes it is light as a feather, but it can also put us down on our knees. Most of the time it is balance we are looking for. A never-ending cycle. Even though our bodies fade, our soul will still continue to carry on." - Jana Büttner

Louis Szápáry

"The Boar", Oil on canvas, 90 x 60 cm, 2022

Third Place / Animals

"Male European wild boar emerging from reeds."

Frøydis Aarseth

"The Shelter", Oil on Artefex copper panel, 20 x 20 cm, 2022

Fashion Week San Diego (FWSD) 2023 Award

"The current situation in Ukraine and the terrible images from the war inspired me to paint the people who must hide and survive in improvised shelters. The artwork is painted on a lightly sanded copper panel to enhance the feeling of hardness." - Frøydis Aarseth

Silvia Juez Linares

"Dona Natura", Resin, 130 x 70 x 50 cm, 2021

Dual Category Awards (Figurative & Sculpture)

"The power of the human figure is the key to this piece that wants to invite you to a reflection on human relationships, prejudices, the situation of women in the current scene... Without closing a one-way reading of this piece, I like not to specify about meanings or objectives that I wanted to talk about with this piece, since precisely, this variety of interpretations is part of the life of the sculpture." - Silvia Juez Linares

Honorable Mentions:

Sculpture: FAA Student, Ksenia Antonenko

Fully From Life: FAA graduate, Phoebe Louise Stewart Carter

Portraiture: FAA graduate, Louis Szápáry

Teens Category: FAA student, Khaled Matar

ARC Scholarship Competition 2022

Every year the ARC hosts a scholarship competition for students to win money to study at ARC approved schools and ateliers. We are very proud to share that 8 of the awarded students were from The Florence Academy of Art.

Below are the names of the FAA students who were awarded as well as a selected work from their winning applications.

Click here to learn about ARC's Scholarship Competitions!

Samuel Hoskins: AAPL Award Winner

"Self Portrait as an Explorer", Oil on linen, 80 x 55 cm

Daniel Zalla: Frank C Wright Scholarship Winner

"Michael", Charcoal and white chalk on toned paper, 100 x 60 cm

Gabriel Schwaab: 2nd Place Winner

"Alessandro", Charcoal on hand-toned paper, 75 x 30 cm

Giuseppe de Palma: 2nd Place Winner

"Gaia", Four week long pose, Charcoal and chalk on hand toned Arches paper, 100 x 65 cm

Rob Wegh: 2nd Place Winner

"Untitled", Clay, 96 x 41 x 29 cm

Khaled Matar: 2nd Place Winner

"Luna", Oil on canvas, 50 x 40 cm

Elizabeth Ralph Smith: 3rd Place Winner

"Still Life with Bronze Laocoön", Oil on canvas, 50 x 65 cm

Bertrand Godefroy: 3rd Place Winner

"Camilla", Water-based clay, 90 x 35 x 20 cm

We hope you enjoyed this wonderful selection of artworks created by FAA graduates, and, if you would like to browse more, you may visit the Alumni Gallery on the FAA Website.

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