ATIM's Top 60 MASTERS 2020

ATIM'S TOP 60 MASTERS ArtTour International Publications, Inc., the most iconic worldwide platform in the art industry, is proud to introduce a highly-anticipated publication – a testament to our dedication and involvement with some of the most talented and inspiring artists operating in the world today; the ATIM'S Top 60 Masters 2020!

For the last nine years, ArtTour International has inspired over 10 million global viewers by showcasing and giving exposure to hundreds of artists in all stages of their careers Our multi-media platform has grown exponentially to include our award-winning printed and digital publications, the prestigious ATIM Masters Awards, the ArtTour International weekly TV show, and a social media presence that is continuously growing.

The ninth edition of this annual publication features 60 incredible artists selected from a pool of over 3200 submissions bringing to light the best of the best in the contemporary art world.

Curated by the internationally acclaimed art personality Viviana Puello, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of ArtTour International Magazine, the publication spotlights top talent from a vast array of artistic forms.

The front cover showcases the captivating work "Escape to Reality" by the artist of the year, Patricia Karen Gagic. The back cover features the work "Promise of Humanity" by master artist ALBY. And throughout the interior, this book is brimming with artworks by some of the world's most awe-inspiring artists, an eclectic mix that is sure to be enjoyed by everyone!

Each book is a softcover version in glorious, full color, and printed on high-quality glossy paper and perfect bound.

Curated by Viviana Puello Graphic Design by Alan Grimandi Published by ArtTourInternational Publications Inc. 988 Columbus Ave. New York, NY 10025 Distributed at Barnes & Noble and over 1200 Newsstands Worldwide.

For digital distribution find us on: MAGZTER and ISSUU.COM Order from our online store at www.arttourinternational.com or at a bookstore near you! © Copyright 2020 ArtTourInternational Magazine.

The authors reserve all copyrights. The artists retain the copyrights of all published artwork.

Reproduction of any published material without the written permission of the magazine's publisher is prohibited by law.

As Featured On

Letter from the Editor-in-Chief Dear art lover and co-creator, The year 2020 has immense challenges affecting our worldwide audience, our network of artists, teams, and families. There will always be in our conversations before and after the 2020 pandemic. But, for each person, that conversation will have a different meaning.

For some, it will be sorrow, for others pain, and for yet others fear. However, one theme will be shared—how we were changed and how our message was affected, transformed, and renewed.

It took the universe only 8 minutes and 46 seconds to show us the real state of our hearts. The unjust and cruel death of George Floyd served as a mirror to show us how much more change needs to occur in every human being. Racial discrimination, injustice, and inequality need to be eradicated from our society. Now, we are in that process of universal evolution and transformation that will hopefully bring about a renewed consciousness.

Our mission at ArtTour International is to promote the arts to our global audience of 2.1 million readers with multi-media platforms to help artists share their message and earn a living doing what they love.

ArtTour International is the only art platform supporting art activists. We address social and environmental issues, bringing you the works of top figures in the international activist art world.

Working with our fantastic network of artists across 205 countries has taught me that our differences enrich our cultures and lives. I have learned that each culture has a value that, when combined with others, creates a collective force that can be utilized for the betterment of humanity.

This year, more than EVER, I want to profoundly and wholeheartedly thank my dearest artists for participating in this publication. Some of whom have been sick, lost loved ones, and confronted business challenges. But kept going, creating, and fighting to keep inspiration alive.

They kept working and creating to make this happen. Hats off to all these invincible masters, for their strength, commitment, and incredible endurance. They ROCK!!!

I also want to thank my team. We faced the same challenges, but the love for these artists and willingness to share their messages and works kept us going.

I firmly believe we come from pure joy and live on this Earth to fulfill a purpose.

The artists in this book are individuals who have stayed faithful to their calling, brave and steadfast, aiming always to better themselves and create the best art. Being inspired allows us to swim in a universal flow of energy. To tap into our true self and create through language, music, dance, painting, and writing. In this way, we can express the messages others need to hear, sing the songs others need to hear, and build the bridges we need to cross.

As we enter an era of transformation and spiritual awakening, I hope this book will bring light into these challenging moments.

Art is inspiration, and inspiration is divine. These artworks are beautiful messages from up above. Open your heart and let it be touched by the abundant source of love you will find inside this publication pages. I promise that you will discover something new that speaks directly to your heart. Also, feel free to reach out to the artists, as they have a lot more to share.

To you, my gratitude. For supporting the arts and keeping us going and supporting our mission and the message of all artists.

I have been inspired and transformed by these master artists' creations, and I'm grateful for the honor of working with them.

Enjoy the ATIM Top 60 Masters of 2020.

Viviana Puello Founder/CEO ArtTour International Publications, Inc.

About the Curator Viviana Puello is an artist, curator, writer, founder, and CEO of ArtTour International, an art platform dedicated to promoting artists worldwide that expands to 205 countries with an audience of 2 million readers.

Puello is also the host of her show "ArtTour International," which airs every Thursday at 5:30 pm in NYC through MNN-HD Spectrum 1993. The show has received the "Public Media Awards of Excellence" for two years in a row in 2018 and 2019.

After two decades of working as an independent artist and curator and seeing the struggles and hardships that many artists face within the art industry, Puello decided to use her experience to help artists overcome the challenges of becoming full-time artists. She helps artist entrepreneurs create strategies to build lucrative careers and make a living doing what they love without having to compromise their message.

She has helped hundreds of artists and has traveled over 53 cities around the world with the cameras of her TV Show to support artists and emerging art organizations. She has also published 52 art magazines as the Editor-in-Chief of ArtTour International.

Puello has been featured on CBS News, Medium, ABC, Fox, The NY Weekly, The Washington Post, LA Wire, NY Wire, The American Reporter, Venezuela TV, Brazil TV, Toscana Cultura, and Incontri con L'Arte in Italy among others. Her publication ArtTour International reaches 2 Million readers worldwide with every issue.

Viviana Puello is also the founder of Artists For A Green Planet" and "Create4Peace", two platforms that help artist-activists find a voice. She's also the founder and Director of Vivid Arts Network, an international art event platform to offer artists the opportunity to cross over continents with their art and expand their reach.

For more information about Viviana, invitations or speaker-related inquiries email her booking office for speaking fees and availability at info@vivianapuello.com or visit www.vivianapuello.com.

About the Graphic Director Alan Grimandi, COO and co-founder of ArtTour International Magazine, is an awardwinning filmmaker, Director, Producer, Multi-Media Designer, and an advocate for the arts.

Recipient of the "Best First Time Director" by New York Film Awards for his film "Kintsugi-The Line Of Destiny," which also received the "Top Documentary Award" with the Top Shorts Film Festival.

Grimandi is the co-creator and director of the show "ArtTour International," which airs every Thursday at 5:30 pm in NYC through MNN-HD Spectrum 1993. The show has received the "Public Media Awards of Excellence" for two years in a row in 2018 and 2019.

Grimandi introduced himself to the art world at an early age and stumbled upon an artistic career that has brought him significant accomplishments. Originally, from Ferrara, Italy, is also the co-founder of the Vivid Arts Network.

Grimandi has served the art industry for over fifteen years using his experience in filmmaking to help art entrepreneurs and art organizations. From short promo ads, elaborate video productions to compelling film and documentaries, Grimandi's award-winning video production team has helped convert many dreams into cinematographic realities.

Grimandi travels with his team to produce the "Art 2 Heart" Interviews with artists and personalities, offering a global platform for artists, galleries, and creative individuals.

On his first project as a filmmaker, Grimandi's experience and creativity came together to produce a great short film that has gained him acclaim by critics in the industry.

For more information about Alan Grimandi or filmmaking, inquiries contact alan.grimandi@arttourinternational.com or visit the ArtTour International Video Production page at www.arttourinternational.com/video-production

The official sculpture for the ATIM Masters Awards was created in 2015 by Viviana Puello. A reproduction of the sculpture is presented to awarded artists each year. For 2020, Puello has chosen to present a version of the sculpture, painted in Ferrari Red, reflecting a year full of world events that have threatened social justice and international peace. The elegant, stunning sculpture is entitled “Rising Above.� It is a 25-cm angel-like figure with open wings and extended arms painted in Ferrari Red Enamel and 24-carat gold. This unique, spectacular sculpture embodies everything ATIM stands for.

INSPIRATION Inspiration is not something that comes and goes in unexpected moments, or a force that takes over our senses and then goes away until next time. We can choose to be inspired because inspiration is being aligned with our inner being in the present moment. We can always make that choice; no outside influence has any power over that. It is a part of us that is immutable.

Deep in the center of our being resides our true self. Below all the layers of human experience that have shaped our ego exists a bright star; all we need to do is to let the light shine through. We always have the choice to remain inspired. - Viviana Puello

CONTRIBUTORS

Yadira Roman, Amy Marsh, Adam Christensen, Avery Small, Melissa P, Emmanuel Power, Steve Joel

Katrina Sevilla katrina@arttourinternational.com

Get Featured! ArtTour International is delighted to feature artists who are making a difference. We have several ways for you to get featured. Email info@artTourinternational.com for more information.

2020

"Escape To Reality� Mixed Media By Patricia Karen Gagic

INDEX “ArtTour International's Artist of the Year” Cover Artist

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Patricia Karen Gagic

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Back Cover

Alison Barrows-Young (ALBY)

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- Aase Birkhaug - Alison Barrows-Young (ALBY) - Anastasia Schipanova - Armen Sarvazyan - Barbara Tyler Ahlfield - Bente Halvorsen - Betty Collier - Bud Lichtenwalner - Caren Akers - Catherine Tait - Charles Whiting - Cher Anderson - Dagmar Wankowski - Donna Bonin - Eric Wiles - Gabi Domenig - Gianfranco (John) Gambardella - Gloria Keh - Grethe Kjøsnes - Gunilla Klemendz - Howard Harris - Hsi Chun Huang - Jani Jan J. - Janice Alamanou

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- Jeong-Ah Zhang - Jim Fitzpatrick - Jimena Becerra - Johnny E. SJ. Otilano - Kari Veastad - Karin Monschauer - Kay Griffith - Kina Wolfe - Laurence Lher - Lawrence R. Armstrong - Leroi - Liv Babra - Liz Brownrigg - Lyn Olsen - Margaretha Gubernale - Maribel Matthews - Marta Promińska - Mieke Van Den Hoogen - Mona Choo - Mano - Pako Campo - Parul Srivastava - Patricia Karen Gagic - Paul Uyehara

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- Pedro Alberti - Philip Noyed - Pia Buxbom - Raymond John Westraadt - Ric Conn - Steve Lyons - Subodh Maheshwari - Suzan Lotus Obermeyer - Thérèse Boisclair - Vladimir Rusinov - Wendy Cohen - Yolanta Desjardins - Zhu Yi

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Thursdays 5:30 pm EST.

Channel 5 (Spectrum 1993) or Streaming Live on MNN.ORG ArtTour International is an Arts & Travel TV Show that features celebrities in the art scene and natural and architectural wonders.

Join Viviana Puello as we bring you the most exciting artists in the international art scene and awe-inspiring locations around the world, tune in every Thursday at 5:30 pm and discover a world of inspiration!

Follow us!

@arttourinternational

@arttourmagazine

12 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Patricia Karen Gagic “ArtTour International's Artist of the Year”

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“Into the Mystic Dream” Mixed Media, 32” X 49”

by Viviana Puello

ccomplished and celebrated International Contemporary Artist, Author, Humanitarian, and Speaker, Patricia Karen Gagic, has been awarded and recognized for her writing and metaphorically fused vivid abstract paintings she speaks of as 'The Karmic Revolution.' She has an impressive global art career with her work exhibited all around the world. We are excited to name her ArtTour International's Artist of the Year.

Gagic's style derives from a creative perception of facing the challenges, dynamic richness, and quality, which emerges from working with layered textures and intricate shadows.

Her process-driven paintings reflect her connection to the world around her, and in particular, to nature and the environment. Using the depth of each visual as a symbol of that within ourselves. Her use of color connects the viewer to the emotional impact of genuinely allowing us to be present in the natural world. Gagic's artwork is a balance between the intense bold color palettes required for shadows and neutral tones that compliment and make each canvas a soothing yet powerful visual with the essence of an intense silence we often experience in such elevated heights of nature.

Her use of color is the identifying factor in her portfolio.

Cool color hues depict glacial landscapes, including ice melts and lakes, as well as warmer shades directing our gaze to the resemblance of the northern lights. Her realistic reflective tones of ice and snow create depth and texture that she achieves with her blade, naturally blending into blue hues.

Cont. next page

“Elite Formless” Mixed Media, 12” X 16”

ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020 13

“Humanity Whispers” Mixed Media, 30” X 40”

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“Sacred Temple” Mixed Media, 36” X 48”

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“My hope is to share in the voyage with each canvas as it is my journey alone. For those who walk along side with me, I can only wish they will see the beauty within themselves.”

- Patricia Karen Gagic

“Karma is a potent law of the Universe.

Karma, literally meaning action, is the sum of your intentional and deliberate consciousness, which prescribes your thoughts and thus determines your actions.”

- Patricia Karen Gagic

“Socrates” Mixed Media, 24” X 24”

Her themes demonstrate an appreciation and spiritual connection to nature evident in her often preferring concepts that portray the hidden details found in natural formations. Gagic uses a unique technique that results in seamlessly overlapping layers with detailed corners for each object. Every display has a different thickness and blends smoothly into the background space. Fluid brushstrokes

create a sense of mystery and wonder which the viewer can connect with.

