Artists

Pramod Kurlekar

Pramod Kurlekar is a figurative painting artist from India. Born in 1978, Kurlekar’s paintings are often subjective with the outlines of a strong theme or topic of importance. His unique style of portraying the Buddha and use of doves as symbols of peace has drawn him praise and popularity in India.

Kurlekar earned a graduate diploma in Art from Kalavishwa Mahavidhyalaya Sangli in 2000 and placed first in his class. From an early age, he held a unique and distinguished sense of color and creativity. He has participated in several art educational programs and was awarded scholarships, including in a two-year fine arts residential program under artist Shri Vasudeo Kamat.

He received several awards including, the Maharashtra State Award (1999); Camlin Art Foundation Award (2001); Raja Ravi Verma Award Bombay Art Society (2008); Best Painting Award- BAS and Raja Ravi Verma Award (2007);  Camlin Art Foundation Award (2011); and the 25th All India Lokmanya Tilak Art Exhibition Award (2012).

jeremy lipking

Jeremy Lipking has emerged as one of the premier realist artists in the United States. Critics and art experts compare his talents to the great realists of the late 19th Century—John Singer Sargent, Joaquin Sorolla and Anders Zorn. One admirer says “Lipking is a virtuoso artist whose canvasses convey the magical aura of convincing imagery emerging out of a field of paint.”

 Born in Santa Monica in 1975, Lipking spent most of his early life in California surrounded by art. Lipking learned basic design, drawing, and color theory from his father, an advertising designer, children's book illustrator, and landscape painter. Lipking says he was attracted to a traditional style of painting because "it has so much to do with what's happening right here and right now—you're capturing the moment.”

In 2014, Lipking won the Prix de West Purchase Award at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, as well as Best in Show and Purchase Awards at the Art Renewal Center’s International ARC Salon. In 2013, American Artist magazine named him one of the 75 greatest artists of all time.

Quang Ho

 Artist Quang Ho is fascinated by the life he sees all around him. “Realism—abstract, it’s all the same to me,” Quang says. “The real essence of painting is the dialogue between shapes, tones, colors, textures, edges, and line. Everything else follows—including light, form, concepts, personal beliefs, and inspirations.”

 Born in Vietnam in 1963, Quang’s interest in art began at age three. He immigrated to the United States in 1975 and became a U.S. Citizen. In 1980, at the age of 16, Quang held his first one-man-show at Tomorrows Masters Gallery in Denver. The exhibit was a tremendous success. In 1982, Quang's mother was killed in a tragic auto accident, leaving him responsible for raising his four younger brothers and a sister. Quang attended the Colorado Institute of Art on a National Scholastics Art Awards Scholarship and graduated in 1985 with the Best Portfolio Award.

Quang has since won a long list of awards, including the Best of Show Award, Colorado Governor's Invitational; Southwest Art, Featured artist; Southwest Art 30 Stars of 30 Years; Oil Painters of America Show by the editors, Art of the West.

Adrienne Stein

Adrienne Stein strives to reanimate historical painting genres to form a bridge to the present with fresh insight and imagery. The worlds she paints are inhabited by figures, folklore, archetypes, and natural elements fueled by a sense of personal as well as universal myth.

Stein lives in in Pennsylvania and Colorado and holds an MFA from Boston University and a BFA Magna Cum Laude from Laguna College of Art & Design. She has studied under a number of influential instructors in the United States, France, and Italy. She has a range of awards from organizations which include the Portrait Society of America, the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, and the Art Renewal Center. 

Mike Malm

For artist Mike Malm, painting is about expressing a feeling or emotion through visual means. “When I see something that moves me, I work to break it down to find the essence of what it is visually that makes the scene so appealing,” Malm says. “My purpose in painting is to communicate the emotions and beauty that I experience to the viewer with the hope that the painting will trigger a similar emotional response in them. Ultimately, I hope my work uplifts and inspires.

Malm lives in northern Utah with his wife, Juanita, and their four children. The surrounding rural communities and pastoral settings provide backdrops for his figure paintings and inspiration for his landscapes.

Malm’s study began under Del Parson at Dixie College where he completed an Associate’s of Arts degree. He then attended Southern Utah and Utah State universities where he received an MFA. Malm achieved a professional art reputation when he was only 22 and has been accepted in several prestigious galleries.

Thomas Blackshear

Painter and sculptor Thomas Blackshear II is known for his dramatic lighting and sensitivity to mood. “Drawing was all I ever liked to do," says Blackshear. "While all the other guys were playing baseball or basketball, I was in my house, drawing." The artist has produced illustrations for advertising, books, calendars, collectors’ plates, greeting cards, magazines, postage stamps, and national posters.

