2026 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize: RAYMAR Painting Award Winners Announced!
“Having been a judge of the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize since 2021, it’s incredibly meaningful to give back to this extraordinary community through the RAYMAR Painting Award. For nearly 30 years, supporting artists has been at the heart of RAYMAR’s mission. I continue to be inspired by the level of talent, dedication and unique expression of all the artists. It is a true privilege to celebrate and champion their work.” – Emilie Dietrich, Owner of RAYMAR | Fine Art Panels
Thank you & Acknowledgements
Once again, we would like to thank all of the artists that entered and shared their work and their artistic passion with us. It was such a pleasure to immerse ourselves in the work of so many creatives, working across varied mediums and styles, and reading their stories.
Beautiful Bizarre Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Danijela Krha Purssey has the pleasure of curating each issue of the magazine and our exhibitions. The Art Prize entries will continue to give her a plethora of new ideas and choices to pursue in future. So thank you again for your interest in the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize, we very much hope to see how your work has grown and developed in next year’s Prize.
We would also like to sincerely thank the 2026 Jury Panel, particularly the Painting category Judges Emilie Dietrich, Owner of RAYMAR and artist Brad Kunkle, for giving their time and expertise to the panel. Additionally, we warmly thank the other artist judges: Ed Binkley (Drawing juror), Bastien Lecouffe Deharme (Digital Art juror), Matthias Verginer (Sculpture juror), and Franz Szony (Photography juror), along with Vicki Fox, Owner of Quirky Fox Gallery (Emerging Artist Category Juror), Patrick Wilshire, Co-Founder of IX Arts and IX Gallery (Imaginative Realism Category Juror), April Carter, Curator at PoetsArtists and 33 Contemporary Gallery (Drawing Category Juror); and Co-owner & Director of Modern Eden Gallery, Kim Larson.
To our major sponsors: Emilie Dietrich, President & Creative Director of RAYMAR; Catherine K. Gyllerstrom, Owner & Art Director of BearWolf Books; Didi Menendez, Founder of 33PA and Gallery Director of 33 Contemporary Gallery, Joshua Zika, founder of INPRNT, and the team at MPB – our deepest gratitude for supporting this year’s Prize. It is through your support and generosity that the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize is able to acknowledge and uplift so many incredible artists and photographers from around the world.
As always, a huge thank you also to the Beautiful Bizarre team for their dedication and hard work on behalf of the prize and winners all-year round!
Our sincere thanks to this year’s RAYMAR Painting Award sponsors. It is through their support and generosity that the Painting Award Winners will be able to advance their creative practice, and receive the recognition they deserve.
RAYMAR Painting Award
The RAYMAR Painting Award 1st prize winner will receive:
- $3,000 USD cash, generously donated by RAYMAR, creators of the finest panels! Panels are their passion. They craft their panels with the world’s finest materials to serve as the foundation for your artwork.
- $1,500USD worth of art photography and/or Fine Art archival print reproduction from Static Medium.
- A beautiful, specially commissioned glass art award trophy.
- The opportunity to exhibit in the prestigious Beautiful Bizarre Magazine exhibition at Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco, USA, alongside 100+ of the world’s best contemporary representational artists.
- Exposure to a successful commercial gallery’s collector base with the opportunity to sell their work.
- 3 month social media advertising package (Beautiful Bizarre Magazine: 2 million+ followers across all social media platforms).
- Winning artwork published in the December 2026 issue of Beautiful Bizarre Magazine.
- Exclusive in-depth interview published on the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize and Beautiful Bizarre Magazine websites + shared across Beautiful Bizarre Magazine social media.
- Profile listing [including artwork gallery] on the Beautiful Bizarre Artist Directory for 12 months. The go-to platform for artists, curators and collectors to discover exceptional artists and explore their work.
- A year’s worth of inspiration – a print subscription to Beautiful Bizarre Magazine.
2nd prize winner will receive:
- $1,500 USD cash, generously donated by Rosemary Brushes, the finest quality handmade Artists’ Brushes.
- $500 USD cash, generously donated by Art & Fable Puzzle Company, whose mission is simple: to kindle curiosity and ignite enthusiasm for visual art, through the simple and profound pleasure of puzzling.
- The opportunity to exhibit in the prestigious Beautiful Bizarre Magazine exhibition at Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco, USA, alongside 100+ of the world’s best contemporary representational artists.
- Exposure to a successful commercial gallery’s collector base with the opportunity to sell their work.
- Exclusive in-depth interview published on the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize and Beautiful Bizarre Magazine websites + shared across Beautiful Bizarre Magazine social media.
- Profile listing [including artwork gallery] on the Beautiful Bizarre Magazine Artist Directory for 12 months. The go-to platform for artists, curators and collectors to discover exceptional artists and explore their work.
- A year’s worth of inspiration – a print subscription to Beautiful Bizarre Magazine.
3rd prize winner will receive:
- $1,000 USD cash, generously donated by Rosemary Brushes, the finest quality handmade Artists’ Brushes.
- The opportunity to exhibit in the prestigious Beautiful Bizarre Magazine exhibition at Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco, USA, alongside 100+ of the world’s best contemporary representational artists.
- Exposure to a successful commercial gallery’s collector base with the opportunity to sell their work.
- Exclusive in-depth interview published on the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize and Beautiful Bizarre Magazine websites + shared across Beautiful Bizarre Magazine social media.