Gagic's art displays her mastery of the Matisse and French Masters' Palettes, which often produce great retrospective views and natural formations. Her work is the combination of many notable styles, all bringing together a culmination of Cont. next page

“The truth about abstract art is in the idea, the form and elegance of its nature.

With each moment being a new one, the concept of imagination bridges with a kind of parallel dance into DNA. Time and space require a certain level of patience when you include them in the dimensions of art. There is a shadow contained inside each stroke. One rarely sees it, but in the forever changing unstable grid we operate within, the shadow reveals much more than what the eye perceives. This is the destiny of art, revealing something beyond sound, beyond thinking. It is a revelation into the beauty of the ever changing world we are witnessing. Art creates a mirror for others to find beauty within no matter what form it takes.”

- Patricia Karen Gagic “Patience” Mixed Media, 20” X 20”

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“Serenity” Mixed Media, 36” X 48”

explosive color. Watercolors showcasing a photorealistic look are paired with blended hues for a more expressive depth of space. Her art also points to something higher than logic-based conventional perceptions, as Gagic, concerned about the emergence of form and method, provides exceptional distinction in her work to bring feelings and life to the viewer through texture, light, and color.

As a distinguished artist on many levels, Patricia Karen Gagic has served as a member of the Ontario Cabinet for Friends of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. She is a member of the Sir Edmund Hilary Foundation and the Divon Academy Board of Directors. She is an active Rotarian and Advisor to Help Heal Humanity. She is a recipient of the YMCA Peace Medal and recognized by WXN (Women's Executive Network) as one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada. She was awarded the BMO Arts and Communication award in 2015, Royal Bank Champion in 2016, and BMO Arts and Communication in 2017. In 2018 Gagic was inducted into the WXN Hall of Fame. She has received many awards and recognitions and continues to support the library and school she founded in Angkor Wat, Cambodia, since 2006.

She is represented by Artworld Fine Art in Toronto, Ontario, FACEC International in France, Paul Fisher Gallery in Florida, and Gallery on the Bay in Hamilton, Ontario. Patricia exhibited with BB International Fine Arts in Geneva, Berlin, Korea, Austria, and Zurich.

“Escape to Reality” Mixed Media, 30” X 40”

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“Entering Enlightenment” Mixed Media, 48” X 36”

Patricia was an Honorary Commissioner at the Venice Biennale, representing the art of Adi Da Samraj -Transcendental Realism. In 2018, Patricia won the Gold Medal in Photography at the SNBA (Salon de la Societé Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Paris) at the Carousel du Louvre. She is one of the 2019 recipients of the TOP 60 Masters by ATIM (Art Tour International Magazine). In 2017 Patricia was the recipient of the Excellence in the Arts for Courage and Commitment to Human Rights, Dignity, and Freedom by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. She received the 2019 Silver Medal from the Societe Academique Arts, Sciences, and Lettres of France in Paris.

Notably, she has an impressive pedigree having studied under Master Artist Dragan Dragic since 1999 in France. As an author, her first book Karmic Alibi became an Award Finalist in the 2014 USA Best Book Awards and a Finalist in 2015 International Book Awards. Karmic Alibi received the 2017 Book Excellence Award. She is the co-author of multiple books, including Amazon Best Seller - Voices of Inspiration/ Marlon Smith and RockStar Success stories with Craig Duswalt. Patricia has presented at Carnegie Hall, Harvard Club of Boston, and Nasdaq.

patriciakarengagic.com “Providence” Mixed Media, 16” X 20”

18 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Aase Birkhaug

“Princesse of Roses” Tempera on Canvas, 15” X 18”

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by Yadira Roman

orweigan botany focused Painter and Physiotherapist, Aase Birkhaug puts her best foot forward to shed some light on the healing properties of Roses. She uses a complimenting soft palette that includes various media such as Aquarelle, Tempera, Gouache, Oil, Acrylics, and Pastels. Birkhaug exhibits a rich infusion of layers in conjunction with rich textures, often using gold as the symbolic representation for the delicate and elegant flower.

Birkhaug effectively partners a sense of dreamlike images with a true to life, realistic experience for her audience.

Birkhaug often depicts harmonious blends of warm and earthy tones, creating a moment of tranquil observation for her audience. Her intricate detailed lining evokes the memory of silk-like pedals, therapeutic rose scent, and warm hues.

With a keen eye for light, it is a special moment when caught

“Rose Felicite Parmentier” Watercolor and Tempera on Paper , 5” X 6”

on her canvas, an invitation to look deeper. With her background in therapy, Birkhaug holds excellent knowledge about the unique effects of Roses; she thoughtfully chooses each tone intending to use it as a tool for color healing therapy. Her work is both intuitive and structured with a lavish delivery in the depth of her paintings and her narrative.

"We often search for the answers to our questions and believe the complicated answer to be the solution to the complicated question. It is not always that way, if we use the words and quotation of the English association of healers: healing is gentle, simple, and effective”.

aasebirkhaugart.com

“Heavenly Roses a Rendezvous” Tempera Painting on Canvas With Gold Flakes, 12” X 16"

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Alison Barrows-Young

“Refugee Angel 2” Mixed Media on Wood , 16” X 20” X 1”

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“Refugee Angel 2” Closed, Mixed Media on Wood , 16” X 16” X2”

by Gabe Deter

merican born, Alison Barrows-Young is known for her diverse use of media, themes, and styles.

Barrows-Young's portfolio is an intriguing display of figurative, abstract, and elemental work, which speaks to social, environmental, and personal concepts fusing naturalistic imagery with eccentric patterns to stunning effect. Her paintings beam with a kaleidoscope of bright tones, and soft earthy contrasts.

Currently, Barrows-Young is choosing to use icon art formats to shed light on our global refugee crisis through carving, wood burning, and layering of metallic and natural colored inks. Her themes are sensitive to the many challenges the world faces. Focusing on and promoting peace is a signature concept found in all of her paintings. Barrows-Young captures a spiritedness in her depictions of landscapes and human subjects by combining naturalistic detail and stylistic 'expression.'

“Through the years, my artistic voice has gathered into an alliance with my preference to live in the wilderness. To preserve nature, and to advocate for the earth. I am devoted to living peacefully within our biosphere and to nurturing its persistence. Due to global warming, the weather has become unpredictable, and in it's a wild path, life on earth, which once seemed so certain and solid, is now tenuous. From the mountain ridge of my forest home, I am often stirred by how small and insignificant I am in the face of the earth's majesty. I hope to express the absolute awe and the inexplicable peace I feel when facing its force in my painting. Incredibly beautiful, even in its astounding fierceness, it leaves no doubt to the certainty of its life-giving and life-taking accountability.”

www.alisonbarrowsyoung.com “Refugee Angel 3” Mixed Media on Wood , 16” X 20” X 1”

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Barbara Tyler Ahlfield

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by Yadira Roman

n established artist, and renowned American Fashion Illustrator Barbara Tyler Ahlfield, makes larger than life realistic portraits that have a classical quality to them, with a contemporary twist streaming into a fantasy-like wonder. Skillfully executed and deeply thoughtful, her extravagant settings bring her audience into a lavish and

“Yadira and Reign” Oil on Canvas, 60” X 48”

contemplative world. She works with a variety of media, including graphite pencil combined with India ink line, colored pencil, watercolor, gouache, and oils. Luminous colors and luscious brushwork add a lively sense of nostalgia coupled with her acute attention to detail. The textures she creates with paint seem to emerge from the surface with radiant

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“Dreams After Dark" Oil On Canvas, 60” X 48"

“Borzoi Strut" Oil On Canvas, 60” X 48"

“Fashion is definitely a great influence… I love drama, dramatic posing, and lighting” - Barbara Tyler Ahlfield

clarity. Ahlfield uses natural elements to complement the e s s e n c e o f h e r s u b j e c t s , c r e a t i n g a n ove ra l l transcendental experience for her audience.

This last year Ahlfield partnered with her daughter Alexandra Ahlfield and embarked on a new path of creativity, launching a lifestyle fashion brand Sisumoi. The brand promotes the ideal of fine art being incorporated into everyday aspects of life. Her signature paintings are brought into a new atmosphere through clothing garments and everyday accessories. Her background as a lead fashion illustrator for Lord & Taylor has propelled her into new heights for this line and sharing an Cont. next page

“Debi Brock And Jazzy" Oil On Canvas, 36" X 48"

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“Mark With Slapshot” Oil On Canvas, 30” X 40”

“Matador With Fireflies” Oil On Canvas, 30” X 40”

awareness that beauty starts with one's commitment to their passions and truth. Ahlfield's work promises to entice the eye with flowing garments, intricate lined, and laced patterns that require keen attention and applied accessories with a quiet presence. Every aspect of her work has a role, gracing her audience with the luxury of beauty.

Apart from her classical environments that are telling of a bygone era that accentuated the quality of life, she chooses settings that bring each painting to life with naturalistic elements, and details such as the change of a season, or charisma in a city. These details are often a reflection of her subjects; her models are often thrilled to discover the backgrounds Ahlfield has imagined and painted to be a highly intuitive reflection of their deepest desires and intimate thoughts.

"Jewel with Nikki and Annie" honors the legacy of her friend in life, Jewel. A woman who left behind a great deal of an impact through her dedication to animal welfare. A hyperdetailed feathered hat mirrors her elegance and innate connection to wildlife. Partnered with her charismatic pets, this portrait is signature to Ahlfield's cool and misty tonal range, and even with surreal abstractions as the background, these portraits appear breathtakingly real retaining a resplendent glow. The soft, serene atmosphere she creates with this portrait of purple allows her subject to be receding into a dreamy haze. The fragmented placement of each object in her compositions increases the drama and tension of her subjects.

"Shrimp Taffeta” Oil On Canvas, 60” X 36"

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"Jewel, Nicky, And Annie" Oil On Canvas, 60” X 36"

"Svora Borzoi Babs" Oil On Canvas, 60” X 48"

“When I approach a blank paper or canvas, I aim to create something beautiful, inspiring, and memorably unique.”

- Barbara Tyler Ahlfield

www.barbaratylerahlfield.com "Vapor” Oil On Canvas, 60” X 48"

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Anastasia Schipanova

“Celebration” Oil on Canvas, 27.5” X 23.5”

C

by Daniel Limo

ombining Science, and Art, Russian painter Anastasia Schipanova ex p r e s s e s h e r p a s s i o n f o r metaphysics and astrology. She works as an abstract expressionist, often using oils, and employs dark canvases to accentuate her patterns and colors. Schipanova circles around metaphorical themes of Universal Laws, and the mental expansion that can be evoked in the human psyche through experiencing such concepts in art. Schipanova's ideas reveal her perception of the physical universe and her thoughts about out of body experiences that engulf us every day. Her gradient blending interspersed with layering combine to beautiful effect.

“Eternity” Oil on Canvas, 47” X 39”

Monochromatic tones applied, with a circular motion, provide an active sensory experience as her images appear to move through the canvas when gazed upon for long periods. With careful observation, her viewers can spot single specks of shapes as the epicenter among layered lines. A motif often discovered through several images is the concept and iconography of "infinity." With a passion for mental health, she links creativity with unlocking the subconscious mind and dedicates her practice to promoting the connection of Science and art as an evolutionary tool for improving human life's longevity.

schipanova.com/ru

“New Vibrations” Oil on Canvas, 39” X 39”

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Armen Sarvazyan

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by Yadira Roman

rmenian artist Armen Sarvazyan is a prolific sculptor, engineer, and scientist who experiments boldly with diverse media. Apart from stone and wood, Sarvazyan may unfurl his artistic expression on concrete or any other material he finds worth studying and using as a conduit of his expression. His extensive education in physics, math and biology has been an immense influence on his art. Geometric motifs and physics undertones are displayed in the symmetry of his shapes and geometric proportions of his sculpted figures. In addition to his portraits of famous personalities, he is predisposed to sculpting the female form in both abstract and realistic depictions.

Movement and flowing curves make his sculptures of women come alive. He is often drawn to use muted colors and allows the rough and smooth surfaces in his works to take center stage. Thematic references in his current works are broadranging, from musical legends to cultural symbolism. His sculptures employ traditional folk woodcarving techniques, and he is compelled by his connection with Nature, his everevolving muse.

“African Beauty” Marble Bas-Relief

Sarvazyan captures the majestic essence of trees while creating works that embody a deep sense of mortality and profound emotion through the slight curve of a mouth, the depth of a gaze, and the memory of a legend. Sarvazyan is an artist who exploits his media to the fullest extent to unravel his peak artistic expression.

www.armensarvazyan.net

“John Lennon” Wood Sculpture

“Tired” Wood Sculpture

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Bente Halvorsen

“Surrounded by Light” Acrylic On Canvas, 47.2” X 35.4”

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by Yadira Roman

orwegian painter Bente Halvorsen uses art as a calming and educational vessel. Her recent works burst with vibrant tones primarily using acrylic and oil, mirroring the alluring and natural color patterns experienced in sky-scapes and landscapes. Her inspiration to depict nature invites a more in-depth conversation about each unique visual delivered through her large scale canvases tackling environmental, social, and reflective themes.

grandiosity. Halvorsen's efforts in promoting environmental preservation by recycling materials for her works, push her forward like a ray of sunshine in the fine arts.

www.bentehalvorsen.com

Halvorsen matches her highly skilled background as an artist, with her knowledge and connection to the relaxing effects paintings can bring forth. Taking on the role as a painting instructor, she is both playful and inspirational with her work.

