It was a genuine pleasure to meet so many of the artists last night at Jonathan Levine Gallery for the opening of the Delusional Art Competition. Not surprisingly, the art works were stellar and in many cases exceptional – narrowed down from a field of 1700 or so competitors and selected by Jonathan and a jury of artists and professionals in the field (full disclosure: BSA was on the jury).

About 150 people crowded the gallery space and looked at the 40 finalists, shook hands with artists and posed with them, each making their own assessments about what works were resonating strongest for them and considering the quality of the field in general. There is a great deal to be learned from how artists are seeing things at this moment and about how we all are responding to this work.

First Prize : Win Wallace

Win Wallace. Dancer #5 , 2018. Jonathan LeVine Projects. Delusional. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JURY’S CHOICE
1st Place – Win Wallace
2nd Place – Tina Lugo
3rd Place – Susannah Martin

HONORABLE MENTIONS
Carly Slade
Rick Newton
Anthony Solano

We are excited to share with you artworks by the winners and honorable mentions from this years’ Delusional Art Competition and to share with you some reactions from the visionary at the vortex, Jonathan Levine.

Second Prize – Tina Lugo

Tina Lugo. I See Myself with You 2016. Jonathan LeVine Projects. Delusional. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA: How was the competition this year compared to last year when you had to do the jury duties all yourself?
Jonathan LeVine: The interesting thing is I was trying to make it this very democratic process and so every year the show is different. So some of the choices that other jurors made I thought, “Oh that makes sense” and with some of the others I thought, “really they chose that?”

But then it just made me realize how different everyone’s tastes are. It was an interesting thing to see. You know I did it last year and I’ve juried stuff before, but because it was my competition I felt differently. It really made me think this year about perceptions, what people like, and what kind of tastes people have.

Third Prize – Susannah Martin

Susannah Martin. Reservoir 2018. Jonathan LeVine Projects. Delusional. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA: What surprised you?
Jonathan LeVine: A lot of people liked stuff I didn’t like.

BSA: Are there trends that you would like to see evaporate?
Jonathan LeVine: I always like to see people not imitating so much from other people. It’s one thing if you see it a little bit. But it is another thing if you see 50 artists doing the same thing, or see blatant rip-offs of other artists. I realize those people probably think that it is okay, or they don’t even realize that they are doing it, or it is flattery, but it is not unique.

Great art to me is unique. It doesn’t have to be fine art, but it needs to be authentic. That really speaks to me. So maybe that is sometimes more challenging to people and its not always necessarily the prettiest. As I continue to do this competition, it’s going to change my perspective I think.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Carly Slade

Carly Slade. 2046 W Diamond St, Philadelphia, PA 2018 Jonathan LeVine Projects. Delusional. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Carly Slade. 2046 W Diamond St, Philadelphia, PA 2018 Jonathan LeVine Projects. Delusional. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Carly Slade. 2046 W Diamond St, Philadelphia, PA 2018 Jonathan LeVine Projects. Delusional. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rick Newton

Rick Newton. Christopher Columbus Discovering the New World 2016 Jonathan LeVine Projects. Delusional. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rick Newton. Christopher Columbus Discovering the New World 2016 Jonathan LeVine Projects. Delusional. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Solano

Anthony Solano. Enough 2017 Jonathan LeVine Projects. Delusional. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Solano. Urban Arc 2017 (far left), Room to Grow 2017 (bottom) Jonathan LeVine Projects. Delusional. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Following are short bios for each of the winners and honorable mentions:

Win Wallace was born in South Carolina and is currently based in Austin, Texas. His recent practice focuses on conte and charcoal portraits, as well as ink drawings. Since high school, Wallace has played in bands and has made posters for bands like the Melvins, Neurosis, Sleep, Helios Creed, Alice Donut, DMBQ, Animal Collective, Scratch Acid, The Dicks and many others. He moved to Austin in the mid 1990’s to study drawing at the University of Texas. His drawings are influenced by history, art history, dreams, nature and pathos.  His works have been exhibited extensively in Texas, throughout the United States and internationally.

Tina Lugo was born and raised in The Bronx, New York.  She studied at the School of Visual Arts where she obtained her BFA and worked with fellow artist, Nicolas Touron.  She’s currently based in Portland, Oregon where she continues to make glass paintings in her Pacific Northwest studio.  Lugo lists as her biggest influence, the Ero Guru Nansensu art movement of Japan—a name comprised of fractions of the English words erotic, grotesque, and nonsense.  The movement focuses on eroticism, sexual corruption, and decadence, all themes salient in Lugo’s work.

Susannah Martin was born in 1964 in New York City.  She studied at New York University and received a SEHNAP scholarship for painting.  Among her most notable teachers there were; John Kacere, Louise Lawler, Sherrie Levine and Peter Campus.  Following her studies she was self-employed as a muralist and painter of sets for film and photography in New York, Berlin and Frankfurt am Main, where she is currently based.  In 2004, she returned to fine art and is interested in contemporizing the classical subject of the nude in landscape.  Avoiding a falsely idyllic scenario, she focuses on mans´ estrangement from nature. The figures may appear absurd, stripped of all social indicators and possessions, or ecstatic in unexpected reunification with their natural selves.  Her work creates a stage in which mans´ struggle between the two poles of his identity, the natural and the synthetic, may be contemplated.  She’s exhibited throughout Europe and the United States of America.

Carly Slade grew up in “Big sky Alberta”, Canada.  She received her MFA from San Jose State University and her BFA from the Alberta College of Art and Design.  Her work is influenced by her blue-collar roots and plagued by a concern for the precarious nature of the working class.  Using a mix of materials (most often including clay, embroidery, and building supplies), Slade creates dioramas of real places in an unreal perspective.  Slade is currently the Artist in Resident and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, PA.

Rick Newton was born in West Palm Beach Florida and received a BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art.  Stylistically inspired by scientific textbook illustrations, her presents his personal mythology concerning the future of our world.  By incorporating Cold War imagery interacting with animal life set in surreal landscapes, he supposes a world where there has been a shift in hierarchy.

Anthony Solano was born in Hayward CA, then spent the majority of his childhood in Guadalajara, Mexico.  When he returned to the Bay Area at the age of 13, art became a source of escape and comfort.  In high school he was exposed to painting for the first time, sparking what would become his life’s passion.  Anthony, a self-taught painter, now resides in Portland, Oregon and credits the local landscape for a major creative shift, from abstract painting to the surreal genre that he currently practices.  His work explores today’s environmental conflicts, communicated with vibrant hyper-realistic imagery and thought-provoking storytelling.  A sense of optimism and hope within his work allows the viewer to experience a complex, emotional response.

2nd Annual Delusional Art Competition

Group Exhibition will run from
August 1 – 25, 2018

For more information please go to Jonathan Levine Projects.