Dear beautiful and bizarre friends,
We haven’t connected personally since last year, so let me begin by wishing you a Happy New Year [can you believe it is March already?]! I hope this year sees your creative dreams come true.
Issue 024, the 6th Anniversary issue of Beautiful Bizarre Magazine is out now! I am deeply grateful to the 40+ incredibly inspiring visual and wearable artists who so generously gave their time to enable us to share their work and stories with our readers. This issue also includes a very special Artist vs Artists editorial in which artist couple Soey Milk & Kent Williams talk about love, relationship, living and creating together, and how this affects their individual practices.
I am also very proud to reveal that we have massively expanded our network of retailers with Issue 024. You can now buy Beautiful Bizarre Magazine from 50 Barnes & Noble stores around the USA, plus a plethora of stores and galleries around the world. Check out our ever expanding list of retailers on our Stockists page.
Issue 024 cover artist Ray Caesar. Photo by my incredibly talented Online Editor, Bella Harris.
As well as our core business of publishing the best and most beautiful contemporary art magazine in the market, we have a number of incredibly exciting projects in 2019! The first of which is the 2019 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize, that is now accepting entries. This year we are excited to add Award Categories for digital artists and photographers, along with traditional artists working in all static mediums. I can’t wait to see all the amazing entries!
My sincere thanks to our generous Corporate Art Champions and Major Sponsors, INPRNT and Stocksy United for enabling us to increase this year’s prize pool to over US$20,000 in cash and prizes! Visit beautifulbizarreartprize.art for details.
Work in progress by 2018 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize, 3rd Prize Winner, Olga Esther for ‘Gaia Reborn’
The second is Beautiful Bizarre’s first museum exhibition, ‘Gaia Reborn: A Future Utopia’. After curating seven exhibitions in Australia, Japan, and the USA, I am thrilled beyond words to be working with Yasha Young, Executive Director of the Urban Nation Museum for Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin, to bring you something truly special! This exhibition will include the work of over 50 of the world’s best contemporary figurative artists, working across genres and mediums, whom will individually and collectively bring to life an incredibly important theme – the conservation of our planet. We are currently living through a new mass extinction event the ‘Holocene extinction’, which tragically is entirely due to mans affect on the earth and environment. The exhibition’s theme ‘Gaia Reborn: A Future Utopia’ aims to inspire society to once again see, appreciate, and care for the natural world. The time for change is now – before it is too late!
Details of work by Kazuki Takamatsu & Nadezda ‘Gaia Reborn’
Artists truly are society’s visionaries, so it is my hope that through this collection of work we can inspire thought, discussion, and a deeper connection with the earth. Only if we as a global society once again truly value and respect Gaia, our Mother Earth, can we create a future utopia, one in which all of her creatures can survive and even thrive. ~ Danijela Krha Purssey
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The opening [11 May 2019, 6:30pm – 10:30pm] will be a truly immersive experience, including a haunting operatic performance. The space will be transformed with a luscious abundance of greenery, a huge tree will invite you into the main room while rich dark walls will cocoon you and, of course, beautifully showcase the evocative artwork. So please save the date of the opening reception of Gaia Reborn, and join myself, a number of the Beautiful Bizarre team and many of the exhibiting artists for an experience you won’t soon forget.
Work in progress by Yousake Kawashima & Troy Brooks for ‘Gaia Reborn’
The completed work I have seen thus far, along with all the works in progress for ‘Gaia Reborn’ are truly exceptional! If you would like to receive a Collector’s Preview, please email me at danijela@beautifulbizarre.net and I will add you to our VIP preview list.
Gaia Reborn: A Future Utopia
@ Project M/Urban Nation Museum for Urban Contemporary Art
Berlin, Germany // 11 May – 10 July 2019
Participating artists: Adam Miller, Amy Sol, Audrey Kawasaki, Brian Viveros, Caia Koopman, Calvin Ma, Chris Berens, Ciou, Craww, Crystal Morey, Dilka Bear, Ellen Jewett, Erika Sanada, Ewa Prończuk-Kuziak, Fin Dac [Mural], Forest Rogers, Hannah Yata, Kelogsloops, Jana Brike, Jasmine Becket-Griffith, Jean-Pierre Arboleda, Jessica Dalva, J Louis, Joel Rea, Johnson Tsang, Julie Filipenko, Juliette Clovis, Kate MacDowell, Kazuki Takamatsu, Kevin Peterson, Kisung Koh, Laura Colors, Lori Nelson, Lucy Hardie, Mab Graves, Marie Larkin, Miho Hirano, Miss Van, Nadezda, Naoto Hattori, Natalia Fabia, Olga Esther, ONEQ, Peca, Rebecca Leveille, Redd Walitzki, Richard Ahnert, Rose Freymuth-Frazier, Sarah Joncas, Sarah Louise-Davey, Scott Musgrove, Tom Bagshaw, Tom Christophersen, Tran Nguyen, Troy Brooks, Vipoo, Yousuke Kawashima.
Work in progress/under painting by Mab Graves for ‘Gaia Reborn’
Finally, I am thrilled to once again collaborate with Directors of Haven Gallery in North Port, New York to bring you our 2nd curated exhibition at this beautiful gallery in December! ‘Ritual’ will showcase the work of the worlds best figurative artists along with the winners of the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize in each Category: 1st Prize Winner, INPRNT Traditional Art Winner, Stocksy Photography Award, Sculpture Award, and the Digital Art Award – whom will each create a new work for the exhibition in keeping with the ‘Ritual’ theme. For more information about the Awards Categories and prizes for each visit beautifulbizarreartpriz.art
I am also very proud to say that we have almost sold out of Issue 024, so if you don’t want to miss out purchase your copy today via our SHOP page, or contact one of our fabulous Stockists. Of course the best way to ensure you never miss an issue again is to Subscribe!
As always I am deeply grateful to all our readers, whom through their support enable myself and my team to continue to share our passion for the arts with the world! Plus of course champion artists from all over the world, helping them to pursue a life and career in the arts. We LOVE our readers! So please do share a pic of your copy of Beautiful Bizarre Magazine on Instagram and use the #IamBeautifulBizarre hashtag so we can find and share your snaps on our stories.
Much love xo
Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief
Beautiful Bizarre Magazine