"Surrounded by Light," and " Straw at Sunset," are a soothing display of the spatial elements that transpire as the dividing points on each canvas—bringing forth vastness, and

“Straw At Sunset” Oil on Linen Canvas, 47.2” X 31.5”

“Energy” Acrylic On Canvas, 31.5” X 47.2”

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R.W. Bud Lichtenwalner

R.W.

by Daniel Limo

“Island at the Creeks Bend” Color Pencil

Bud Lichtenwalner avidly captures his experiences with nature in realistic landscapes that evoke an uplifting and traditional narrative, often with a soft and emotional driving atmosphere. His works can be described as possessing a 'gentle realism,' the works are rendered from his time spent in nature walks, referencing elements of memory and record.

Pen and ink were his earlier specialties as well as his background in architecture, a field he excelled in. Nowadays, Lichtenwalner's creative impulses and artistic prowess have found a home in acrylic on canvas. On the first glimpse of Lichtenwalner's pieces, you can't help but be taken aback by the immense level of detail in each painting. No element is too small, not even a blade of grass, to be undeserving of his full attention. He demonstrates a clever use of lighting that he meticulously incorporates in every inch of his painting to enhance perspective and distance. Lichtenwalner is an artist whose works embody his profound love and appreciation for

nature and also evinces years of technique refinement to become a master artist.

“Fields After a Late Summer Shower” Color Pencil

“22 Rolling Hills of Corn Fields in Late Summer” Color Pencil

Tell us a bit about your lifestyle and what influence it has on your work?

“My lifestyle is a rather relaxed affair, with traditional surroundings. I enjoy hiking on the trails at a local Environmental Center, enjoying the freedom of 'getting away from it all' and just immersing myself in the simplicity of nature.”

When did you start capturing nature through art?

“The first experience was in art class, both private and in the gifted program. In 7th – 12th grade. That was the painting of a seascape with a palette knife and brushes. I won my first place award for art in the second grade.”

www.budlichtenwalner.com

28 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Betty Collier

“Sun Bird On Coral Tree” Watercolor on Watercolor Paper, 17” X 22”

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by Ben Field

etty Collier has a passion for taking nature's many inspirations to sculpture or canvass, evidenced in her prolific works. In a career spanning over 44 years in both teaching and creating exquisite art pieces, Collier has proven to be an eclectic creative using a spectrum of media, including oils, watercolors, pen and ink drawing threedimensional carving sculptures from wood and rock. Collier

“Ashy Faced Owl” Ink Pens on Smooth Watercolor Paper, 13” X 9”

enjoys the process of reflectively contemplating and masterfully utilizing the beautiful themes taken from nature; her use of positive and negative space, coupled with the smooth textures of the media, display an unconstrained movement and flow creating her signature mood of adventure and tranquility.

“Iguana” Ink Pens on Smooth Watercolour Paper, 26” X 24”

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“Barnaby, I'm Not Perfect” Bronze on Perspex, 5.5” X 9” X 10.75”

Collier’s watercolor, ink, and mixed media pieces showcase an aptness that gives her works an undeniable edge, her penchant for animals, both domestic and wild, is seen in her visual reproductions. There's an abstract quality about her sculptures, dancing between representational and conceptual art. Collier's sculpting technique is refined and technical while sticking to her stylized elemental concepts. Dedicated to discovering different aspects of our natural world, she invites her audience into a personalized experience with each discovery she has in wildlife.

“I live in a city of 150,000 people, North West of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. Living on the outskirts of Ballarat, I'm not far from the bush and pastoral land. It is this closeness to nature that has given me a long life love of plant, bird, animal, insects, and land formations. As a former runner and bike rider, I would regularly spend time in the countryside.”

“Hawk Fish” Watercolors on Smooth Watercolor Paper, 9” X 12”

www.bettycollier.com

“Transitional” Huon Pine On Granite, 22” X 28” X 18”

30 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Caren Akers

“Meteorite Shower” Acrylic on Canvas, 18” X 36” X 1.5”

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by Yadira Roman

p close and personal, Caren Akers works span a broad range of styles and themes. As an abstract expressionist, Akers' paintings are shrouded in a variety of colors, ebullient forms, and patterns, capturing the vitality of living organisms. Her tactful choice of color and stroke method combine seamlessly to enhances this trancelike effect combined with a technique that is seemingly dictated by whim as she shifts from one style to another in her works.

“Movement, do you move forward in a straight line? Or do you travel in twists and turns? Do you move fast or stop, watch, and observe before you move on? I want Movement considered as a metaphor for how you experience your own life as this is collection is my own reflection of how I am viewing life.”

www.caren-akers.com

Currently residing in South Florida, her various themes and concepts reflect the dappled light in her surrounding environment, inspired by the uplifting lush greenery and tropical animals. Akers' seemingly spontaneous, yet carefully layered patterns lead a lively motion, and direction that enhances the overall visual experience of her work.

“Late for Lunch” Acrylic on Canvas, 36” X 40” X 1.5”

“4 of Diamonds” Acrylic on Canvas, 36” X 36” X 1.5”

Catherine Tait

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by Yadira Roman

ustralian painter and sculptor Catherine Tait transforms everyday scenes into immersive pieces rife with longing and mystery. Tait makes use of a vast spectrum of mediums in both painting and sculpting. With a soft texture, almost feather-like portraits, and realistic sculptures employing the bronze, lost-wax casting, her style mends both traditional and modern approaches that bounce from impressionistic to realistic.

Often capturing the bustle of city life in her various travels, and the occasional rural scene, her works often employ blended lines and faded points of perspective that provide dynamism and dramatic style that contrasts light and shadows.

Her romanticism towards warm colors and darker tones creates depth and dimension, the darkness becomes a

“Life’s Cycle” Oil on Linen, 40” X 6”

“Musee Rodin Paris” Oil on Italian Gesso Board, 8” x 8”

protagonist that conveys a personal message as the rest of her subjects do. Tait skillfully delineates her subjects from the background and allows them to become the stage for the lives she captures. Lavish red and orange tones drape her canvas, creating an evocative effect. What becomes endearing is her choice of subjects varying from domestic animals, to regal men, and women that inspire tradition, and culture. Tait approaches art as an opportunity for learning and continues to propel her career forward with a fearless view of testing the waters.

www.catherinetaitartist.com.au

“In the Spot Light Kathryn Ward” Oil on Linen Stretcher

32 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Charles Whiting

“Elk Creek at Twilight” Photography, 24” X 36”

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by Daniel Limo

harles Whiting is an American Nature Photographer and Environmentalist who has focused on showcasing the grandness of landscapes, both in mountainous and coastal areas that encompass the diversity of nature and to propose its beauty as the ultimate expression. His work shows remarkable clarity, presenting the desired theme in its full splendor, with vibrant colors and defined shapes. His intuitive relationship with capturing light creates visual contrasts that illuminate the climactic areas of each photograph. Dimensional transitions are a feature that is vital in the overall composition of each scene. These changes are carefully applied, and it is a technique that showcases the excellent precision that Whiting has regarding structure, balancing, and maintaining clarity on all levels. The concept behind these complex and tranquil images is promoting and underlining the beauty that can be found in our world, exhibiting the full range of emotions that originate from such images, like peace and wonder.

“Wildflowers Fence And Mountains” Photography, 24” X 36”

Now residing in Colorado in the Rocky Mountain Front Range foothills, Whiting expresses his immediate surroundings as his muse promoting environmental preservation through his work and his role as a member of Nature First Photography Alliance. They actively focus on conserving the landmarks photographed through outreach, community, and research.

“Photography is the medium that allows me to share my love of nature with others. For me, Photography has been a lifelong study in learning how to see and capture that which I am capable of seeing faithfully.”

www.charleswhitingphotography.com “Purple Lupine” Photography, 24” X 36”

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“Paradise Divide” Photography, 24” X 36”

“Autumn Colors” Photography, 24” X 36”

“Columbines and Rust” Photography, 24” X 36”

34 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Dagmar Wankowski

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by Yadira Roman

erman painter Dagmar Wankowski's euphoric abstract canvases are a vibrantly blended example of the process-led abstraction that resonates with her international audience, brimming with visceral scrawled textures and the residue of monochromatic patterns and spontaneous drawing. Wankowski incorporates form, with mixed media and an exotic color palette, often to very vibrant results.

Figurative elements drip, and earthy images appear, then melt away, in both her biological and conceptual galactic abstracts.

Her canvases burst with energetic brushstrokes, giving her viewers a veritable buffet of gradient strokes to interlace colors and blend so seamlessly. Inwardly these abstract paintings could be reflective of chaos and harmony.

“Rashomon Geisha” Oil on Paper, 24” X 20”

“I have been working as a movie editor for many years. Speaking with pictures was my everyday business. More than ten years ago, I started my artistic career. I was fascinated by some famous worldwide known painters like Claude Monet or Vincent Van Gogh and the light of Mr. Turner. I remembered that as a child, I tried to paint some flowers, and it didn‘t work the way I expected.

As an adult, I felt I have to try this again. Whenever I see a person looking at the paintings and dreaming away in thoughts, I think this is the best a painter can do. Show others the beauty and the problems that we are faced with on earth today.”

www.dagmarwankowski.com

“Notre Dame” Oil Gold Watercolor-on Pape, 20” X “ X 25”

“The Universe” Acrylic on Canvas, 39” X 39”

Donna Bonin

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“Find Peace” Watercolour, 20’’ X 26’’

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by Yadira Roman

onna Bonin is a passionate admirer of nature and a renowned watercolorist whose paintings are inspired by her experience as an avid traveler, and her beliefs of life and human connection. Her brushwork depicts a vibrantly malleable, patient, and keen artistry. Bonin's work is a creative transformation of the beauty and serenity we often see in our adjacent surroundings. Through her solid play with colors, texture, and emotions, she conveys the everyday image, message, and feelings to her viewers.

Bonin is an active painting instructor hosting classes in her favored source of inspiration, nature itself, and welcoming her students to discover their gifts through warm sunsets, the study of clouds, and the ever so alluring transition of seasons.

www.donnabonin.ca

There is an acute mastery of color and shading that adds some aspect of realism to her paintings, while her abstract use of layering and strikingly energetic bright tones create a poetic interplay of depicting nature, and its stunning complexing layers. Recent works such as "Breaking Free" display her sublime aesthetic style in illuminated hues, and a symphony of parallel shapes, and lines.

“Layers Of Transformation” Watercolour, 27” X 23”

“Breaking Free” Watercolour, 26’’ X 20’’

36 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Cher Anderson

“Aussie Banks” Acrylic on Canvas, 32" X 24"

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by Yadira Roman

her Anderson is a wildlife painter and photographer with hyperrealistic paintings that mirror her immense love and dedication to the conservation of nature and wildlife. Anderson's work is acutely rich in detail, and the illusion of movement through majestic poses, and lively bold color tones. Her intimate relationship with these natural settings as a photographer is seen through her use of light, layers, and focus as she carefully calls attention to the characteristics that will enhance the depiction of her subjects.

Anderson's predisposition for wildlife traces back to her childhood years, an inclination that only seems to have grown over time. True to her spirit of wildlife conservation and rehabilitation, Anderson donates most of her proceeds from her art sales to conservation efforts.

“My passion for nature's beauty, chaos, and wonder have to lead me to create images that bring to life the spirit of what I see in quiet places and try to make you feel the awe and the essence of its beauty. Life is a miracle – enjoy it, experience it, and share it!”

Anderson was born in New York, raised in Mexico City, and has resided in Arizona since 1990. Throughout her life as a

fine artist, she has learned from the masters by studying their technique and applying it to improve her final works of art.

She is an avid conservation supporter and a Signature Member and Ambassador of Artists for Conservation, Vancouver, B.C. Anderson has traveled around the world photographing her subjects in their element and then, once in her studio, determines which represents best a special moment or behavior that is characteristic to that particular bird or animal. Mainly working in watercolors, gouache, and acrylics, she brings her subjects to life, and all the while remembers the moment when she looked into the animal's eyes and met them for the first time. During the past 20 years, Anderson has experienced first-hand the beauty of nature in all ecosystems throughout the world. She is passionate about animals and has a genuine love for horses, which she breeds and raises in Arizona. Intrigued by animal behavior, she describes getting that one perfect photograph to be the equivalent of a surge of adrenaline felt by a thrill seeker.

www.cherscreations.com

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“Aussie Rosella” Acrylic on Canvas, 5" X 7"

“The Great Debate” Acrylic on Canvas, 48" X 36"

38 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

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by Daniel Limo

Eric Wiles

merican North Californian photographer Eric Wiles shows extensive expertise in Landscape Imaging, and Still Life. His photographs are a culmination of a long life admiration for nature, culture, and an intimate connection to his subject matter. This profound admiration, coupled with an acute eye for natural transitions in movement and light, makes Wiles a photographer with a meaningful gift. With an eagle eye angle looking down into bodies of water, mountain land, and the sun's reflection stretching into transitions of warm hues together colorful, these natural elements result in rhythmic and eyecatching photographs. Wiles's intimate connection to his surroundings shows images that aren’t often experienced in every day encounters yet feel alive and present in the viewer's reactions. Be it the grand and dramatic landscapes or the gentle and subtle movements in nature, Wiles shows the gift of his travels through an extensive portfolio.

