NTD Television Figure Painting Competition to Exhibit Early December
Meet the finalists
For the first time, the NTD Television International Figure Painting Competition, which got its start as a platform for artists of Chinese descent, has welcomed contestants of all ethnic backgrounds.
NEW YORK—For the first time, the NTD Television International Figure Painting Competition, which got its start as a platform for artists of Chinese descent, has welcomed contestants of all ethnic backgrounds.
This year, 100 artists from 18 countries submitted more than 160 paintings. Of those, 50 works have been selected for the final exhibit, which will take place Dec. 2–7 at 4 W. 43rd St. in Manhattan. Competition winners will be announced at the opening ceremony on Dec. 2 at 6 p.m.
The competition’s mission is to promote cultural exchange and the art of figure painting using classical Western realistic methods. By focusing on the human figure, the competition encourages artists to portray the human spirit.
We interviewed six of the finalists to get their thoughts on art and creativity.
Artist Gabriel Picart. (Courtesy of Gabriel Picart)
Epoch Times: What’s the story behind your selected piece, “Allegra’s Portrait as Ballerina”?
Gabriel Picart: This painting is a portrait of my daughter Allegra at age 13, two years ago, dressed in a ballet costume. “Allegra’s Portrait as Ballerina” is one of my favorite paintings ever. It is a classical portrait at the same time that it is extremely bold in concept, a very simple composition with a few powerful hues dominating it all, mainly black and red. Ballet dancers are a subject largely depicted in European pictorial art, and I felt like making my contribution, taking advantage of my daughter’s taking ballet lessons at that time.
Epoch Times: Which three artists do you most aspire to, and why?
Mr. Picart: I admire many artists, and for many different reasons. French painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau for his technique, much in particular on the skin tones; Spanish Baroque painter Diego Velázquez for his magic, for the subjects on his portraits seem to be alive; Austrian symbolist painter Gustav Klimt for his amazing eclecticism; Mexican painter Frida Kahlo for her passion for painting; American illustrator Norman Rockwell for the way he depicted everyday life and communicated with the viewer; and Maxfield Parrish for his masterly use of color … I cannot select just three, when there are so many to aspire to!
"Allegra's Portrait as Ballerina" by Gabriel Picart. (Courtesy of Gabriel Picart)
Epoch Times: You used to work with advertising agencies and graphic design firms. How do you think this experience translates into your portraiture?
Mr. Picart: That’s right. Before 1996, I worked for advertising agencies and graphic design firms. But much in particular I did for all the major publishing houses in America and Canada, such as Reader’s Digest, Bantam Books, Dell Publishing, Harlequin, Pocket Books, Scholastic, among others, doing book covers.
And I always did in a representational mode with a fine-art treatment. I chose to master the use of oils in creating my illustrations, in contrast to some of the faster and easier mediums and techniques available, always with the goal in mind of parlaying this technical acumen into the painting of fine art. It was an excellent training. The demands of commercial art are at times almost superhuman because the challenges are both technical and aesthetic. Besides being able to draw, render, and paint, an illustrator must be able to communicate directly to the viewer.
Epoch Times: You tend to like red backgrounds—why this choice?
Mr. Picart: Red is the king of colors, if I may say so. In Western culture, it is associated with passion. In China, it is associated with happiness. I was born in Barcelona, where I still live, and red is closely related to my own culture. Spanish and Chinese cultures share their devotion to the color red, and they are the ones that have best applied it to the visual arts and décor. I have not noticed other painters using a flat red background, certainly not the way I do. To me, it presented a big challenge: A powerful red background affects all in the painting; everything else must be painted accordingly to balance its powerful visual influence, such as the skin tones, which must have some more green.
Epoch Times: What is the chief thing you try to accomplish when painting from life?
Mr. Picart: My answer may seem a joke, but it is not: I intend to make art—that simple. Obviously this requires an explanation. “Art” for me is the transmutation of something onto an upper level; it is an alchemist process. When we look at the famous portrait of Pope Innocent X by Diego Velázquez, we do not see a painting. We don’t see color pigments, although brushstrokes can be clearly perceived. We see a Pope watching us severely. This is what I mean. When I make a painting, my main goal is make the viewer believe that what he or she sees is not a painting, but a real person watching him or her; or a landscape that the viewer can jump into it; or an apple or tomato that he or she can take and eat. And I try to achieve this by painting realistically, but not photographically.
