Grey Cube Gallery proudly presents the second Monochrome online art show for the month of October 2022. The show encompassed a range of artistic styles and mediums (oil on canvas, acrylic, watercolor, graphite, charcoal, pen and ink, digital, photography, ceramics). Each submission has been judged based on the following elements of artistic expression: orginality and quality of art, overall design, creativity, interpretation of the theme, demonstration of artistic ability and usage of medium. Out of all entries, 97 artworks were shortlisted for inclusion in the show. The competition attracted entries from many countries across the world: USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, Bulgaria, United Kingdom, Chile, Germany, Singapore, Portugal, Hong Kong and Venezuela. Enjoy the show and thank you for expressing an interest in our competition.

I've been fascinated with black and white art all my life. I never had an interest in attempting to work in color. I believe the depth of monochrome tones using a range of graphite pencils displays the underlying emotion of an image that color distracts from. I enjoy working on a variety of subjects: from wildlife, portraits, and even landscapes. I look for subject matter that is highly charged and have great depth. The challenge for me is not only to capture the emotion of the subject but also the intense range of contrast.

I love painting people, and it’s even more exciting to paint in the monochromatic color scheme. Art is an escape into a different world where I get to take an adventure, whether it be to a different country, to be a different person, or see beauty in simple objects. I build numerous layers of transparent paint and use resist of different kinds to achieve this. My work is more mathematical than emotional. I use mathematical concepts in designing my art. Contrast of any kind excites me: Light and shadow, value change, lost and found lines and such. Each work in progress is magical and exciting and sometimes even frustrating, but never boring, and always addictive. I love being an artist.

Cher Pruys, ASAA SCA, IGOR, AAPL, CSAA, AMS, LMS, OSA, MAA, CFA, NOAPS, AWA.. "To take my inner visions with my hands and create a work of art for you the viewer .... That is the ultimate in self expression." Unlike many contemporary artists who choose to repeat themselves in subject matter, I find a strong desire to continuously change my subjects. I try to find excitement, beauty and interest in the everyday things in life, like crushed cans with their amazing shine and reflective surface, to a bag of apples, ripe for tasting, and glistening behind the plastic bag they are encased in. To find beauty in the seemingly trivial objects that really are a part of our everyday lives is so rewarding. Painting makes it possible for me to capture the magic that surrounds us, and to express my innermost feelings in a nonverbal way.

Works of art reflect the world. My works are also mirror images of today. However, it is not a reflection of the external appearance, not an abstraction of the mimetic world, but a reflection of the inner constitution. My works arise from sensations. They reflect the sense of time, so to speak, and represent ciphers for today. Thinking and feeling, geometry and color - between these poles I explore my artistic possibilities, although with all seriousness playful and poetic components are always involved. In this way I develop a visual world that has its roots in the strictness of the constructive and concrete, but at the same time is also based on individuality and spontaneous intuition.