“Road to Hanna” Photography, 38” X 42”

“Water Fall” Photography, 32” X 32”

“ERIC WILES PHOTOGRAPHY of Northern California creative focus on nature and landscape photography reveal dynamic images of natural earth beauty. As a 2019 Artist of the year award winner, his works entail the story of the journey of our planet through the millennia and the beauty of nature. Also, as an Artsy winner and ambassador of the environment, it is clear that we need to protect our only home portrayed through his dynamic images.”

www.ew-photo.com eric-wiles.pixels.com “Lyon Rock Sunset” Photography, 32” X 32”

Gabi Domenig

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by Yadira Roman

ustrian painter, and writer, Gabi Domenig displays a regal like interrelationship between figurative female subjects, and wildlife. Her large scale portrait canvases are filled with pulsating mixes of color and lavish greenery to celebrate her muses. Each painting is an invitation to a tropical paradise where each subject is depicted as the icon of their natural setting, as she compliments these lively works with playful and inviting narratives. The femininity of her subjects reveals a grounded strength found in the freedom of expression and adventure. Domenig works mainly with acrylic paints, tempera, and water paintable oil chalks in several layers of color, throwing elements of wistfulness and playfulness in her paintings, enhanced by her choice of vivid colors and subjects. Domenig's portfolio delivers a reflection of her zeal and enthusiasm for life, and each joyful work resonates with the heart just as it does capture the eyes.

“Queen of Nature” Acrylic on Canvas, 68.9” X 29.5”

“My way of painting has developed unhindered over the past 20 years and is attributed to Neo-Expressionism due to its intense color palette and the figurative painting. Man and nature are my main topics. Especially the respectful representation of women in all their emotional and visual facets is the central theme of my work. My pictures are colorful snapshots between dream and reality. Often mysterious and fairytale and want to find the way to the heart of the observer. As a typical feature of my pictures, a paradisiacal subject has established itself. Plants and animals have moved from the original decorative element in the foreground. Human and nature. Communication at all levels with the originality of creation.”

“Do You See What I See” Acrylic on Canvas, 32” X 23”

www.domenigartdesign.at

40 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Gianfranco ( John) Gambardella

“Approccio Il Ponte Rialto, Venezia” Mixed Media, 19” X 23"

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by Daniel Limo

ianfranco (John) Gambardella engulfs himself in the historical connection between architecture, culture, and art. Gambardella's focus on picturesque scenery and architecture from Italy shows his undying love for his home country. He seamlessly blends romanticism with unflinching realism, perfectly encapsulating the distinctive quality of historical landmarks. He skillfully employs warm colors, focused angled lighting, shading, and diligent brushes to add detail and dimensionality into each piece. These aspects of his style and keen attention to detail essentially transport the observers to these stimulating locales that form his paintings. Gambardella's strategic use of perspective lends insight into a worldview where all places fit into a more significant global collective.

“Castelo Di Miramare, Trieste” Mixed Media, 19” X 23"

“The six paintings I have selected were part of a solo series of works titled 'The Italian Connection' –. I exhibited in association with the Annual Melbourne Italian Festival, Australia. The

“Morning Walk Through Piazza San Marco, Venezia” Mixed Media, 40" X 34"

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“Al Colosseo, Roma” Mixed Media, 32" x 23"

paintings depict architectural segments of historical structures in some of the major cities of Italy. The exhibition allowed the viewer to absorb the architectural influence and impact of these old historic structures, which have stood the test of time and remain a testament to those that created them. They are surely a beauty to behold, hopefully revolutionizing every feeling of the viewer. The creative process consisted of applying a mixed medium technique, firstly sketched much like a pencil drawing, but using a liquid pencil (not unlike watercolor application).

“Spanish Steps, Rome” Mixed Media, 23" X 19"

Then assisted by airbrushing and creating vignettes and tonal effects. The final application was to use acrylic color, adding black ink lineage and layers of gloss varnish to enhance the artworks, thus giving them an almost aging photographic look.”

Gambardella-Fine-Art

“Ponte Vecchio, Firenze” Mixed Media, 11” X 14"

42 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Gloria Keh

“Play” Collage/Mixed Media On Canvas, 24” X 48"

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by Yadira Roman

ounder of 'Circles of Love,' a n o n - p r o fi t c h a r i t y outreach program, Gloria Keh has always made philanthropy a focal point for her work and well known for her high-intensity abstractions that are bursting with bold, warm hues. Building her shapes up through drips and spontaneous brushstrokes, the vivid difference between her vibrantly red backgrounds and her dripping lines make each abstract figure pop.

Keh is a budding artist, with heavy influences from her childhood closely taking after the footsteps of her father, Martin Fu, who was an oil painter with a vast portfolio. Keh’s career highlights artistic growth both in technique and thematically. The Singaporean artist exhibits cosmic forays with abstract expressionist pieces that explore deep space and universal themes about existential truths. She has a particular inclination to oil and acrylic and often incorporates ink and watercolors into her canvases. With astute rendering, the burst of colors depicted in her paintings maintain a quiet

“Cathay” Acrylic On Canvas, 63” X 85"

strength. She displays a heavy touch to her works that add texture and subtle drama. Keh embraces meditative concepts of healing and global peace, often seeking to inspire through both her charity work, never holding back a moment of truth that may change the life of another.

AMAZONIA “Forests burn.

The planet is in crisis.

Mother Earth cries and cries, Her pain in flames.

Still, her pleas fall on deaf ears. What can we do about this?

How can I, the individual, make a difference?

No act, however small, for the betterment of our home planet is insignificant.”

www.gloriakeh.com

“Purification” Acrylic On Canvas, 40” X 40"

Grethe Kjøsnes

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by Yadira Roman

orwegian mixed media artist Grethe Kjøsnes showcases innovative techniques that imitate natural elements, human interaction, and the upfront theme of ove r c o m i n g l i f e' s h u r d l e s through a positive outlook.

D e l i c a t e t ex t u r e s , s h a p e patterns, and vibrant colors describe natural phenomena within the idiom of Abstract Expressionism. Large scale canvases, often using acrylics as her base medium, she uses layering and shadows as a protagonist in her storytelling style.

“Through the Shuttered World” Acrylic/Collage on Canvas, 32” X 63”

Her figurative subjects are often depicted as tall silhouette abstractions of the human body, hinting at much more supernatural concepts. She uses a sense of movement through each figure, seemingly gliding through the canvas, taking on a much grander role within their natural environment. She is often looking within her immediate environment as a source of creative inspiration depicting the unique blue hues found in Norwegian waters, and traditional forms of connection and group celebrations. Kjøsnes' brush strokes are bold and delivered with intent. Each color is saturated and intense, coupled with the favored contrast in tones, and her pieces become very immersive. A sense of heightened energy permeates all facets of Kjøsnes' diverse

portfolio, as her passion and empathetic nature focus on sharing her story of hope and faith through dark times.

“The Safe Harbor” Acrylic/Mixed Media on Canvas, 47” X 57”

“The Angels” Oil on Canvas, 40” X 50”

“I come from a tiny place on the west coast of Norway in Sogn og Fjordane, and the nature around me has inspired me as an artist.

I live close to the ocean and with high mountains around. I live in a place called Dalsfjorden, a little bit North for the well known Norwegian fjord called Sognefjorden. And the light of the sunsets really inspires me too! The ocean, mountains, and light and life among the west coast are in my heart and art!”

www.gretheskunst.com @Grethes galleri

44 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Gunilla Klemendz

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“A Sunny Day” Ceramic Sculpture

by Satine Razio

unilla Klemendz creates uplifting reflections of nature in layered ceramics. Her ceramic bowl series is constructed by sculpted leaves, popping with warm colors and pastel hues, adding a jazzed celebration of life as

figurative elements exhibit playful scenes she creates on the surface of each carefully sculpted leaf. Her colors are created in stoneware and metal, layer upon layer, the darker shades reveal the highlights and accentuate the lined patterns behind them. Klemendz adds depth and reflection to her sculptures, drawing the eye in at each level. She has had an affinity for the visually captivating and explores the intrinsic beauty that enrobes every second of our lives. Every curve is precise, each arch deliberate and the final result a seasonal dose of elemental phases.

“I mix fantasy and reality as I create my works with colors from Skåne . Since childhood, I have been interested in drawing and painting. My great interest is in creating and shaping. It is from walking along the sea and by studying people that I get my inspiration. In the creation, I can feel great joy.”

www.artklemendz.se

“Kung September” Ceramic Sculpture

“NY 1” Ceramic Sculpture

Howard Harris

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ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020 45

“Star Dreamy” Digital Print on Aluminum , 36” X 30”

by Daniel Limo

merican fine art photographer Howard Harris uses layers to compose complex narratives. His photos are often layered and printed on different surfaces, such as aluminum and acrylic layers, so intricately created and meant to be seen in person, intending to form an experiential visual effect on his viewers. His collections are a visual play where the colors reflecting light movement, and patterns conform to the viewers' perspective. Thus apart from the images being a play on vision sensory, it also tugs and pokes at the observer's emotions. Glancing at Harris' photos and you'll instantly recognize the highly skilled understanding of photography. Evident in his angles, choice of layering, and how he combines his subjects with abstractions and varying spatial depth that emboldens each image. The images immerse you in a multi-dimensional world where colors and shapes roam unbridled to reflect our feelings and essence. Precise and vibrant. It is as if the universe orchestrated that moment in space-times specifically for Harriss' lens. When the vivid

“Tortured” Digital Print on Aluminum , 36” X 30”

colors aren't entangling you in a frenzy, then the icy stare of a viper is your visual adversary. It's how he simultaneously captures the energy, color vibration, spatial dimensionality, and retains a raw factor. As the universe orchestrates its most beautiful moments, it is Harris' onus to capture these moments and refine them for our visual consumption, his successful career in visual arts continues to reach new heights as does his creativity.

www.hharrisphoto.com

“Battle Cloth” Digital Print on Aluminum , 30” X 36”

46 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

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LeRoi

by Viviana Puello

eroi C. Johnson, commonly known as just LeRoi, embodies African historical tradition and raw ethnicity in a unique technique he dubs 'electric primitive.'

The American artist, born and raised in Buffalo, New York, is an incredible, almost self-taught painter whose interest in painting began at an early age.

A combination of geometric patterns, abstract figurative art, bursting with poetic imagery, and culturally rich use of color, his work is rooted in expressionism. His education has been a considerable influence in his work as well as his livelihood in urban environments. Throughout his 45 years as an artist, LeRoi has tweaked and refined his style, exhibiting exploring pre-colonial and post-colonial African heritage and panAfricanism. He fuses these elements with dazzling colors in electrical frenzies. The result is stunning visuals that accentuate his paintings' subject and adorn the simplistic beauty of traditional African artistry.

LeRoi has led a fruitful life touching all aspects of art, including music. Last year, he was inducted into the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame, honored for his role in the industry, including managing legendary artists like Rick James. LeRoi has played a role in paving the way for African Art on all ends. His efforts and creative endeavors stay true to the cultural heritage he feels connected to, highlighting the beauty in each layer of its history still very much alive today.

LeRoi’s brilliant works have been exhibited in numerous art galleries in New York and across America. His pieces speak to the heart and mind of every viewer that appreciates his creations.

“Rollers I” 2020, Acrylic and Oil on Canvas, 30”X40”

“BLM” 2020, Acrylic and Oil on Canvas, 30”X40”

leroiart.com

“Rollers II” 2020, Acrylic and Oil on Canvas, 30”X40”

Jeong-Ah Zhang

ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020 47

“A Quiet Meal” 2016, Acrylic on Canvas, 26” X 36”

K

orean artist Jeong-Ah Zhang majored in sculpture and painting at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, Korea.

Jeong-Ah Zhang's works take its basis in traditional philosophies and the pursuit of unchanging truths to express contemporary expression through proven materials and practice that reflect the phases of time.

The artist finds a kind of order when looking at life, a moment when she realizes the truth, and also paradoxically, integration of all things visible and invisible.

“A Nap” 2010, Acrylic on Canvas, 32” X 46”

“In the world, But beyond the world / Visible and Invisible / The order of the universe / One is all, All is one / Inward Peace / Gateless Gate / Multifaceted Phenomenon / Deconstruction of the Time and Space / Everything depends on the mind / Interaction / Right Here, Right Now / etc..”

@jeongah_zhang @ArtistJeongahZhang

“A Low Voice” 2018, Acrylic on Canvas, 21” X 29”

48 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Jani Jan J

“Transformation in Motion 30” Iron Painting, Mixed Media on Developed Surface, 2020

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by Satine Razio

Austrian sculptor, painter, and a graduate art therapist, Jani Jan J. is known as a vanguard of all things experiential, mythological, and immersive, through abstract expressionism. His geometric crafting creates mixed media paintings with a larger than life presence. His recent series focusing on 'Transformation in Motion' stands out with stark backgrounds in dark

“Transformation in Motion 2” Iron Painting, Mixed Media on Developed Surface, 2020

tones, metaphorically representing and giving effect on the appearance of infinite space. The whimsical series portrays space as a transitional factor.

Simultaneously, geometric shapes set the tone in flat-surfaced layers, that in turn, allows abstract figurative subjects to move through the illusion of depth in each canvas. Jan J. bridges symbolic motifs

“Transformation in Motion 3” Iron Painting, Mixed Media on Developed Surface, 2020

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“Transformation in Motion 218” Iron Painting, Mixed Media on Developed Surface, 2020

from both scientific and spiritual concepts; the final result is thought-provoking and inviting.

