9th Annual ARC Salon
ARC is pleased to present the winners of the 9th International Salon Competition. With an approximate 2000 entries this year by over 850 artists, the competition was steeper then ever. Even with an additional category, and expanding our finalist cut up to the top 600 entries, the finalists only include the top 30% of works submitted. The Salon Catalogue will most likely run about 200 pages and include over 600 full color images, the winners receiving full page plates.
First I would like to say that we had the largest number of purchase awards ever with 17 works being acquired, the value of the paintings totaling over $240,000. This is in addition to the $40,000 in cash prizes and the production of the DVD, valued at $25,000.
This year it should be noted that the William Bouguereau Award Winner, The Little Mermaid, by Arantzazu Martinez, was also runner up for Best in Show placing just behind Orley Ypon who took the grand prize with his painting of Interregnum, a massive work of 90 x 60 inches displaying an elaborate scene of hundreds of individuals struggling in the murky waters of uncertainty. In addition to a $8,000 cash award, the Best in Show winner of the 2012/2013 ARC Salon competition will be awarded a fully produced and released video DVD showing a demonstration of their technique, an interview with the artist, and a profile of the artist's work. The Best in Show winner will be a key feature in this exciting new full-length DVD about the ARC Salon and will also include the works of all the winners and finalists. This is a $25,000 value and will be produced by Streamline Art Video, an ARC Allied Organization.
Joseph McGurl is our first recipient of what will hopefully be a long line of Plein Air Magazine Award winners to have a featured article done on their work in an upcoming issue of Plein Air Magazine. This award was chosen by the magazine's publisher B. Eric Rhoads, though he was not the only judge to see the strong submissions by this talented artist. Joseph McGurl also won first place in the Landscape Category for his painting of Creation in Time and Space and a major purchase award for the same work.
Julie Bell should also be singled out as winning the most awards in any one competition ARC has ever held, winning First Place in the Imaginative Realist Category, First and Third Place in the Animal Category, and two purchase awards. She also received Best Portrait Runner Up, two additional honorable mentions, and has emerged as one of the top artists of her generation.
For the first year ever we have not one, but two ties in the ARC Salon. One in the Landscape Category for Second Place between Erik Koeppel for his painting of Revival and Mark Haworth's work of Wall of Zion. The second tie was in the Drawing Category, also for Second Place, between Julio Reyes for his Black Veil and Juan Martinez for his piece, That Woman from Sparta. It should also be said that for the second year in a row our First Place Drawing Category Award winner was a student from the ARC Approved™ Ani Art Academies. Roger Long last year, and this year Jason Brady with his dark and intimidating charcoal titled Just a Game. Jason Brady is only 23 years old.
Look to the future weeks and months for full coverage of the ARC Salon Winners in the Epoch Times, Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine, as well as the featured article on Joseph McGurl in Plein Air Magazine, and perhaps in other venues as well. The ARC Salon continues to grow every year with greater and more diversified publicity and a continual increase in the number of artists entering. We are approaching the start of our 10th annual ARC Salon Competition, scheduled for 2013/2014. This is sure to be our largest competition yet with the largest amount of cash awards and publicity to date. Placing as a top winner will certainly give an artist his or her big break in the field. We will be accepting entries from September 1, 2013 through the beginning of 2014. If you are an artist, don't miss out on your chance to compete.
Art Renewal Center and Streamline Publishing (publishers of Fine Art Connoisseur and Plein Air Magazines) will release the first ARC DVD this coming October. The three hour video, will be produced by Streamline Art Video and will feature a step-by-step demonstration by the 2012/2013 Best of Show Winner. The video will also contain an in-depth interview with ARC founder Fred Ross, and a video exhibit of all the finalists and winners in the 2012/2013 ARC Salon.