LESSTRO (Leszek Piotrowski) (Poland)
Artist LESSTRO. (Courtesy of LESSTRO)
Epoch Times: Tell us about your selected piece “Agnes.”
LESSTRO: Agnes used to work as a leader of refurbishing team and was facing many life problems. The first time I saw her, I immediately decided that I should paint her. Instead of old jeans, I saw her in my imagination wearing a beautiful baroque dress, surrounded with abundance of draperies. I wanted this girl to forget her problems and feel like a lady. And so it was. By posing during photo session in this baroque dress, she separated herself from the troubles, and I captured the moment when she was happy. And I am happy that her portrait was selected as finalist of such prestigious, worldwide painting competition.
Epoch Times: At age 30, you might be one of the youngest painters in this year’s competition. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
LESSTRO: I would like my pen name LESSTRO to be recognizable as classical, realist painter all over the world. When people are fed up with so-called pieces of art, they return to classics. The most important art critic is the audience, which doesn’t need manuals to perceive art and which is led by its own intuition and impressions. And it is the audience, regardless the dissent of “art connoisseurs’' who put its support on traditional artists, who appreciate and exploit the experiences from the past ages of art history, fortifying them with their own feelings and visions. As one of such artists, in five years I would like to paint large-scale historical paintings, being exhibited all over the world.
"Agnes" by LESSTRO. (Courtesy of LESSTRO)
Epoch Times: How do you qualify a successful portrait?
LESSTRO: A well-executed portrait is expected to show a flattering representation of the model and should capture inner essence of the subject, not just literal likeness.
These things are obvious. However, I think that it is not enough. There should also be an aura of mystery in a really successful portrait. Human beings are the best subject of art. Every single person is unique; everybody carries deeply hidden emotions, memories, and dreams; and the artist’s task is not to reveal everything, but to keep the human being mysterious and provoke reflection.
Epoch Times: Which three artists do you most aspire to and why?
LESSTRO: Even though it is still a bold artistic decision, I create very classical art pieces, hoping to build a new movement of European, contemporary art modeling itself after Dutch, Flemish, Spanish, and Italian schools.
Three great old masters to whom I most aspire are Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Velázquez.
I admire Rembrandt mostly for his great chiaroscuro (light and shadow), block intuition, and expression. Vermeer had in my opinion the best color palette, and Velázquez was unique and perfect as regards to free brush strokes.
Epoch Times: What is the most important skill you think a realist artist should have? Which are the most difficult to attain?
LESSTRO: Nowadays art became banal, and artists are dealing more with sociology than with art. Realist painting became monkeyish and the human being—as the subject of art—has been degraded.
I think, that apart from standard skills such as chiaroscuro, block intuition, proportions, and feeling colors, realist artists should have great powers of observation. However, the most important and most difficult is to create his own style, being recognizable among other painters, and staying true to himself.
To escape from the banal, dominating photorealism is a great challenge for the contemporary realist painter.
Daniel Murri (United States)
Artist Daniel Murri. (Courtesy of Daniel Murri)
Epoch Times: Where are you from originally? What do you gain by living and making art in Italy, where you live now?
Daniel Murri: I was raised in both California and Utah. I was introduced to drawing and painting early in childhood by older siblings, art classes, and an aunt who introduced me to oil painting. I received a scholarship to attend Brigham Young University to study illustration, which has a strong foundation in figurative realism.
I sought to supplement my education through courses at the Florence Academy of Art, which in my opinion is the premier institution to study traditional painting. That experience helped me connect with and gain greater understanding of the 19th century academic tradition that in my opinion was the highest level of painting craft.
Epoch Times: “Lemon Gatherer” and “Flowergirls” are both inspired by life in Italy but are very much studio-style portraits. Why did you make that choice? What feeling did you hope to capture?
Mr. Murri: The painting “Flowergirls” was inspired by an experience I had in Florence, Italy. There, as in other cities, masses gather in the evenings to socialize and enjoy the ambiance of an historic city. One evening while walking through the city, I was charmed by two gypsy girls who approached my wife and me, selling flowers. After purchasing the flowers for my wife, the two young girls eagerly ran across the town square to the gelato shop to enjoy a portion of their spoils.