'Transformation in Motion' encourages a futuristic mindset, as Jan J. seeks to inspire a sense of "wonder, expansion, and selfdiscovery." He prefers to leave interpretation up to the individual while intriguing his audience with carefully chosen

“Transformation in Motion 237” Iron Painting, Mixed Media on Developed Surface, 2020

allegories in each background, adding abstract figures that stretch across the canvas in lively motions. Jan J. creates a rich and diverse world with references to the subconscious and the vibrancy of the human imagination while making successful use of compositional skills to promote his expression.

www.janijanj.com

“Transformation in Motion 227” Iron Painting, Mixed Media on Developed Surface, 2020

50 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Hsi Chun Huang

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by Satine Razio

“On the Subway” Watercolor, 11.5” X 6.5”

r e a t i n g p o r t ra i t s a n d scenes that are lifelike, Taiwanese artist and Art Educator Hsi Chun Huang is a master of realism and vibrant e x p r e s s i o n s o f c o l o r. T h e accomplished painter is known for his detailed watercolor paintings of intimate moments between people captured in public settings.

Every wisp of hair and fiber of clothing is rendered to perfection, with careful details that stand out in sometimes blurred away images within each scene. Bold, warm color tones enhance each image, resulting in warm and soothing moments that invite his viewer to step into the life of another. Light is used as an element that infuses his work with different directions of entry, playing a role with how Chung paints the rhythm through each line. Backgrounds are subtly distorted through the movement of his brush on the surfaces of objects, and layers creating a unique result of both expressionism and photo-realistic images.

Chung's work resembles his warm personality, he is welcoming of different cultures, and always eager to celebrate life and connection in all forms of art. Currently, he teaches both children and adults a variety of watercolor techniques to capture the splendors of natural lighting and elements discovered through a variety of subjects and experiences.

“The Days I Lived With Them” Watercolor, 11.5” X 8.3”

“When We Were in Talaat's House” Watercolor, 8.3” X 8.3”

“I want to help people turn whatever they love in their life into the art form, and bring them joy and confidence while they are doing it, so there’s no rules or comparisons everyone can create with confidence.”

@Huang Hsi Chun @hsichunh

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Lawrence R. Armstrong

“Spectrous Series” Acrylic on Board

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by Daniel Limo

stablished American Artist and Architect Lawrence R. Armstrong creates large-scale, gestural paintings, layered metal, and layered glass structures built up through his visionary approach in design; and continued exploration of layers, both conceptual and in the medium.

Armstrong's installations are vibrant, and their spatial prominence enhances the overall effect of his work. The logistically challenging artwork takes time, and reveals the final result organically, with a fresh and bold expression. His work shows a unique approach to abstractions as a process and moves beyond just a color language. His creative process is gradual, but intently approaching his media with an open mind and no preconceived idea in his head.

exhibited his artwork in prestigious art shows and fairs, including the SOFA Art Fair in Chicago, Illinois, the Galleria 360 EmozionArte show in Florence, Italy, and Art Comes Alive in New York City. His awards include the 2019 ArtTour International Magazine's Masters Award, the Sandro Botticelli Prize in Florence, Italy, and the Kent State University Advocacy Award.

www.lraart.com

Internationally recognized for his achievements, Lawrence R. Armstrong has exhibited his artwork in solo shows in New York City, Milan, Florence, and Los Angeles. He's also

“Filla 0.1” Layered Glass

“GBY” Acrylic on Board

52 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Jim Fitzpatrick

“Warped Assembly II” Color Photography Digitally Altered

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by Yadira Roman

merican multi-media artist Jim Fitzpatrick exhibits drawings and photographs that are rich in history, often depicting a still life sense in how he captures both animal and human subjects. His work is based on his memories, and metaphorical representations of famous figures in American culture. Fitzpatrick uses these moments to inspire concepts of inner peace and unity.

While he consistently selects bold, saturated colors, he makes sure they don't overpower the viewer. Digitally altering some of his photographs evokes the notion of an abstract interpretation of his work. Fitzpatrick keeps alive the spectrum of emotions in life, focusing on laughter, joy, and the lessons available when learning from the past.

“An Albino Alligator” Photography Digitally Altered

What are the core fundamentals themes of your work in the past, and now in the present?

"In the past, I mainly focused on trying to draw realistic-looking portraits as well as the photography of people, animals, and sports. Now I've broadened my works to include digital abstracts.

I've also evolved into creating a wide variety of storytelling works and scenes created by combining my portrait drawings with my photography, showing the wonder, beauty, and even the tragedy people experience in life. Despite many in the media trying to spread fear and distrust along with those filled with anger and negativity, eager to "fight" or insult others from the safety of their computer, I want to convey with my works that there still is good, beauty, wonder, and hope in the world!”

jim-fitzpatrick.pixels.com

“When Your High School Teacher Catches You Drawing Him on the Chalkboard” Graphite on Bristol Paper and Digitally Altered

Jimena Becerra

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“Like a Bows and Arrows” Acrylics on Canvas With Sculptures Made of Urethan, 30” X 40” X 3”

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by Yadira Roman

olombian born, Jimena Becerra stepped into her creative practice head-on after her arrival to the United States.

Becerra's work poetically springs with movement delivering layers of emotion through symbolic images of her surrealistic depictions of the human form. Her works invite contemplative thoughts about life and transformation. She uses a myriad of mediums and techniques to explore each message, including charcoal, pastel, and acrylics on a sculpture made of forton and urethane.

Her realistic and detailed sculptures are captivating and alluring as she highlights the sensuality in the human figure connected to that of natural elements, '' Be like bows and arrows'' shows the many features that make up her signature message of transformation in its many stages rooting in the

“The Colors of Life, Land” Sculpture Made of Urethane, Real Flowers Can Be Exhibit Trough the Holes in the Sculpture, 12” X 17”

seeds of our planet, influencing the human life. Her storytelling narrative drives the sculpture through the direction of an arrow made up of multiple human figures, supporting each other to face the desired direction. The subjects are pulled towards the spiraling pattern in the background created with acrylics, adding a separate sense of depth. She matches these elements smoothly, creating a symbol of unison.

After her role in the promotion of political campaigns, Becerra's Colombian background is connected to a time in her life when the United States granted her political asylum due to security issues. Her time disconnected from the place and faces she called home brought her closer to her art, and it manifested into a career that would allow for her to heal through creativity.

www.jbecerraart.com

“Time To Love on the Leaves” Acrylics on Wood With Sculptures Made of Forton , 20” X 20” X 4”

54 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Johnny E. SJ. Otilano

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by Yadira Roman

hile channeling his passion for his homeland in the Philippines, Johnny E. SJ. Otilano has embraced art as a positive tool to take action in the complex social issues he faced in his country and around the world.

Often displaying symbolic shape structures such as 'the eye' often becomes the main subject of his works on large scale canvases providing the ability to apply spacial elements in his storytelling. Otilano's bold take on surrealism focuses on unexpected juxtapositions of textures, objects, natural and urban settings that invite his audience into surprising new perspectives transforming his canvases into portals to another time-space. Using familiar objects to build each narrative and symbolic structure, he expresses his commitment to exploring all aspects of his imagination internally, and externally. Often using the topic of 'stream of consciousness,' his work carries a dreamlike presence, and an invigorating use of light.

“Revelation” Oil Paint & Mixed-Media on Canvas, 30" X 24"

“The distinctive personal style and technique that I have incorporated in my pieces are spreading paint on raw plywood, and gluing, and nailing found objects like a soda can pull tabs, old keys, metal chains, and gun shells.It is my belief, as an artist and as a human, that we all exist here for a purpose. As an Artist, you have to explore a lot and experiment, and as time goes by, you uncover your own self and discover where you stand. No matter what other people say: continue what you're doing, believe in yourself, and be passionate about your art. Your art and what you express and everything that comes out of it is your soul, a God-given talent, a God-given soul. I feel that my paintings express a thousand words and myriad thoughts, "If a pen is mightier than the sword, my brushes are more powerful than a bow and arrows.”

JohnnyESJOtilano

“Kulam” (Witchcraft), Oil Paint & Mixed-Media on Canvas, 48” X 36"

“Open Your Eyes” Oil Paint & Mixed-Media on Canvas, 48" X 24"

Kari Veastad

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“The Hands” Acrylic on Canvas, 50” X 60”

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by Daniel Limo

ari Veastad's aesthetic experimentation focuses on abstract expressionism with the intent to express ideas concerning nature, spiritual experiences, and the complexities of the human psyche. Veastad's style straddles between representation and exploring color fields with gestural lines. Blurred objects blend into the background while serving as a contrasting highlight to bring focus into a face or object on the canvas.

Her work's core mission is to exhibit art that encourages ideas to shape and mold future plans into something better, something more efficient and useful for the world.

“My colors and hands take me on a joyous and unfamiliar journey through inner and outer landscapes. I am constantly surprised by what comes on the canvas as different variants of movement and interaction between body, soul, and spirit.”

Because she leaves interpretation to the observer, what each acrylic painting awakens in your heart and mind is possibly a reflective perspective of the self. She doesn't put much restrictiveness in her work; her whims dictate every stroke of paint. Veastad creates visual plays that take hold of the observer in a colorful visual embrace.

For more info contact: kveast@online.no

@kari.veastad

“New Star” Acrylic on Canvas, 60” X 50”

@kari_veastad

“Power Friend” Acrylic on Canvas, 84” X 92”

56 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Janice Alamanou

“Poseidon Child” Photograph on Aluminum

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by Melissa P

ombining her photographic virtuosity with her deeprooted poetic vision and innate sensitivity, British fine art photographer Janice Alamanou adds a rhapsodic dimension to the art of capturing photographs, creating lyrical epiphanies that enhance the viewer's perceptual experiences.

Alamanou's subjects are portrayed in a symbolic, ethereal, and otherworldly fashion through her creative manipulation of light.

The Norfolk, UK-based artist has gained international recognition for her distinctively photography, amalgamated with precious metals such as gold and palladium, and printed on Hahnemuhle fine art paper. Using a suite of techniques including long exposure photography and neutral density lens filters to produce the desired effects that are nearly impossible to replicate using digital manipulation, Alamanou's

photographs are sharp with lyrical concepts. Specialized in both color and black and white fine art, portraiture, and landscape photography, Alamanou owns her exclusive gallery in Norfolk, England.

What are the core fundamentals themes of your work in the past, and now in the present?

“I began with landscape and seascape photography. My love for the environment was triggered at a very young age, depicting my surroundings, and later developing this into panoramic, multiple images stitched together. I went on to include portraiture and fine art nudes, my passion for people and their lives - a constant source of inspiration and intrigue, and the next natural step from this was to amalgamate the two passions into my 'Soul Elements' Collection. I now do each separately and together. My newest work is going back to the landscape and cityscapes but creating in a predominantly white - The White Collection. Ultimately I have my 'Photography with Precious Metals' Collection.

Photography with 24ct Gold, palladium, and copper - hand gilded. These are unique and pioneering pieces. The concept of the pieces, including copper, is that the image will verdigris and continue to change within the picture itself. Each step from landscape to portraiture, fine art nudes to amalgamations with the environment, back to the environment in whites, and photography with precious metals have all been my work evolving over the years. The core fundamental theme is and has always been the environment and people.”

www.coastalphotography.co.uk “Reach for Redemption” Photograph on Hahnemuhle Fine Art Paper

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“Salt Marsh Verdigris” Photograph Hand Gilded With 24ct Gold, Palladium and Copper

58 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

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by Satine Razio

Kay Griffith

merican abstract expressionist Kay Griffith delivers a visual display that entices the eyes. The thick texture within each of her oil paintings adds toward unique concepts behind her work, each large scale painting stimulates the mind and provides an interplay of emotions.

Inviting her audience inside a vortex of color play. Griffith has a keen eye that captures the delicate and subtle transitions in movement, her discipline, and mindful awareness of her surroundings works as a vital tool in creating improvisational abstracts that set the tone for existential questions.

“The Healer" exhibits a prime example of Griffith's style, raw and refined bursting with color, and balanced with muted tones. The delicate layering of paint forms depth, and shape—a luminous direction of light works as a complementary factor in the painting. One of her most characteristic features is her use of thick impasto layers that structure shapes with lines while simultaneously employing a free abstraction that values fluidity and movement above all. "Her paintings address the common threads that bind all humans while celebrating every individual's unique nature. Griffith abstracts are enigmatic, and interpretation is elusive.”

She combines all these elements and creates her unique artistic expression investing her personal touch and having a vibrant, diverse result.

kaygriffithart.com @kaygriffithart “The Healer” Oil on Linen, 72" X 52"

Closeup of a 2nd Detail of the Healer

Closeup of a 3rd Detail of the Healer

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by Satine Razio

Kina Wolfe

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rench-canadien mixed-media master Kina Wolfe shows an accelerated knowledge of the human body, movement, and form in her surreal displays of both figurative and abstract acrylic paintings. Wolfe incorporates clay relief into her work, adding to the spatial dimensionality of each canvas and overall aesthetic value.

Her clay relief technique is executed with acute positioning to achieve her desired effect. Each abstract painting is immersive, transposing her audience to another dimension reflecting societal themes." Mon Universe'', reveals spheres, circles, lines, and ellipses, conjuring planetary motion with the effects of clay. Within an atmosphere of elevated black space that swirls with undulating patterns of deepest blue-grey, the circles shift in color as they overlie one another. Mint green becomes forest green as a light circle of ochre drifts over it, turning amber into a pale, warm tone.