After graduating from the American Academy of Arts in Chicago in 1977, Blackshear worked for a year for the Hallmark Card Company in Kansas City, Mo. He became a freelance illustrator in 1982 and has been self-employed ever since. His clients range from Disney Pictures, George Lucas Studios, and Universal Studios to International Wildlife and National Geographic magazines.

He has won many prestigious awards over the course of his career, including Gold and Silver Honors in the Kansas City Art Directors Club (1982); two Gold Awards and Best of Show (1986), Best of Show (1989), and two Gold Awards (1990) Illustrators West Shows; a Gold Medal from the National Society of Illustrators (1988); and the Plate of the Year Achievement Award (1990). He also won the prestigious International Collectible Artist of the Year Award (2001). In 2006, Blackshear held a one-man show in the Vatican where he unveiled his painting of Pope John Paul II for the 25th  anniversary of the Pope John Paul II Foundation.

Sam Adoquei 

Samuel Adoquei’s uniqueness is turning nature and people into beautiful timeless paintings that inspire future generations. Adoquei began painting as a child growing up in Ghana where painted movie posters for local theaters. After moving to Nigeria, he secured a job in commercial art where he painted billboards. When he turned 18, Adoquei moved to Italy where he became aware of art’s true power.

Adoquei is also the author of Origin of Inspiration—a Strand Books bestseller that Rolling Stone Magazine called an “Origin of Inspiration, a treatise on the best way to live a creative life, is full of ideas.”

Adoquei has won many honors, including a Portrait Award from The Artist’s Magazine annual competition, and the Gold Medal in Oil Painting and Best Traditional Oil Painting awards in the Knickerbocker Artists Annual Exhibition. His artworks have been exhibited at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, and other museums and galleries in the United States and abroad.

Udi Merioz

Artist and writer Udi Merioz was the curator of the Israeli Prime Minister’s Art Collection and is the owner of The Blue and White Art Gallery in Jerusalem. He is a graduate of the Edinburgh College of Art and a specialist in the field of developing new methods of art as a communicative language. Merioz has taught and lectured art in several academic institutes in Israel.

In 1967, he created artwork for the bicentennial celebration of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, which now hangs permanently in the White House. In 1979, Merioz was commissioned by the Israeli Airforce to create an artwork to commemorate the Peace Treaty between Israel and Egypt. Later the same year Udi was commissioned by one of Israel’s most famous pilots, the late Asher Shamir, to create a special oil painting and lithograph. Between 1983 and 1985, Udi created a program for communicating through art which was to assist the absorption of the Ethiopian Jews in the Southern Region of Israel.

Suchitra Bhosle

Suchitra Bhosle paints in a representational realistic style drawing inspiration from 20th century naturalist painters. She embraces impressionism to depict everyday representational scenes. Bhosle excels at capturing and expressing the mood of her subjects, often in contemplative classical settings. This lends a timeless yet intimate quality to her paintings. Though primarily a portrait and figurative painter, she has recently been painting urban and architectural subjects.

Bhosle is represented in leading fine art galleries across the United States, including Santa Fe, N.M.; Washington; Carmel, Calif.; and Houston. Her paintings have won awards at international juried shows hosted by the Portrait Society of America, Oil Painters of America, and American Impressionist Society. 

Brittany Scott

Brittany grew up near the orange groves of Southern California and loved to draw as a child. Her drawing became more serious in high school where she worked with charcoal, drawing portraits of children.

In 2003, Brittany attended Utah’s Brigham Young University and fell in love with its high desert landscape. Brittany interned with Burton Silverman in New York and worked as an apprentice under William Whitaker. After graduating in 2008, she continued attending workshops and learned from artists Josh Clare, Matt Smith, Bryan Mark Taylor, Ryan Brown, and others. 

Brittany helped build the creative community in Provo, Utah, through the Creative Collaborative, a group of artists who meet regularly to discuss living a successful creative lifestyle. Brittany now lives near Dallas with her husband and four boys where she works with Master Draughtsman Michael Mentler and recently studied with Michelle Dunaway. She has become a bridge to unite artists in communities large and small to foster greater collaboration.

Mian Situ

Born in Southern China, Mian Situ received his formal art training in his native homeland of Guangdong, formerly Canton. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Guangzhou Institute of Fine Art, and a few years later earned a Masters in Fine Art. Mian’s paintings clearly reflect his upbringing in the rural countryside of his native China. His deep-toned impressionistic paintings of the backcountry often focus on people going about their daily lives in their small villages and farming communities.

Mian’s artistic versatility is also evident in his exquisite portraiture, as well as his more recent works inspired by western historical themes and American landscapes. Since 1995, he has been recognized with many national art awards. During the 2003 Masters of the American West show at the Gene Autry Museum, he was honored with three major awards: the Thomas Moran Memorial Award (in recognition of exceptional artistic merit), Artists’ Choice Award and Patrons’ Choice Award. He has also won the Award for Excellence for Master Signature Members for his painting, “Helpful Hand”.