Best in Show
Traditional Art
Raymond Sammak
Raymond Sammak began painting at the age of eight after a neighber, who admired his drawings, began taking him for art lessons. Over the years, Mr. Sammak’s work has evolved to encompass realism, ashcan, expressionism and portraiture. Mr. Sammak has exhibited his work extensively with Allied Artists of America at The Salmagundi Club in NYC, The guild of Creative Art, The Monmouth Museum, The NJ Chapter American Artists professional League as well as numerous online art shows and galleries. Mr. sammak recently completed a painting to help promote the upcoming feature fim, TEAM MARCO, in which he also makes his screen acting debut. His work can be seen in many local exhibitions and online galleries as well as numerous private collections.
If you are interested in seeing more of Raymond’s work, please visit his website. Visit the 4th Annual Cityscapes Art Exhibition here.
Best in Show
Photography & Digital Art
Athalie Taylor
Athalie Taylor is a visual artist who lives in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia. Her work encompasses photography and digital artistry. Her initial training was in the art/textile area but more recently she has embraced photography leading to her passion, digital art. Athalie has had work in exhibitions in Northern Tasmania including her first solo exhibition in 2015 and in 2017 another solo exhibition this time at the Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria. She was also selected for an online solo exhibition through Light, Space and Time in April 2017.
Athalie’s work has been shown in the Living the Photo Artistic Life magazine and Artists Down Under – Australia and New Zealand, the magazine she founded but unfortunately had to pass over to another editor when ill health intervened. Athalie has artworks in private collections across Australia. The camera is her tool, her paintbrush, her pen, her pencil. She is often found moving it, twisting it, turning it, bending it’s will to create the beginnings of her journey. Next comes the selection, the adding and subtracting, the refinement to reveal the essence of the design, her thoughts, her idea.
Athalie chooses subjects, often simple in concept, looks for pattern, shape, line and texture. She experiments with and pushes her camera to its limits to create the initial stage of each piece before she takes it into various post processing programs to explore the possibilities, develop the idea and finally hone the work. Colour plays an important role in her work as does black and white it all depends on the subject; the mood and emotion of the piece, the composition, the elements that form the design and the light and shade. Many of her images are strengthened by being presented in black and white. Athalie finds the material for her work in very many places in the urban and natural environment.
Please visit Athalie’s website if you are interested in seeing more of her work. Visit the 4th Annual Cityscapes Art Exhibition here.