“Life is perception, and art is the illusion of the importance we give it. I have a fascination for the interpretation of things. To take what is and to make it become something else, but without getting lost. The subtlety of a sectarian and infantilizing society certainly inspires me with the reliefs that stand out as rulers for the freedom of forms.”

www.kinawolfe13.wixsite.com

“My Universe 3” Acrylic on Clay

“My Universe 1” Acrylic on Clay

“My Universe 2” Acrylic on Clay

60 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Laurence Lher

“Summertime” Mixed Media: Acrylic Painting and Collage of Decopatch Papers, 20” X 25”

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by Yadira Roman

rench mixed-media artist Laurence Lher has always found a way to integrate her core values (wisdom, audacity, freedom, and happiness) using spacial elements, and symbolic shape imagery. She romances each canvas with soft surfaces, and warm hues using acrylics. Her abstract portrayal of natural and urban environments leaves her audience with intrigue, often incorporating collage into her work, Lher applies isolated color choices embracing a minimalist approach to her themes.

Influenced by Natural Science and Mathematics, Lher's interplay with muted spaces and constructed geometric abstract forms delivers a celebratory metaphor for life.

Carefully choosing the symbolic meaning behind certain tones and pattern structures and applying them with the collage to a

“Graphic 2” Acrylic Painting on Canvas Frame , 22” X 30”

visual pattern of thought processes. Her analytical, creative process reflects her passion for conveying a clear mind's beauty. "Summer Time" exhibits Lher's playful collage imagery with an expert application of flat surfaces, sun-bright warm color tones, and deliberate choice of blocked colors.

With "Graphic 2", we are given hints of chromatic bases, and the illusion of empty space as she focuses on patterned lining structures. Lher exhibits Internationally through the year, eager to share her knowledge about the positive impacts of Mathematics, Science, and Art when married.

www.laurence-lher.com

“Aquamaritime” Acrylic Painting on Canvas Frame, 30”X 40”

Liv Babra

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by Daniel Limo

riginally from Kenya, and now residing in Canada, Sculptor, Educator, Environmentalist, and Founder of StudioLiv, Liv Babra displays an elegant result of large scale wood and abstract stone sculptures that reference the environment and philosophical concepts. Often showing the different grains and transition of wood, coupled with soft curves and geometric shapes, his work shows a noticeable relationship between biological factors and metaphysical geometry.

Babra uses wood and stone, each layer carved with a purpose and thoughtprovoking meaning behind it. Babra's ''Gaia's Tear'' series is intricately designed to exhibit the toxic process our waters and lands are going through and choosing to use water as the element that correlates with the tears used as the metaphor for environmental pain. The sculptor draws his Inspiration from his childhood memories made in the grand foothills of Kilimanjaro and his professional exposure to the fine art of African carvings. Dedicating his life to feeding his creativity and those of his students, his creative thinking courses encourage risk and mental clarity for supreme creative endeavors.

INSPIRATION “Inspiration comes like a shower of meteors.

In my wonderment, I catch a few glimpses and pondering which one will be the perfect creation.”

www.studioliv.com “Pas de Deix” Brazilian Soapstone, 10” X 10” X 31.75”

“Gaias Tear Slide” Wood and Green Quartz, 13.5” X 6” X 5”

“Gaias Tear #5” Wood, 12.5” X 8” X 18”

62 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Karin Monschauer

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by Satine Razio

"106: Strudel" Digital Art-Printing on Canvas, 29.53� X 29.53"

arin Monschauer is a contemporary artist hailing from Luxembourg, with an inclination for geometric abstractions, embracing the freedom for experimentation in digital art printing on canvas. Her large scale color fields

vividly pop through two-dimensional stages and shape patterns that form balance, and depth through the delicate layering of thin color washes. Inspired by natural elements, and social themes surrounding global peace Monschauer has the ability to create the appearance of a 'glow' in her work, influencing a sense of a tranquil color effect.

"122: Luce" Digital Art-Printing on Canvas, 31.49" X 31.49"

"119: Untitled" Digital Art-Printing on Canvas, 15.75" X 15.75"

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Congratulations on being one of ATIM's Top 60 Masters of 2020!

What was the experience like painting the works shown in the publication?

"For me, it is a great joy to paint. And it's like playing. I like to play with numbers, and my works always have a logical sequence of geometrical forms and colors, from which beautiful patterns emerge."

Could you tell us a bit more about your work and your influences?

"I don't have a proper theme. I want to create joy and harmony in the people who are looking at my art. I find a synergic way to art with colors and forms. Starting from the needlework technique, I decided to put my chromatic geometrical shapes artistically. My art is made of geometrical figures which are filled with many chromatic effects. It's the harmony of these colors that brings light in people and the joy of living. My abstract forms are vivid and real more contemporary than the art movement of the last century. I'm inspired by Maurits Cornelis Escher and Friedensreich Hundertwasser: my favorites. In addition, Sol LeWitt, Frank Stella, Piet Mondrian, and Sonia Delauny have recently joined me."

"100: Untitled" Digital Art-Printing on Canvas, 19.69" X 19.69"

Be it the freedom of color and shapes in their whimsical dance or how the colors awaken dormant emotions, Monschauer’s portfolio has a way of captivating her audience.

www.karinmonschauer.ch

"108: Untitled" 2018, Digital Art-Printing on Canvas, 23.62” X 23.62"

64 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

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Liz Brownrigg

by Satine Razio

iz Brownrigg is a Canadian contemporary artist who is a painter, designer, and sculptor, a polymath of the arts.

Brownrigg reveals a different look into her portfolio with a new passion for Horse Hair Pottery. A line of houseware pieces with various uses exposing soft surfaces, ombre color transitions in muted and earthy tones, and soft curves that have a soothing quality; the laws of light and space break down to their quintessential forms with the contrasting effects of horsehair. She enhances the immersive effect by adding unique objects such as rose quartz in "Tender Strength." A symbolic reflection of her personal journey in discovering herself through her relationship with clay. "Tender Strength" celebrates the not so traditional approach to identifying strength, breaking down stereotypes and promoting peace through the arts. Brownrigg recently rebranded and launched DaVine DaZine, honoring her inspiration coming from beyond herself.

“I believe my gift comes from above, with DaVine intervention, Mother Nature is my primary inspiration; she has provided me with an incredible supply of clay, it is such a forgiving and yet a temperamental medium that pushes me, as an artist. Clay allows me to create various designs, add textures, carve, or even add multiple layers into the design.”

davinedazine.com

“Candle Holder/Vase” Clay, Horse Hair Finish

“Solar Trifecta” Clay

“Tender Strength” Clay Accented With a Rose Quarts Crystal, Horse Hair Finish

Lyn Olsen

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“Reef Life” Mixed Media, 21” X 34”

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by Yadira Roman

ustralian born artist, Lyn Olsen's approach to contemporary art can be summed up as enigmatic natural life realism. Drawing from her Australian background and numerous travels, she etches her experience into the canvas in vivid colors, ebullient patterns, and dimensional lighting. Olsen captures the now nearly extinct

coral reefs that are neighbor to her home and allows her paintings to stand as a testament for the electric beauty discovered in these complex natural organisms.

With an evident fondness for capturing seascapes and landscapes, Olsen carefully constructs flat surfaces, and at times muted backgrounds leading for thick strokes to take front center in exposing dazzling texture onto her subjects that often include plants and exotic fish. Boasting with movement, and the natural order of life underwater, her signature essence remains as the delicate, and welcoming display of her appreciation for these sightings. With a rich background as a teacher conducting workshops and the joys of traveling and exhibiting her work, Olsen's uplifting view of life is reflected not just in her work, but in the success that follows her career becoming a magnet for those seeking that quench for life.

www.lynolsen.com

“Soft and Hard Corals” Mixed Media, 34” X 21”

“Coral Reaching Out” Mixed Media, 35” X 25”

66 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Marta Promińska

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by Daniel Limo

arta Promińska is a Polish contemporary artist with a mastered approach for hypnagogic figurative and landscape paintings. As such, you can expect heavy use of dull hues to blend through each oil painting. She applies her own twist to this age-old technique with a bit of underpainting and seamless gradient blends that enhance the depth of her pieces. Each element applied creates an atmosphere of partial darkness with hints of warm crimson and mustard underlying tones. Promińska's meticulousness and attention to detail in her work leaves no brush stroke to chance, ensuring the final result is what she envisioned.

“The Memory of Memory” Oil on Canvas 19" X 50"

“Thither” Oil on Canvas, 30" X 50"

What are you currently focusing on?

“Currently, I am focusing on workshop development; I am studying old master's techniques, history of color, pigment characteristics. I just started several canvases (I paint parallel because of the long paint drying process). There will also be a series of landscape images.”

Have you experienced any significant changes in your work this last year?

“I am focusing on creating and developing my own style. There will be no significant change, only deeper awareness of my own artistic way.”

Where are you from, and how has that influenced your art?

“In Extremis” Oil On Canvas, 50" X 50"

“I grew up in the city of Zamość, which Bernardo Morando designed as an ideal renaissance city. The historical context had a great influence on my artistic development.

Now I live and create in Warsaw, where there are many interesting exhibitions and art events.”

@martaprominska.hypnagogicpainting

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Mieke Van Den Hoogen

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by Satine Razio

etherland born, Mieke Van Den Hoogen's female inspired sculptures are abstract renditions that feel both unconventional and timeless. Her porcelain and ceramic works transfuse her audience into curious discovery as she intertwines the relationship between the female body and nature. Earthy transitions of color are applied over as a glaze, as well as muted tones. Accentuated lines, towering layers, and asymmetric forms with curves and contortions become her signature style.Van Den Hoogen uses clay as the raw material and relies on its adaptability and malleability to showcase the continuous evolutions of the inner character of women. She combines the roughness of clay, ceramic, the intensity of the primary colors, and ancient Indian and African processing techniques. Her works have been on exhibition internationally, including Tokyo, Paris, and the Netherlands.

“I don't care about a woman's body when it represents a beauty ideal, but when it is a representation of a body, a body in which people live, whose emotions can be read in the image. A body seems to be symmetrically built, yet it doesn't feel the same for a day. I want to express this by building an image asymmetrically.

Because these images are built ceramic, so hollow, the content must be expressed in the shard.”

www.miekevandenhoogen.nl “Body” Ceramic With Ceramic Pigments and a Transparent Glaze, 25” X 10” X 2”

“Face” Ceramic on Plexiglass, 25” X 8” X 3.5”

“Shawl” Ceramic With Pigments and the Impression of my Mothers Shawl, 30” X 20” X 12”

68 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Margaretha Gubernale

“Fire of God” Oil on Canvas, 31” X 39”

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by Yadira Roman

wiss contemporary master artist Margaretha Gubernale transcends her audience with bold symbolic surrealism. Discussing the laws of physics, spirituality, philosophy, and global evolution, her large scale oils on canvas depict intricate scenes and thought-provoking narratives and themes. Gubernale enhances figurative subjects with delicate lines, and transparent paint washes, and even while bursting with mysticism, each subject is painted as holding a

“Mary of Hope in Autumn “ Oil on Canvas, 31” X 39”

connection to the physical world. Cool blue tones set the mood for each tranquil setting, while faded neutral and pastel hues play a role in light, illuminating metaphorical objects, as well as naturalistic elements. With over 30 years of experience in Fine Art, Gubernale promotes social movements that lean towards human connections in a natural setting beyond what has become customary.

“The Beauty and the Beast “ Oil on Canvas, 31” X 39”

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“Since I do not have so much potential to travel around, I appreciate my representation in books. My description of 'Networking' as I shared in previous exhibitions, is as follows.

The picture deals with the highest interconnectedness, and with the worldly interconnectedness, it shows the sun as a top symbol and all the little suns scattered over the picture, indicating the primary sun. From right to left, a small sun at one telescope, another at the wires protruding from a tree of life, and third at the glass-fiber wires in the ground, also a fourth at the distribution box TT, TV and internet, and a little sun over the mountains, and even a sun by a satellite. From left to right, a woman with mistletoes and another woman meditating about the high light, as well as a woman standing on a stone, who is currently killing a spider in the net, who lured a fly into her net, and another woman with a glass-fiber-cable and finally the woman above, which points to the light, which is the supreme guideline for all our actions and according to which we have to

“To Set a Goal” Oil on Canvas, 39” X 39”

align our technology. This image is processed very neutrally, and it is a contemporary witness. I see in my painting a mission for progress and world peace.”

margarethagubernale.org

“The Spiral of Backward- and Forward Speed” Oil on Canvas, 39” X 39”

“Networking” Oil on Canvas, 98” X 59”

70 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Mona Choo

“Web” Screen Print on Acrylic Sheet, 8” X 9” X 4”

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by Yadira Roman

ith an emphasis on Science and Spirituality, Mona Choo encompasses existential themes in her multidimensional surreal 3D mixed media works.

The Singaporean artist has borne a unique style where she fuses sculptures, drawings, and digital prints. While many of Choo's mind-altering illustrations appear to leap from their base towards the viewer, others seem to recess inwards through clear acrylic paper and down towards an unknown abyss. She studies concepts of consciousness and sets the tone for creative freedom as she explores the idea of different dimensions.

Her 3D drawings are as inspiring as they are skillfully executed. Choo uses clever shading, line work, and perspectives to create her hand-drawn 3D optical illusions.

From human subjects, geometric patterns, and symbols, the talented artist can make any image appear as though it's come

“Pondering My Atoms” Giclee Print and Acrylic on Paper, 20” X 28”

to life. The attention to detail that is applied to each of her pieces is astounding. Recently, Choo has ventured into expressionism using acrylic to express her thoughts, feelings, and depth of consciousness. When she's not exploring the intricacy of human nature, Choo sheds light on physical limitations in her monochrome pieces. A polymath who gives us her elaborate understanding of the working of the universe in stunning displays that feed the eyes and mind.

