To contact these Best in Show artists directly for purchase inquiries or to see more of their work, please visit the Light & Shadow 2022 Art Exhibition page for contact information.
Congratulations again to the winners and thank you for sharing your talent with us.
Best in Show (Traditional) – Yuqian Sun - "Artificial Fairies No. 9 - Listener" – watercolor and ink on paper
Yuqian Sun was born in Shenzhen, China in 1997. At the age of 14, her long journey of studying abroad began. After graduating from Idyllwild Arts Academy in California, she earned her BFA degree at the University of Michigan in 2019. Now she works as an art program leader at an international high school.
Yuqian’s art practice is derived from her photography works, which she started practicing when she was a kid. It was a pure hobby at first, but turned into a long and comprehensive method of creation that carries her aesthetics. She studied and experimented traditional mediums, striving to refine her painting style into a unique authorship.
In her doll portrait series “Artificial Fairies” and “Gem in Their Eyes”, she keeps looking for the ideal doll in doll images she created. Inspired by visual beauty of these mass-produced toy dolls in real life, her work proceeds to discuss the context derived from the meanings behind objects that are human beings’ artificial imitations.
Watercolor is the medium she studies the most. The emotional intensity that emerges in the poetic flow of translucent color is the reason of her obsession with the medium. When working on representational paintings with watercolor, Yuqian imagines capturing a solid form with intangible materials like water and light. Yuqian has learnt to be confident yet humble to cooperate with water instead of controlling it. Water-flow calms her down, teaches her to be honest with herself, and brings her inner world onto the paper.
To learn more about Yuqian and to see more of her work, please visit her website.
Best in Show (Photography & Digital) - Francesco Puliga - "STOP" – digital mixed media (ink on paper, acrylic paint, digital painting)
Francesco Puliga is an illustrator, comic artist and character designer. He studied Illustration at the Academy of Art in Bologna, and for his master degree he decided to study at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. During his studies, Francesco explored different art mediums and techniques. In fact, he had experience with traditional painting, sculpting, and printmaking. He works traditionally and digitally.
In his artistic career, Francesco has created and published many comic books and illustrations. In this phase of his artistic career, he is focused on art project that depicts a series of abandoned places, vehicles and objects, from different part of the world. The artist wants to use these subjects for conveying a sense of mystery and interest.
For achieving this goal, Francesco uses ordinary abandoned places reproduced with unusual texture and unnatural color light. The artist wants to create images that look unique and similar at the same time. In fact, all the images show a different scene, a peculiar color scheme and a particular format. On the other hand, all illustrations are created with the same process.
Francesco uses a mix of traditional and digital technique for creating the artworks. The illustrations are drawn by hand on paper. After, the artworks are inked traditionally with brushes and other tools. For the color base and texture, Francesco uses acrylic paint in a different paper or panel. The drawing and the acrylic paint are combined together with Photoshop, and finally the artist overpaint everything digitally.
To learn more about Francesco and to see more of his work, please visit his website.