“Lemon Gatherer” was painted as an expression of the dedication to and passion for one’s craft, whatever it may be, which is evident throughout Italian culture. In a hill town, just outside of Florence, there is an immaculate garden in the Villa Gamberaia. One of the specialties of this garden are the many lemon trees, which are carefully tended. In the painting, I wanted to convey the sense of tradition and care with which these trees are cultivated.
"Flowergirls" by Daniel Murri. (Courtesy of Daniel Murri)
Epoch Times: In your other piece, “Compassion,” Jesus is shown draping a coat over two little children. What was the impetus for this painting?
Mr. Murri: In the painting “Compassion” I wanted to portray the example I believe Jesus Christ was of compassion, warmth, and love. These are elements which I feel contribute to growth in my own life and to growth in a successful society. The painting was commissioned for a Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in which a special ceremony occurs to unite or seal families together, through which they can live together beyond the grave as a family unit. The painting is additionally intended to remind those who take part in this sacred ceremony that it is through the sacrifice Jesus Christ made (represented by the red cloth) that the sealing of families (represented by the girls holding fast to each other) is made possible.
Epoch Times: Which three artists do you most aspire to, and why?
Mr. Murri: Three artists to whom I look for inspiration are William Bouguereau for his technical virtuosity and his ability to so beautifully idealize or classicize reality; Antonio Ciseri for his ability to paint dramatic scenes while avoiding melodrama, and for his capacity to paint the human form; and Carl Bloch for his ability to paint religious works which combined realism, classicism, history, religion, and allegorical elements. This combination, I consider to be the most difficult and highest level an artist can achieve.
Epoch Times: What is the most important skill you think a realist artist should have?
Mr. Murri: I believe an important skill is the ability to understand composition. Beyond the simplicity of composition, in the sense of graphic arrangement, lies a more significant practice which was so well understood and practiced by artists of the past and is not as evident in current artistic work. Especially in realism which portrays the figure, considering crucial aspects such as color, lighting, point of view, interaction of figures, gesture of the figure, and even gesture of the hands, as well as facial expression, all contribute to the level of success in which an artist can convey a story or feeling.
Max Ferguson (United States)
Artist Max Ferguson. (Courtesy of Max Ferguson)
Epoch Times: Tell us about your piece “Violin Repair Shop.”
Max Ferguson: The “Violin Repair Shop” painting is part of an ongoing series of paintings on the theme of music (my other great passion). For me, it is a very large painting (44 inches by 30 inches). It took me longer to do (8 months) than any other painting I have done. It is also the most detailed painting I have done, containing close to 200 separate objects.
Being a craftsman myself, I am often drawn toward other craftsmen as subject matter. I tried to put the same amount of craftsmanship and attention to detail in this painting that a good violin maker puts into his work.
Epoch Times: Nostalgia and a timelessness of place seem to be a theme in your work. Can you tell us your thoughts about that?
Mr. Ferguson: I do very consciously try to make my paintings as timeless as possible. Surely that is one of the signs of good art, and I certainly aspire to that. It is not so much that I am nostalgically looking to the past as I am looking to the future, trying to preserve aspects of contemporary life that are rapidly disappearing. This is especially true in New York, where change takes place with the same amphetamine-fueled pace as the city itself. Many of the subject matters I have painted over the years have already disappeared entirely, or been renovated beyond recognition. In one sense it is very gratifying to know that I have preserved them (at least in paint), but it is also crushing to know that they are gone forever.
"Violin Repair Shop" by Max Ferguson. (Courtesy of Max Ferguson)
Epoch Times: Which three artists do you most aspire to, and why?
Mr. Ferguson: My three biggest influences are Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Hopper: Rembrandt for his soul and humanity, Vermeer for his sense of composition and color, and Hopper for his subject matter and general psychological aspects of urban alienation. It is not that I am trying to copy them or pay homage to them, but rather feeling a sense of kindred spirit and “standing on the shoulders of giants.”
Epoch Times: What are the key considerations, in your opinion, in working from photographs?
Mr. Ferguson: My preference is to work directly from life. Unfortunately, because of my subject matter, I am usually compelled to work from photographic studies that I make. (Working from life would be somewhere between impractical and impossible. I can’t set up my easel in a subway station for three months, etc.)