“As a multi-disciplinary practitioner, my work sits in the overlap between science and spirituality, and the key influences for my work include theories of quantum physics, sacred geometry, hidden dimensions and the human condition.”

www.monachoo.com @monachooart

“Mind Over Matter” Giclee Print and Acrylic on Paper, 20” X 28”

Pako Campo

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“#NovaY” Acrylic on Canvas, 76” X 38”

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by Yadira Roman

riginally from Spain, Pako Campo discusses global and humanitarian issues through vibrant cityscapes.

Campo's illustrious career celebrates diversity and exposes the unique beauty found in some of the world's largest cities.

Using acrylics Pako's synthesis of realism and abstraction expressively translates the everyday reality of urban rooftops, and skyscrapers, into resplendent views of urban architecture, motion, light, and shadow that uniquely depict the spirit of a place. Each canvas pops with bold colors and chromatic backgrounds. His colorful works feature his attention to detail and spatial awareness resulting in extraordinary cityscapes.

He explores many paths of self-expression through the playful use of color with a background in Graphic Design. He is reflecting on his message of 'defying the perspective' and using points of direction as metaphorical motifs of his journey in self-discovery. The work included, such as "Psikodelia," directs his viewers to a more elevated vantage point, inviting us to experience a quieter, more meditative side of a usually bustling New York City. The visceral frenzy of city life recedes from view, reduced to a low, contemplative whisper, much like that of the mind.

“Shanghai Kolor” Acrylic on Canvas, 40” X 40”

“Psikodelia” Acrylic on Canvas, 40” X 40”

www.pakocampo.com

72 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Maribel Matthews

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by Yadira Roman

aria Isabel Matthews' work is varied with a wide range of techniques and styles. She predominantly works in oils and also utilizes collage and acrylics, showing a profound interpretation of the passing moments in life. Through soft textures and warm color palettes, she captures the romanticism encompassing abstraction to impressionism and landscapes to urban views.

“Amethyst”

Sharp details add depth to her figurative works, revealing emotion and personality through each gaze and movement in her subjects. Matthews's brushstrokes add a smooth rhythm to the painting and vitality. It is as if they give us a glimpse into her mind and the movement of her thoughts and feelings. Vivid monochromatic images focus on small and individual marks in the context of vastness. Her work is a balance

“Ruby”

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“Twilight”

“Gondola”

between traditional and representational art; and romanticizes the chosen settings, people, and culture.

Her ability to connect with natural beauty has driven her efforts to speak about environmental issues.

“She has been a prominent figure in Gibraltar's local art scene for many years, driven by a passion for painting and inspired by the beauty of nature, the magnificent architecture it encompasses, and the versatility of man.

Maribel has come a long way, and both local and international press have recognized her work and achievements as an artist. Among artists, she is well known for the masterful technique in her artwork.

'Perhaps one day it will dawn on mankind that squandering our resources is not the answer and instead work in harmony with nature appreciating the beauty and grandeur of our world by caring for it as it should.’”

www.maribelmatthews.com

“Turquoise”

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Parul Srivastava

by Daniel Limo

ased in Singapore and born in India, Parul Srivastava displays an open-minded approach to abstract expressionism inspired by nature and self-exploration. Srivastava paints uninhibited vivid color combinations, with the provoking ability to ignite emotions. Often overlapping oil and acrylics, she exhibits a heavily textured visual map of emotional affirmations. The title for each of her pieces follows with contemplative statements such as "Search For Self." She leans towards

vibrant hues, bold brush strokes, and sporadic splashes with a multi-colored background.

There is no rigidity in her paintings, preferring to let her whims control the artistic process.

Even so, she displays a solid mastery of colors and techniques. Her layering emboldens each base, and she skillfully uses lighting to make her pieces immersive to the observer.

“Spot Light” Acrylic on Canvas, 30” X 30”

Her culturally rich background has influenced her path as an educator in creating a casual atmosphere for both adult and children painting workshops. Srivastava leads a volunteer program that functions to donate art to senior citizens and to promote social welfare.

“We shall recognize the beauty of life in its most natural form, and enthuse to live it to fullest despite how far we have come with our achievements or failures in the materialistic race.

True happiness is when you are what you are, and free to express, and this true happiness is the true fortune.”

parulsrivastava.com

“In Search of Self” Acrylic on Canvas, 30” X 30”

Paul Uyehara

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“Color Motion A1” Acrylic on Canvas, 20” X 20”

by Yadira Roman

he late Paul Uyehara found his path as a master artist in exploring the language of color through his abstract interpretations of master compositions from those who came before him. Intrigued by the influence and meaning of color in life and art, he embodied a creative sense of adventure that continues to live in the legacy of his diverse career. He explored various techniques and mediums, including but not limited to, sculpting, drawing, painting, and photography.

that is superbly burgeoning in the natural, figurative, and abstract realms. Through his striking abstract works, Uyehara was able to elucidate the sentiments of clarity and directness that's arguably unparalleled in contemporary works.

www.pauluyehara.com

His visceral and instinctual works appeal to universal ideas and emotions through Uyehara's use of textural paint applications and bold color palettes. Uyehara illuminated his inner passions and emotions in a manner that offers his audience a sensorial experience. The extensiveness of nonobjective expressionism is not only revealed in his works but in the way that he unites his work through communicative and dramatic brushstrokes, which gives his portfolio organic yet nearly prehistoric excellence in quality. Painting in Los Angeles since the 1960's Uyehara was actively involved as an artist in his community and continuously searching for new methods and philosophies in the relationship between shape and color. His work brings attention to the dynamic ingenuity

“Triptych” Acrylic On Canvas, 48” X 96”

“Reach” Acrylic on Canvas, 38” X 36”

76 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Philip Noyed

“Cosmic Light Fugue - Wisteria and Cherry Blossoms” Virtual Reality Installation. 20'H X 40'L

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by Satine Razio

hilip Noyed is an innovative multimedia artist working in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He creates luminous geometric photographs, LED light installations, videos, 3D and VR paintings, and mixed-media installations. His art represents the quintessential contemporary art movement making use of creative technology, changing the way art is viewed today. Noyed's works are visually captivating and can be described as colorful geometric distortions with kaleidoscopic features. The fusing of lighting and geometric elements culminates in mesmerizing visual aberrations.

“Technological change in the last decade has propelled my art forward in many ways. Photographs mounted to acrylic and made into mobiles. LED lights illuminating my images as 3D acrylic sculptures. New materials like the dichroic film I used on "Arising: Flying Rainbow Colors" and rainbow vinyl film I used for

“Heart of the Sunrise” Mobile With "Arising Flying Rainbow Colors" Behind Heart of the Sunrise.

3'H X 4'W X 4’D

installations at the MSP airport. Creating paintings in 3D (when viewed through chromatic glasses)—using Virtual Reality (VR) to bring people in the 3D painting as a 20'D x 15'H Virtual Reality (VR) light installation and using light as an architectural element by building with clear acrylic tubes and LED lights to create Rainbow Pyramids as immersive art experiences and using mirrors to allow people to be in the art. Improvements in the photo and video editing software to easily amplify and transform into new art. Computer-driven routers to cut acrylic to exact specifications. The science of light and color affects the brain to reduce stress and activate it in positive ways. The expanding knowledge of the power of art to heal.”

www.philipnoyed.com

“You Are Greater Than” Photograph on Acrylic. Mirrored Mylar. LED Lights. 3'H X 3'W

Pia Buxbom

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ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020 77

by Daniel Limo

ia Buxbom is a creative activist from Denmark, she makes intricate scenes in 3D printed sculptures and large scale oils on canvas. Buxbom discusses socio-economic issues, environmental preservation, gender equality, inspirational ideas from her life experiences, and desire to promote self-empowerment. These scenes show a refreshing depiction of symbolic imagery in objects, and geometric shapes often allowing each metaphorically charged sculpture to focus on her message as she steers away from colors, and embraces the neutral mood set by the organic tones of her media including bronze, and copper. A curious mind, and heart Buxbom enjoys her travels as a source of her creativity, often influenced by different cultures and belief structures around the world.

“New Beginning” Bronze and Pla

“The inspiration for my art comes from ordinary people in everyday life, which I transform into paintings or sculptures. The last thing is that I use a 3D printer to make the sculptures. When the sculpture is done, I have made all the processors from idea to the finished sculpture.”

buxbomsart.com

“The Spirit of the Lamp” Bronze and Pla

“Women and Mens Mindset” Bronze and Pla

78 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Mano

“Blue River” Oil on Canvas

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by Daniel Limo

ora Komoroczki known as Mano is a prolific contemporary artist from Hungary who ascribes her passion for art to her many travels painting the alluring views of nature. As she fell in love with the places she visited, her drive to enshrine them forever on canvas became stronger. Mano converts the energy transmitted by a subject through color and textured dimension. She primarily works with oils and centers on realism showing scenes that are detailed right down to the reflections of water and sun. Her lighting is directional, and she knows how to emphasize the lighting source to enhance the visual appeal of each naturalistic element.

Congratulations on being one of ATIM's Top 60 Masters of 2020!

What was the experience for you painting the works shown in the publication?

“Thank you for the opportunity to show my works in this great issue. I love nature that inspires me with its beautiful colors, multifaceted appearance, and "radiation." I liked to walk in the forests close to my place of living, traveled a lot, and admired mother nature. For this reason, there was no question that

forests, mountains, flowers, rivers, and sea will be the primary subjects of my paintings.”

Could you tell us a bit more about your work and your influences?

“My understanding is that paintings should reflect feelings, the artist's view of the world, her/his sympathies and fears, too. For this reason, I try to show that the nice nature needs our protection, humankind should properly maintain and save the environment. We have to be responsible and leave a great heritage to future generations. These ideas have the biggest influence on my works.”

What's next on the horizon?

“The nature of our Earth is wonderful that we have to preserve for future generations. Capturing one moment of this beauty by oil on canvas is my main task.”

artnow0.webnode.com

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“Silent Stones” Oil on Canvas

“Mountain in Winter” Oil on Canvas

80 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Raymond John Westraadt

“View From my Window” Oil on Canvas, 35" X 30"

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by Satine Razio

outh African painter Raymond John Westraadt brings life on large-scale oil that canvases the vitality of the people, places, and spaces he paints. There is a sense of something living within his realistic works, focusing on a spectrum of muses to express the silent beauty often found in moments in passing. The eyes of his subjects, technically brilliant figurative works, stand out beyond the detail applied,

but with the charm and emotion captured in their gaze.

Westraadt pays homage to his home in South Africa, exploring identity, culture, and architecture. He reveals an uncanny interplay between flat surfaces, shadows, and lighting. With careful use of light, his audience can see clear points of entry and departure in points of illumination. The gentle energy in his brushstrokes gives viewers the subject's movement as if the lens of a camera mid-movement captured them. The sincerity of his subjects invites his audience to believe in the humanity of people and bear witness to intimate moments that might be overlooked in public moments.

“In making art, I feel, I produce, and I engage. The extension of my being is expressed through my fingertips, through the brush, the paint, and onto the canvas. reaching out to the observer's mind and sense of observation, capturing the attention of any who wants to feel and experience.”

westraadt.com

“Uhambile Nongoku?” Oil on Canvas, 29.5" X 23.6”

“Early Morning Light” Oil on Canvas, 50" X 35”

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Ric Conn

by Yadira Roman

ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020 81

ic Conn, an American expressionist painter, focuses primarily on figurative depictions of the feminine embodiment. Conn's work is a modern take on expressionism, using his unique method of evoking emotion and reaction as he tackles relevant topics through subtle additions to each canvas. His work with shape and the usage of enclosed space drives the many layers of his message through his use of texture, carrying a great deal of depth. He is inspired to empower and look into the experiences women face in Western culture. Utilizing oil, acrylics, gouache, charcoal, and ink to exhibit the many forms and textures of the female body and often portraying women with symbolic animal motifs and applying a soft and muted palette, creating space for his audience to entirely focus on his subjects.

Conn's signature style is fused with themes that discuss relevant topics such as recent social movements towards women empowerment and equality. He can tap into various points of view, and expressions of sexuality, and doing so with a welcoming invitation eliminate stereotypes on what a “woman” must embody to be accepted by society. With a lengthy career and a well-deserved line of awards, Conn makes his mark in the community.

www.ricconn.com “Little Miss Muffet and the Spider” Oil on Canvas, 36” X 24”

“The Backroom” Oil on Canvas, 36” X 24”

“Two Happy People Divided by One” Oil on Canvas, 36” X 24”

82 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Steve Lyons

“Whores of Babylon” Acrylic on Canvas, 48” X 36”

“A View From The Stage” Acrylic on Canvas, 40” X 30”

merican painter and gallerist Steve Lyons explores the freedom of "sculptural paintings." Using a mastered impasto technique, he paints suggestive elements, drips, and figurative silhouettes, that blend together, in his abstract compositions, which feel like representations of abstract sculptures on canvas. His muted and light paintings are a perfect example of the process-led abstraction that resonates with the mastered thick impasto techniques of the 15th century, brimming with visceral shape patterns, and the residue of bold brushstrokes and automatic painting. Through each of his series, his audience will find the concept and

approach to painting is explored, reinvented, and intensely refreshing.

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by Satine Razio

“I am an 'emotional' artist who creates from a highly conceptual context and strong visual and sensory memory. I most often create through concept and metaphor, and my goal is always the same - to translate the energy of a subject through color and textured dimensionality.”