- Profile listing [including artwork gallery] on the Beautiful Bizarre Magazine Artist Directory for 12 months. The go-to platform for artists, curators and collectors to discover exceptional artists and explore their work.
- A year’s worth of inspiration – a print subscription to Beautiful Bizarre Magazine.
The Winners in each Award category and the Grand Prize Award Winner will be invited to participate in the Beautiful Bizarre Magazine curated exhibition ‘Glimmer’ at Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco, CA, United States later this year, alongside 100+ of the world’s best contemporary representational artists!
A glimmer is the exact opposite of a trigger. Glimmers are small, everyday moments that make you feel joy, happiness, peace, or gratitude – which can help cue your nervous system to feel safe or calm. [The term was coined by Deb Dana.]
From the 200 Finalists across all Award categories, the Jury Panel will select the Grand Prize Award Winner.
Congratulations to the 2026 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize, RAYMAR Painting Award Winners: Denis Sarazhin, Roos van der Vliet, and Sean Layh!
3rd Prize Winner
Denis Sarazhin
Currently resides: United States / Ukraine
“Forgotten Tales” (oil on canvas, 64 x 62″)
Denis Sarazhin (b. 1982, Ukraine) is a contemporary painter living and working in New York / New Jersey, USA. His work moves between abstraction and figuration, emphasizing suggestion rather than fixed narrative. Rather than telling a specific story, his paintings remain open, allowing meaning to emerge through careful looking and personal interpretation. In his recent work, forms shift between recognition and disappearance. At times, the human figure dissolves into the composition; at others, it becomes the central structure of the image. Through considered compositional decisions and color harmony, Sarazhin creates a subtle balance between clarity and uncertainty. Sarazhin graduated from the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts in 2008. He has held solo exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, Stuttgart, and Kyiv, and his work is included in public and private collections, including the New Salem Museum. He works primarily in oil on canvas.
“Forgotten Tales”: Forgotten Tales explores the shifting nature of symbols through a contemporary synthesis of myth, legend, and archetypal imagery. By combining human and animal forms in an ambiguous, emotionally charged space, the work invites multiple readings rather than a fixed narrative. It reflects my interest in how different cultures interpret the same symbols in different ways, revealing meaning as something fluid, unstable, and continuously reshaped by memory, perception, and collective experience.
2nd Prize Winner
Roos van der Vliet
Currently resides: The Netherlands
“Hidden Messages” (acrylics on canvas, 60 x 33cm)
Roos van der Vliet (b. 1985) is a visual artist based in Duiven, The Netherlands. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2009 and has since developed a practice rooted in technical precision, observation, and a fascination with the stories carried beneath the surface of ordinary life. Working in a highly realistic style, Roos creates paintings that merge portraiture with symbolic and often dreamlike elements. Hair, animals, and other recurring motifs become vessels for themes of memory, intuition, connection, and transformation. Rather than illustrating fixed narratives, her work invites viewers into a space where personal experience and collective symbolism intersect. Roos has exhibited internationally, with solo exhibitions throughout Europe, Australia, and the United States.
“Hidden Messages”: Hidden Messages portrays my mother at a time of profound grief. Entwined in a veil of hair, she appears both fragile and resilient. A figure suspended between inner and outer worlds. The owls emerged after an unexpected moment during our photoshoot, becoming symbols of listening, intuition, and messages that may exist just beyond language. The painting explores how love and loss reshape our perception, and how we continue searching for connection even when silence seems absolute.
1st Prize Winner
Sean Layh
Currently resides: Australia
“Antigone” (Oil on panel, 100 x 140cm)
Sean Layh is a figurative painter whose large-scale, multi-figure compositions are influenced by classical literature and theatrical traditions. This year, Layh is a finalist in the ARCHIBALD PRIZE, going on to receive the coveted Packing Room prize. Also in 2026 Layh’s paintings won both the prestigious Best in Show and first place in the Figurative category in the 18th Art Renewal Centre’s SALON COMPETITION in New York. Layh is also collaborating with the Australian national theatre company, BELL SHAKESPEARE, to create a multi-figure painting based on Peter Evans’ 2026 production of “Julius Caesar”. From 2023 to 2025, Layh has won multiple awards at the Portrait Society of America, as well as first place in the Figurative category in both the Bold Brush the Almenara international painting competitions. In both 2023 and 2025 Layh’s paintings were exhibited at the European Museum of Modern Art (MEAM) in Barcelona. This July, Layh’s painting “Antigone” will be on display at Sotheby’s in New York.
“Antigone”: This painting reimagines Sophocles’ tragic heroine Antigone, shown standing defiantly in a grand, ruinous gallery. She cradles a child — an imaginative reference to her son, who appears in the lost Euripidean play The Epigoni — signifying the enduring consequences of resistance and legacy. Behind her hangs Antigone in front of the dead Polynices (1865) by Nikiforos Lytras, anchoring the work within classical and art historical tradition. The empty frame and scattered pages evoke erasure, forgotten memory, and the fragility of cultural inheritance. Through this layered composition I depict the tension between private morality and public law.
The 2026 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize is proudly sponsored by:
PLATINUM SPONSORS
GOLD SPONSORS
SILVER SPONSORS
BRONZE SPONSORS
MEDIA PARTNERS
ACADEMIC PARTNERS
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