Visit the 3rd Annual Lines, Shapes & Objects Art Exhibition HERE.
Best in Show (Traditional) – Cher Pruys – “Unhinged” – acrylic
Cher Pruys was born in Regina. Over the years she lived in many places including Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Fort Frances, settling into her present home in Devlin, on the banks of the Rainy River with her husband Mark, 4 dogs and 2 cats.
By age three, Cher was seldom found without a drawing tool in hand. She worked in pencil, charcoal and ink over the years, until, she picked up a paintbrush at the age of 35. Beginning with oil paints, she found her chosen mediums in acrylic, watercolor and gouache.
Although self-taught, her dedication and talent has seen her work juried into 99 International exhibits, as well as exhibits in numerous non-juried shows. She has won 75 awards for her work at the International Juried Exhibits. Included in these awards, the first recipient of a major Canadian National Award, The Mary Pratt Crystal Award of Excellence at the 2014 SCA Open Juried Exhibition, The SCA 1st place award of distinction twice respectively, 2016, and 2017 at The Canada’s 150 show. The Gold Medal recipient for Figurative Painting in The Mondial Art Academia’s International 2018 Competition. The Aviation Week & Space Technology Award Best of the Best, and the ASAA Award of Distinction for the best painting in the ASAA International Space & Technology Exhibit & Competition, consecutively for 2 years. She has had 14 solo exhibits. Cher is also an avid fused glass artist, and a certified teacher of piano and guitar.
Her painting “The Bubble” had the honour of being part of the Masterworks from The International Guild of Realism Tour. She was elected to the American Society of Aviation Artists as an artist member in 1996, and eventually was elected as a Foreign Affiliate Artist Fellow, one of only two Canadians receive this honour. Her work has graced the covers of 3 books, 14 magazines, and has-been featured in over 50 international publications. Cher’s works have found a permanent home in private and public collections worldwide.
Cher’s artistic style can be described as Realism with a hint of Abstract in her latest works.
To see more of Cher’s work, please visit her website.
Best in Show (Photography & Digital) – Alec Hughes – “Between Light and Darkness #14” – photography
Biography: Alec is a visual artist based in San Francisco, California. Born and raised in the Bay Area, he took to photography at a very early age. Exploring amateur film photography in high school, he followed in his father’s footsteps, winning several local youth awards. He received an acting scholarship to attend the University of California at Berkeley, graduating with a B.A. in Physical Anthropology.
Despite reveling in artistic pursuits, the fear of lacking talent and the practicality of life overwhelmed his natural creative instincts, driving him toward an entirely different future. Now, after spending 40 years laboring in Corporate America, he has leaped to rediscover a life passed up so long ago. Driven by a love of abstract art, photography has given him the tools necessary to tame and reinterpret an often-chaotic world. Through his art, he attempts to visually capture the inherent structure of things, aiming to create new environments and new realities. Photography provides him faith that underneath everything, some element of an order does exist in life.
Over the years, he has satiated his love for the arts by serving as a board member on several not-for-profits, such as the Pasadena Symphony, the Pacific Asia Museum, and the 2014 SFMOMA Modern Ball Dinner committee.
Alec is currently enrolled in City College of San Francisco’s School of Photography. In 2020, he opened his own studio at Art Explosion’s Alabama Street Studios in San Francisco. He was recently featured in the Fall 2020 SF Open Studios: A Very Special Edition, which now can be seen in the Spring 2021 Mission Artists Open Studios.
Artist Statement: My photography is heavily influenced by abstract and non-objective art. Working with light, color, composition, and materiality, I seek to immerse myself in alternate realities that surround and envelope. By manipulating the lens, I attempt to create simple expressions of complex thoughts. Often used as a healing process, this approach helps control intensely painful periods of severe depression.
In this series, inspiration came from color field artists, like Mark Rothko, Aaron Siskind, and Hiroshi Sugimoto. Here I explore sanity’s fragility when life becomes punctured and overwhelmed. In times of extreme stress, my poor eyesight becomes a gift. I find comfort in my inability to see clearly but within only a few inches. The images in this series attempt to reflect how my optic nerves materialize the subconscious.
Embracing this nebulous environment, my surroundings coalesce into abstract forms, surfaces, textures, and colors. Harshness now dissolves into softness, and edges become less defined. Over time, calm returns, and a deep meditative state develops. Still, under the surface, a nagging sense of vulnerability remains, and calm becomes shattered, yet again, by moments of intense anxiety and visceral pain. This series reflects a more ephemeral existence. By reshaping reality, I can dampen its brutal sharpness, open it to interpretation, and immerse myself in a safer and less threatening world.
To see more of Alec’s work, please visit his website.
Best in Show (3 Dimensional) – Oleg Lobykin – “Pixel” – Bronze
Observing the natural world and mystery of transformation inspires me. My work depicts an ongoing search for the origins of form and exploration of portals to other dimensions. Shifting realities is a recurring theme, as are transformation and challenging perception. Ideas that are thought provoking, impactful, and engaging take form in the visible realm.
Much of my abstract work depicts aspects of the interplay between water and air. Like organic forms, my pieces often incorporate transformation and interactivity. The interplay of reflections and intuitive arrangements create a thought-provoking form with a sense of discovery and surprise.
The existence of one essential particle of matter can amaze us with its pure aesthetic pleasure. It represents the basic urge to create, linking the physical to the metaphysical world. This points to a larger truth: harmony in contradictions. There is no bad without good, darkness without light, death without birth. Everything has a purpose even if it is unknown to us at the moment.
I’m passionate about public art as a means to create community and connection between people and nature. It is a symbiotic relationship and foundational to what it means to be human: we respond to our environment and it responds to us.
While I’m a classically trained master stone carver, as an artist and sculptor I work in a variety of materials to express my conceptually driven ideas in novel sculptural form, experimenting with texture, materials, color, or interactive elements. I try to realize the potential of art as my contribution to society.
To see more of Oleg’s work, please visit his website.