Lyons' contemplative visual expressions that he brings into large-scale canvases evoke the curious mood, life experience, and human interactions. Thought-provoking titles welcome his viewer to create their own interpretation of his soothing bursts of color. Lyons has led a successful career, attracting collectors Internationally, his authentic and liberated approach to art is a magnet to those who recognize his mastered technique.

stevelyonsgallery.com www.stevelyonsart.com

“Orchid in Abstract” Acrylic On Canvas, 36” X 48”

ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020 83

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Subodh Maheshwari M.F.A.

ubodh Maheshwari is a multimedia artist who was born in India and is now residing in California. Being a diversified artist, she creates many different kinds of work, including symbolistic pieces, florals, landscapes, and abstracts. She uses her experiences from nature, emotions, and life to dictate how her pieces come together. Subodh's artwork is a blend of eastern and western styles. She makes use of experiences from living in India and the USA to influence her work. Subodh likes to explore a variety of media in her artwork, and she feels that every medium has its own artistic language. She utilizes many colors for her artwork, as she deeply connects with color on an emotional level. All colors hold meaning and emotions; They are not c h o s e n ra n d o m l y, b u t e a c h c o l o r corresponds to a feeling. As she makes a piece, her feelings are expressed in every brush stroke. This creates a unique experience; It creates a bond between the viewer and the painting. Maheshwari has also been an art educator since 1986 and taught art for over five years at the University of California, Irvine. She continues to provide art instruction at Riverside Community College in Riverside, CA. “I have made many paintings since the start of isolation, and as I have been painting, I have found myself being drawn to seascapes. Now that the world is taking shelter, I feel that under the ocean is the only place on earth that is truly safe, for, under the ocean surface, there is only peace. All sound is muffled, and the feeling of cool refreshing water washes over you. Fish live on

“Big Bang” Acrylic on Canvas, 48" X 48"

the coral reefs in harmony, and gravity does not weigh you down.

This thought of the ocean has brought me peace and helped relieve my stress. Even now, I am making paintings about the ocean.”

www.subodhstudio.com

“Goddess of Sea” Acrylic on Canvas, 16" X 20"

84 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Pedro Alberti

“South Side History” Mixed Media, 68” X 48”

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by Satine Razio

rgentinian conceptual artist and architect Pedro Alberti experiments with philosophical themes and incorporates these messages in every aspect of his creative process. Using handmade cotton paper, he fuses painting, sculpting, and drawing to enrich large-scale abstract figurative works. Alberti often uses his handmade paper as the base for symbolic texts to narrate the message behind each painting. Poetry often being a layer in each of his uniquely constructed canvases. Alberti spaces his canvases into geometric parts that form the basis of his work, exploring dimensions in the context of layers and height his background in architecture provides a different perspective and angle for each visual—often drawing several scenes that deliver a story of their own. Building from the subdivisions, Alberti then proceeds to crystallize his choice of soft and cloud-like hues, using bold colors sparingly.

His most recent series, "White Dreams" is a precise reflection of its title, A walk through Alberti's light and intricate exhibition showing his expression of a dream state. He displayed installations of highly detailed objects such as a handmade typewriter as a symbolic representation of the power of words. Each human figure can be observed at full length reaching over five feet in height. Blurred lines, suggestive sketches, and thick textures provoke intrigue and invite a contemplative reaction. Alberti seeks to stimulate his

“Silent Game” Mixed Media, 45” X 57”

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Series White Dreams: “The Space of Ideas" Handmade Cotton Paper, Canvas, Oxides, and Mixed Medium, 112" X 91"

viewers' thought process by embracing a spectrum of techniques and concepts in this series; while leaving interpretation of his works at the observers' disposal.

“I write and paint philosophy. That's precisely what I do. Probably what I write has no literary value. I'm not a writer like those whom I admire and envy. I write a mixture of distant memories with this total Sarterean freedom of imagination—those dreams, with open eyes. Then it happens that writing, sketches, and the work I am doing are modified throughout the process of painting. I think it's a good idea to give a notebook with a written story to those who wish to exhibit one of my works.”

www.albertistudio10.com

“South Side History" Mixed Media, 49” X 68”

“Healing" Mixed Media, 45” X 57”

86 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Suzan Lotus Obermeyer

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by Yadira Roman

alifornia based artist Suzan Lotus Obermeyer conceptualizes her engagement with the natural world, exposing exotic abstract layers of her botanical, and equine subjects. Using Western and Eastern iconography to explore themes of universality and encourage cultural unity, her work offers an effective combination of stylistic influences and various methods of painting, printmaking, photography, installation, and collage. Oil litho inks and oil paints are her most frequently employed materials, creating shades that are earthy, and dusky.

Obermeyer uses her personal interactions and connections to each subject as a symbolic representation of her philosophical and biological exploration in themes, including the concept of memory and the lessons that can be applied to life through botany.

“Tangled Garden” Experiment With Fabrication, 45"X 60"

“My themes include investigating how history informs the future and how memory is stored, lost found, and created. My mother had dementia, and that has inspired pieces about memory and loss. Vacancy was an installation I showed in Berlin. It Chronicled Vacant Properties in Berlin, speaking to the circumstance that someone must vacate for an apartment to become available. In that urban setting, it was frequently elderly dying. But it was also a spoof on the German Psyche's scientific methodology, numbering trees, systematically objectifying individual life forms, and organizing them into categories. And lastly, the piece was about memory loss, which comes in several ways; dementia, and in repeating human history, a larger organism sort of

dementia. This is why it is essential to share history, rather than bury it.

“Ancient Garden” Monotype, 24” X 24"

“Lotus on Texture Mixed Media, 24” X 24"

Having a relationship with nature is a form of getting to know oneself as we're from and of nature. In these paintings, I'm exploring the internalized garden. I'm amazed at the abundance, the millions of seeds waiting in the soil for the right circumstance to spring to life. I'm meditating with the concept of abundance, life force, and flow.”

www.suzanlotusobermeyer.com

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Thérèse Boisclair

“Emotions Run Free” Mixed Media, 36” X 24”

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nspired by a desire to express the beauty of the natural world, Thérèse Boisclair paints the atmospheric sensations of landscapes in alluring abstract works. She enjoys combining the bold colors of acrylic painting with the fragility of tissue paper to achieve myriad textures, unexpected patterns, and varied translucent effects. Boisclair, who lives in Ottawa Canada, has acquired expertise in many different mediums, including enamel on copper, pottery, stained glass, jewelry making, and more — which have contributed to her expansive visual vocabulary.

“I worked with watercolors for about 18 years when I discovered painting with acrylic on tissue paper. The strength of the colors and the fragility of the tissue paper captured my readiness for a

“New Perspective” Mixed Media, 40” X 30”

challenge. I use the acrylic as I would use the watercolor while using its many techniques.

Light, transparency, fluidity, texture, and bold colors are the main components of my paintings. I let the water that I spray on the paper mix the colors to achieve effects that often surprise me. My abstract landscapes will allow your mind to wander, and my paintings are guided by my emotions. When I paint, my hand is governed by a force that gets transferred on the delicate paper.

The following explosion of colors touches each viewer in a personal way. In each painting, this is not what you are looking at that will touch you, but what you see.”

www.tboisclair.com

“Changing Horizon” Mixed Media, 30” X 24”

88 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Vladimir Rusinov

“Birth of Queen” Pear Tree (Whole Piece), 9” X 7” X 4”

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“Escape of Queen From the Lock of Blua” Pear Tree (Whole Piece), 10” X 7” X 4”

by Yadira Roman

ighly acclaimed engraving artist Vladimir Rusinov's lifelong passion has been inspired by engraving the mythological canvases of 18th Century Master Painter Peter Paul Rubens with original wood grains. Pushing the limits of wood, Rusinov's style combines time-honored techniques with his own innovative approach. The handcrafted engravings showcase the mythical and regal subjects of Rubens in their natural state with delicately engraved wings and hands reaching out towards one another, escaping the confines of a flat surface. He works with a meticulous layout and attention to detail displaying sculpted overlays, and heavy damascene. He draws from metaphorical elements found in each painting and focuses on the iconography and message that transpires within each. His dedicated expression and appreciation to bringing these works to life through sculpture offer a unique experience of these traditionally honored masterpieces.

symbolize a Success. Near the throne's elevation, there are three paths (little kids) with attributes of the arts. Using three lying male figures, Rubens presumed to embody Ignorance, Gossip, and Malice, which began to unroot in Maria Medici's royal court.”

@vladimir.rusinov.10

“I have today created a New Art-Brand: Paintings of P.P.Rubens (17-18th century) The canvases of Rubens in J.M.Nattie engravings (18th century ) I've become the follower and continuator voluntarily of worldwide known French master of engraving J.M.Nattie (18th century ), which immortalized huge amount of canvases in his stunning engravings. Today, in honor and respect to P. P. Rubens, a new branch appeared with continuation in ART but in sculpture.”

Description of 'Happy Reign' “Peter Paul Rubens pictured Maria Medici in the image of Justice, a Goddess of jurisdiction and fairness. In her left hand, she is holding a scepter, and in her right hand- scales. On the right side stands Gallia with a male stature that symbolizes wealth that abounded Medici's Yard. Wealth and abundance also impersonate two women standing on the left side of the composition and holding laurel branches and coins, which “Happy Reign” Wild Pear Tree, 10” X 7” X 4”

Wendy Cohen

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ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020 89

by Jennifer Sale

endy Cohen creates abstract art with her focus on vibrant colors, shapes, and geometric forms. She pays homage to nature by using collage, color, and texture to create a sense of fluidity and depth experienced in natural settings to form her abstract creations.

“I am focusing my practice on the shapes, lines, forms, and colors of my surroundings. I am particularly observing the rough gavel ground when I take walks in nature. This observation has brought an awareness of how abstracted awkward and imprecise the shapes, shadows, lines, colors, and forms of the gravel ground are.

Observation of nature inspires and informs my practice, especially the unique and abundant shapes and forms imbued in the trees, rocks, the garden, and the gravel ground. So how do I respond to this vibrant visual theatre that I am conscious of? It impacts my paintings by releasing all my inhibitions and impulsively approaching my work without any logical thoughts. As a result of my visual world, I am creating exciting shapes and forms using attractive colors and mixed media to create surprising effects, leaving my works open to the viewer's interpretation.

“Waves of Sound” Acrylic on Canvas

I have seen significant changes in my works in that I am confident in experimenting with new methods. This results in an exciting interplay between the shapes forms and colors imbued with the ebb and flow of textured brush strokes and the alchemy of a variation of colors that offshoot the radiance of its hues to create harmony, balance, and most important mystery. During the last ten years, 'movement and cycles in Nature' have inspired my paintings.”

www.wendycohen.net.au

“Zebra Lines” Acrylic on Canvas

“Green Machine Dream” Acrylic on Canvas

90 ATIM’S TOP 60 MASTERS 2020

Yolanta Desjardins

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by Daniel Limo

u s t r a l i a n p a i n t e r Yo l a n t a Desjardins shows the exuberant hints of life through her skillful application of oils in her portraits, still lifes, and landscapes. DesJardins displays a well-versed knowledge of traditional painting styles, which brings forth realistic images that are beaming with the life of her subjects.

“Tending to Weeds” Oil on Canvas

“Nature provides all the clues for translating feelings onto a twodimensional surface. Light illuminates everything, so my art is always a discovery of what is hidden within myself, yet wants to shine. It is discovering how light manifests in my reality. I believe the energy translated through my humble brush directly onto the canvass makes me accept who I am from this intimate translation of form. Nature is the ultimate guide and inspiration. My evolution into the unknown is a pursuit that is the ultimate

curiosity. I must follow my own instinct to discover this realm of the invisible. The visual language I have learned from the observation of Nature is dynamic, subtle, eloquent, and elegant.

Like a mysterious, invisible spirit, it invites me to look carefully and discover secrets through my own visual vocabulary. I am a student of light, which always humbles me. To go deeper, I search for the spirit of the thing I am observing. This pursuit of spirit demands the truth of who I am: a delicate, humble, refined soul of an artist.”

www.yolanta.co

“Louise Beck” Oil On Canvas

“Understanding Professor Higgs” Oil on Canvas

Zhu Yi

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by Satine Razio

rom The Republic of China, artist Zhu Yi is widely known for his exceptional realistic oil portraits of traditional Chinese culture and mesmerizing landscapes of the Chinese urban and cityscapes. Educated in the socialist realism style, he uses oils on canvas with delicate brushstrokes using shadow as the focal point for each subject.

Using large scale canvases, he seeks to reveal intricate narratives that combine images of his nation's history with the symbolism of his personal beliefs. Combining Chinese techniques with Western realism Yi's extensive studies in global art history and concepts has resulted in a multi-faceted career. His works often resemble sculptures with a regal like sense of depth and characterization.

“This time, My works also express my most real feelings. These works also reflect my tracing of tradition.”

Zhu Yi Participated in Botticelli International Exhibition, Florence, Italy (Florence, Italy 2019)- Participated in Passion of Life International Exhibition, Mexico (2019 Mexico -The International Biennale of Contemporary Art in Mantova, Italy, Won the International Artist Award of 2019 (Mantova, Italy)

to participate in the Portuguese International Contemporary Art Exhibition (Lisbon, Portugal, 2019)- and won the Giotto International Contemporary Art Award to participate in the International Contemporary Art Exhibition (Luxembourg, 2019).

I hope you enjoyed this publication. With this book, we intend to promote intercultural exchange by showcasing these masters that come from so many different countries. By doing so, we bring much-needed awareness of our continued search for world peace.

Keep dreaming, believing, and unleash the power of your creative energy. We are living a moment of universal transformation, and you and I are the change-makers.

Let's use art as a vehicle to raise global awareness. Be bold, be you, and let your message fly free!

". . . they shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint." - Isaiah 40:31