CITY
JANUARY 2025
BEST IN SHOW
MB MOSK
"THE 405 ALTAR PIECE"
Oil
“We created a new persona, (MB Mosk) when we began collaborating, separate from our individual studio practices. These works are a curious hybrid only slightly resembling our own work. The process attempts to create a seamless blending to appear as a single artist has produced the painting. We draw on our shared approach to looking at the peculiar nature of people and the world. Our sense of irony and humor is a vehicle to allude to a deeper meaning below the surface.” — MB Mosk
GOLDEN TRIO AWARD
KENNETH RICCI
"IN THE STILLNESS THAT FOLLOWED I COULD HEAR..."
"THINGS TO DO" "HERE, AS ELSEWHERE, WE MARVELED..."
Collage
"I work in a sort of literary/philosophical framework so within that context my reference points are the parables of Kafka and the aphorisms of Kierkegaard. Because elements determine content, the process of creation is both constrained and liberated by the available elements at any given time and it is the improvised procedure of choice, assembly and judgement that settles the argument.” — KENNETH RICCI
GOLDEN TRIO AWARD
GUGLIELMO BOTTER
"PITTSBURGH, PA: VIEW FROM ATOP THE PNC TOWER"
"PITTSBURGH, PA: THE BENEDUM TREES BUILDING" "ALWAYS A BUSY DAY IN PITTSBURGH, PA."
Pen and ink
“I am an Italian American citizen born in Italy where I graduated in architecture: I worked in this field for almost 20 years until we collapsed in the days of the economic crisis. In 2010, I closed my studio and I started drawing with my ink pen again. I have loved drawing cityscapes since I was very young (5 years old) and my self-taught art keeps me anchored to the architecture that I love in my heart, allowing me to appreciate and enhance buildings, monuments and particular views. I travel all over the world where I am invited to draw new cities and this has changed my life! My hand travels happily while I always portray new city scenes that make me appreciate different people, customs and traditions.” — GUGLIELMO BOTTER
DIAMOND AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
BACKROADS INFINITY
"GONE IN A JIFFY"
Photography
“I'm a nature and exploration-style photographer with a passion for capturing the untamed beauty of some of the United States' unheralded and untapped regions. I've journeyed through countless small towns and parks across Appalachia and the Midwest, emphasizing rural settings yet dabbling in urban areas as well.”
— SHAWN DIGITY aka BACKROADS INFINITY
DIAMOND AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
JOHN DIEPHOUSE
**CRYSTAL ARTIST OF THE YEAR 2023**
"PEOPLE ON THE STREET"
Digital collage
“I'm a primarily self-taught photographer and digital collage artist and am attracted to a wide variety of subjects ranging from natural landscapes, botanicals and wildlife to images that provide either abstract expression or social commentary. I'm interested in sharing images that evoke a story of some kind. Images may be simply documentary, reflect a sense of time and place or resonate on a more abstract level of color, shape or form. Others provoke an indefinable question that doesn't readily yield answers without further study and reflection. Most recently I have begun exploring digital collages as a means of expression.”
— JOHN DIEPHOUSE
SAPPHIRE AWARD
CONSTANTIN ALIFERIS
"HOMELESS AND OLD IN THE BEAUTIFUL CITY"
Digital mixed media, oil, photography
RUBY AWARD
JAY JOHANSEN
EMERALD AWARD
ROBERT BOLLA
CRYSTAL AWARD
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AWARD OF MERIT
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HONOURABLE MENTION
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**WINNERS VIDEO**
FINALISTS
