NEW YORK—For centuries, art has been losing its traditions. But now a growing number of artists are emerging to revive great art. Since 2008, the NTD International Figure Painting Competition (NIFPC) has been championing a return to traditional oil painting.
One of a series of international art and cultural events hosted by NTD, the NIFPC is a special competition that’s guiding art creation back to a time-honored path. The competition’s mission is “to promote the pure beauty, pure goodness, and pure authenticity of traditional oil painting,” thereby reviving the realist painting tradition.
Top Prize
Jury chair and accomplished sculptor Kunlun Zhang explains in the exhibition album preface why no one won the gold award this year. “The gold medal of this competition will be the brightest point in the history of human art development [and] therefore must adhere to the highest standards,“ he wrote. ”[The winner] must be a perfect combination of positive content and superior technique. If no work meets such high standards, the gold medal would rather not be awarded.”On Jan. 18, the award winners were announced at the Salmagundi Club in New York City. Silver is the top prize this year and has been awarded to a trio of artists—Hung-Yu Chen of Taiwan, Yuan Li of Japan, and Shao-Han Tsai of Taiwan—who created the triptych “The Infinite Grace of Buddha.”
Mr. Li created the triptych with two of his students, Ms. Chen and Mr. Tsai. He painted the central panel, which shows how the Creator’s compassion will bring salvation to all in the end times.
The triptych presents a final judgment story that resonates in many cultures. “Through the painting, we hope to tell the message that every life has the wish to return home to the heavens,” said Ms. Chen, who painted the left panel. Her painting shows how those who cultivate their character through Falun Dafa, and who release themselves of their earthly attachments, will ascend to heaven. Falun Dafa is a traditional self-cultivation path whose practitioners live by the principles of truth, compassion, and forbearance, and perform five meditative exercises.
Ms. Chen started to hone her painting skills while in middle school as Mr. Li’s art student. She said she was inspired by Renaissance artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, as well as paintings of Eastern gods and beings from the Dunhuang caves in China.
About receiving the award, Ms. Chen said: “I’m very touched and surprised. When I received the medal, I felt that I was carrying the weight of the mission to continue traditional painting.”
In the right panel, Mr. Tsai depicted the Great Law Wheel, the symbol of Falun Dafa, that shines throughout the universe. Above, Buddhas line the heavens, and below, corrupted gods and evil spirits topple to their demonic demise in the abyss of hell.
In a hat tip to the monumental art of the great Renaissance masters, Mr. Tsai’s inspiration was his desire to emulate large-scale paintings, such as ceiling frescos, triptychs by Rubens, and “Last Judgment” by Michelangelo.
“I was hoping to create something as grand as those in today’s times,” he said.
Mr. Tsai said he wants his art to vividly convey an important message. “I hope to remind people that, in our world, there are forces beyond us operating behind the scenes, and there are good forces and evil forces. Perhaps in higher dimensions, there is a battle going on between good and evil.”
Bronze Awards
Five artists won bronze awards this year.
Self-taught Peruvian painter Pablo Josué Roque Almanza loves depicting Andean traditions and culture. In the previous competition, his work “Between Generations,” depicting an Andean man off to work the land, won a humanity and culture award.
This year, he won a bronze award for “Origin,” which depicts the oral folklore “The Legend of Lake Titicaca” (also called “The Legend of Manco Cápac and Mama Ocllo”) about the origins of the Inca civilization. According to the legend, God Inti (the sun) founded civilization by creating his children, Mano Cápac and Mama Ocllo, from the foam of Lake Titicaca. He gave them a golden wand and told them to found a great city where the wand gently sank in the ground. That’s how Cusco, the capital of the Incas, came to be.
Mr. Almanza finds inspiration in classical and academic styles of art, and he hopes to continue to spread the Andean culture to future generations.
Brazilian artist Clodoaldo Geovani Martins specializes in painting rustic genre scenes. He makes a practice of noticing scenes and tucking them away for future compositions.
In the previous competition, he won a humanity and culture award for his painting “Milena’s Friends,” depicting his daughter at play.
Capturing another playful moment in “Bath Time” won him a bronze award in this year’s competition. Mr. Martins’s daughter and her cousins playing with a puppy inspired him to recreate a similar scene with some puppies on a farm. “I saw this environment, the simple rustic environment, and it is something that always attracted me,” he said.
In the painting, he effectively depicts smoke from the fire and the sunlight entering the roof. This and other details, such as cracks in the wall and the broken roof, are elements that draw a lot of attention, he believes.
Mr. Martins hopes others like his art as much as it gives him pleasure to paint it. “It’s a joy to be contributing a little, even if it’s only a little, with my work,” he said.
“The most important thing is to bring good messages, a narrative that brings good energy to people.”
On winning a bronze award, he said, “It’s an honor for me to be participating again in this competition, which is so prestigious, so important, and so recognized all over the world.”
Kansas City resident Adam Clague’s bronze-winning painting “Jenna’s Joy” was commissioned by an Ohio family, who had seen his paintings in a local gallery. Jenna’s parents wanted a portrait of their daughter, so Mr. Clague visited their home to make sketches and take photographs before returning to his studio.
Jenna’s mom wanted the portrait to show her daughter’s joyful expression after being forgiven for bad behavior, just as Christians are forgiven by Jesus. “That was the test I had as an artist ... and it was very daunting,” Mr. Clague said.
It all depended on his skill. “I don’t have a paint tube of ‘joy,’” he said.
He took great care in the overall composition, using color and line to depict the figure of the child running out into the sun-filled backyard. “It was providential that God allowed a sunny day,” he said. Perspective lines of the house and steps, as well as the foliage, naturally lead the eye to the main figure. Jenna’s white dress is brightened by the light walkway and clear sky.
Mr. Clague says that the family was delighted with the portrait, and he was doubly pleased that his painting was honored with a prize in NTD’s competition.
Taiwanese artist Tien-Cheng Wu’s painting “The Revival” shows a girl practicing the second meditative exercise of the spiritual practice Falun Dafa. The girl stands in a forest amid the vibrant trees and grass, which reflect the positivity she’s radiating as she practices.
American artist John Darley loves to paint the people and landscapes of the American West, where he lives. He won the bronze award for this painting “Vivian,” which he says was a commission from the young lady’s family. Vivian’s strong pose that belies her age, as she stands with the mountains of her family home in the background, reflects Mr. Darley’s impression of the girl, whom he found to be a young person of strong character and vision. “I just wanted to bring that out, to show this confidence and a hope in the future,” he said.
He added the mountains in the background because they “felt like a place of strength and protection, a place where you could ... live your life without fear of somebody telling you otherwise.”
Mr. Darley’s entry in the previous competition, titled “Grandfather,” earned an honorable mention. He explained there is a different handling of technique when painting an older person versus a younger person. But both require “an immense amount of focus.”
Oddly enough, Mr. Darley says he knows he’s on the right track with a painting when he turns out the lights in his studio to view his artwork. “It’s not completely dark, but kind of dark,” he said. “And there’s this glowing feeling coming from it—kind of like a shimmer.”
Receiving the NTD prize meant a great deal to the artist. “When someone appreciates your work and gives you an award, especially a monetary award, it really adds fuel to the fire” to continue painting, he said.
