Drum roll please! The results are in for Hamptons Art Hub's "BE REAL" Open Call Art Competition. The art contest drew art submissions in response to art that revealed or in reaction to contemporary time or place from artists regionally, nationally and internationally.
From the United States, artists span the country and are based in 12 states including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Texas, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Ohio, Virginia, Michigan, Maryland, Idaho and Washington. International entries were submitted by artists working in Italy and the United Kingdom.
Judging our "BE REAL" competition was Peter Marcelle and Catherine McCormick, co-founders and co-directors of MM Fine Art in Southampton, NY and New York City. All of the art was viewed online only with artist names and statements hidden from the judges.
Marcelle and McCormick also selected art for a Hamptons Art Hub online only exhibition. Click here to discover the artists selected for the show and to see the online exhibition.
Winners of Hamptons Art Hub's Art Competition of "BE REAL: Art Inspired by Contemporary Time or Place" are Cara DeAngelis, Francine Tint and Kevin McKeon.
The winner of Best in Show will exhibit their art at MM Fine Art in The Hamptons. Winners of Best in Show; Best Fine Art and Best Photograph receive a cash prize and an annual Hamptons Art Hub Artist Directory Membership to provide exposure and marketing for their art.
Congratulations to all!
BEST IN SHOW
Laid Table of Roadkill III by Cara DeAngelis
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"Laid Table of Roadkill III" by Cara DeAngelis, 2018. Oil paint, tar, asphalt, and fool's gold on canvas, 40 x 62 inches framed. Courtesy of the artist.
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Cara DeAngelis has this to say about her art:
"The central theme in my work is the interplay between the domestic and the wild, which is integral to my series on roadkill. Ten years ago I began bringing animals found on local roads into my studio and creating still lifes with them. I was curious about working with the subject matter mostly due to my interest in environmentalism and habitat loss, and partly because there was so much of it I couldn’t ignore it.
"The paintings were greatly inspired by, and grew to satirize, 17th century Hunting Still Lifes, using the roadkill in place of game animals. These works re-invent tropes used by the Flemish masters and give them a contemporary, political, and environmental perspective.
"Much of my work is painted near life-size so the viewer is able to feel a presence of the animals at their actual scale. Seeing wildlife up close is not experienced in most people’s daily lives, for example many of us only see wildlife when driving past roadkill. Bringing roadkill to my studio is the closest relationship I have with wild animals, and in this way I’m able to share this relationship with my viewers.
"All the paintings in this series, (both still lifes and portraits), explore and question the role of wildlife in an increasingly industrialized society, and the place for them going forward in what’s been termed by some as a ‘Post-Natural Age’.
"As I was studying aristocratic portraiture the series quickly evolved to also include paintings of human figures sitting with the animals. Instead of a little lap dog, the women in my paintings sit with deceased wildlife, seemingly unbeknownst to them.
"Tar is often employed as a medium in the portraits to symbolize the darker side of humanity such as corruption, greed, and over-industrialization. Tar has long been used as a potent representation of death and criminality in film, literature, and art. In this vein, I’ve used it extensively in my work. In the painting Laid Table of Roadkill III, the tar is mixed with asphalt and fool’s gold to create a 3-dimensional mass coming out of the deer’s innards."
Cara DeAngelis art is held in multiple private and public collections. She holds a Masters Degree from the New York Academy of Fine Art. She currently lives and works in CT. To see more of her art, visit her website www.caradeangelis.com.
BEST FINE ART
Paris Red by Francine Tint
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"Paris Red" by Francine Tint, 2017. Acrylic on canvas, 51 x 65 inches. Courtesy of the artist.
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Francine Tint described her art process as follows:
BEST PHOTOGRAPH
Me, Myself and I by Kevin McKeon
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"Me, Myself and I" by Kevin McKeon. Digital photograph, 8 x 12 inches. Courtesy of the artist.
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Kevin McKeon described the impetus for Me, Myself and I and the Series "Scenes from a Bench in Coney Island" from where the photograph arises as follows:
"We live in an increasingly divided world, and yet, one need only walk along the Coney Island boardwalk to find an oasis of unbelievable diversity, acceptance and shared experience," he wrote in an Artist Statement. "Here, pausing on the benches that face the Atlantic Ocean, people from all over the city, the country and the world mix effortlessly with the local population - often literally shoulder the shoulder - as they rest their feet, gobble down a hot dog or contemplate their next move.
"I've committed to spending a year documenting the scenes that unfold on these Coney Island Benches, and at this juncture, I'm about four months in," he stated.
Kevin McKeon is a writer, photographer and creative director who recently embarked on his first documentary-driven photography project: "Scenes from a Bench in Coney Island." The photography project portrays human stories of those discovered along the iconic boardwalk and reveal the life that makes the Coney Island boardwalk a unique and special New York experience, according to his website.
Based in Brooklyn, McKeon brings 30 years of creative experience to his art. To see photographs from his unfolding series, visit www.coneyislandbenches.com.
"BE REAL" ONLINE EXHIBITION
To see the full Online Exhibition "BE REAL: Life Inspired by Contemporary Time or Place,"CLICK HERE to view the art chosen by Catherine McCormick and Peter Marcel of MM Fine Art.
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