For me, the photographic studies are simply a jumping-off point. I am not a slave to them and change a great deal in them in my studio. The final painting is virtually always vastly different than the original pictures. It has never been my goal to make my paintings look like photographs. I suppose it is only natural to compare them to photographs, but again, this is not by aim. The difference between “photorealism” and my paintings is the difference between having sex and making love.
Sandra Kuck (United States)
Artist Sandra Kuck. (Courtesy of Sandra Kuck)
Epoch Times: What’s the story behind “Yvonne,” the first of your selected pieces?
Sandra Kuck: This is a portrait of my granddaughter, Yvonne, age 9. Over the years, I have observed her porcelain skin and wild Celtic hair, and her big personality. She is witty, intelligent, and assured. She’s an observer, like her grandma.
The setting I chose (a dragon screen and Chinese bench) was unlikely for a child’s portrait. However, Yvonne, with dragons dancing around her head, looks at the viewer with determination and a bit of inquisitiveness. I dressed her in a gown reminiscent of the Pre-Raphaelites, who I greatly admire.
I also wanted the viewer to stop and seriously look at her in the same way one looks at portraits of adult subjects. Children are more knowing than we think.
Epoch Times: Which three artists do you most aspire to, and why?
Ms. Kuck: Nelson Shanks is my icon for living artists. He is the ultimate portrait artist. I use his palette of colors, and I have adapted some of his techniques to my own; also, Chuck Close for his technical process of paint application and his overwhelming will power to overcome a debilitating handicap that happened at the pinnacle of his painting career. As for the old Masters, Mary Cassatt was the first artist who grabbed my attention with her heartwarming renderings of mother and child; Rembrandt, for his dramatic lighting and application of paint; Norman Rockwell, for his ability to tell a story with a painting. And Alma-Tadema, for his dramatic color, pattern, and detail. I could go on and on, since so much can be learned from all of the masters.
"Yvonne" by Sandra Kuck. (Courtesy of Sandra Kuck)
Epoch Times: You call yourself a “romantic realist.” What do you mean?
Ms. Kuck: My paintings take people into another time or another world. I want to leave the viewer with a sense of peace and beauty and perhaps questioning how I was able to paint in such detail and yet not neglecting to breathe life into my subjects. Yet, as I grow older (soon to be 68), I find my paintings to be more complex and less definable. My paintings are evolving with me.
Epoch Times: Youth and innocence seems to be a theme in your work. Where does your other selected piece, “Death of Walking Bird,” fit in this subject matter?
Ms. Kuck: In 2007, I was commissioned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida to paint a large mural of five Seminole children surrounded by animals for the first Native charter school in Florida. While researching the culture of the American Indian, I became interested and fascinated in the spiritual relationship between people and animals, which I expressed in that mural, and then re-expressed in the allegorical painting “Death of Walking Bird.”
It was painted for an exhibit in Vancouver two years ago. It was an intentional departure that attempts to show my evolution as an artist, but also for my own spiritual evolution.
The size is also intentional. In great detail, she is 10 times larger than life and undeniably overwhelming for the viewer and demanding attention, but at the same time, permits the viewer to become part of a very spiritual moment.
Clement Kwan (Canada)
Artist Clement Kwan. (Courtesy of Clement Kwan)
Epoch Times: Tell us about “Forever Playing.” What spurred you to this subject matter?
Clement Kwan: I like to take photos around town. This 80-year-old man was playing the piccolo at a venue, and I was surprised that he played so well.
Epoch Times: Do you play music yourself?
Mr. Kwan: I play most of the Chinese instruments but my favorite is the flute. I guess I’m always keen to hear how others play on their instrument.
"Forever Playing" by Clement Kwan. (Courtesy of Clement Kwan)
Epoch Times: You were born in China and are now based in Canada. How would you qualify the realist training and working environment in Canada?
Mr. Kwan: In Canada, the training is informal and self-directed. I choose to learn by using the Internet as a source of studying other artists, and whenever I visit other cities, such as I did this summer in New York, I spend hours and hours in the museums.
Epoch Times: What is the most important skill you think a realist artist should have? Which are the most difficult to attain?
Mr. Kwan: The most important and also the most difficult is to learn to see things artistically to generate ideas for a piece. Your mind must be open, clear, and free of any burdens or stress.
Christine Lin is an arts reporter for the Epoch Times. She can be found lurking in museum galleries and poking around in artists' studios when not at her desk writing.
