Grey Cube Gallery proudly presents the fifth Faces online art show for the month of June 2024. The show encompassed a range of artistic styles and mediums (oil on canvas, acrylic, watercolor, colored pencil, graphite, charcoal, scratchboard, ink, photography, digital). 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, 73 artworks were shortlisted for inclusion in the show. The competition attracted entries from many countries across the world: USA, Austria, Ukraine, Spain, South Korea, Taiwan, Canada, Italy, China and Belgium. Enjoy the show and thank you for expressing an interest in our competition.

Cher Pruys, ASAA SCA, IGOR, AAPL, CSAA, AMS, LMS, OSA, MAA, CFA, NOAPS, PSOA, AWA., AAOA. I am a self taught artists working in water based medium, mainly acrylic, but also at times gouache and water-colour. I am a hyperrealism painter fascinated by the world around me. I am very drawn to shiny surfaces as well as transparent objects, especially when the lighting brings them to life. I look for beauty in everyday objects that most people take for granted or just don’t truly see them as they are. The seemingly boring and mundane subjects can truly be like magnets if portrayed in the right light. Shiny metal is one of those materials that can host endless visions….the light hits it and the reflections are captured on the smooth, sleek surface…people and animals especially the eyes...an artists dream! My future art plans are to paint the countless subjects I have chosen to become paintings and to share my art with as many people as I can. "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."

I've been fascinated with black and white art all my life. I think black and white displays the underlying emotion of an image that color distracts from. I enjoy working on a variety of subjects: from wildlife, portraits and some landscapes. I look for subject matter that is highly charged and have great depth; the challenge for me is not only capture the emotion of a subject but also the intense range of contrast.

Bai Yongkang grew up with a passion for art and graduated from the China Academy of Art in 1989. He has been involved in teaching Chinese art exams for many years and loves to paint traditional Chinese characters and ethnic minority characters in watercolour. This selection not only contains human history, but also shows the characteristic dress decoration of each ethnic group, and it is interesting to show the history of each person at this moment through paintings.

I have always loved to tell a story through portraiture, and often tell stories through girls and women. I choose my subject based on qualities of her character and add the surroundings from my own imagination and experiences. In recent years I have added more animals into my work. I feel they make the stories richer and more magical. The point of view in my work is always the story of hopefulness. I think this is why I often choose younger subjects. Life comes at us like tidal waves at times. When one event ends, another rolls right over us. When I was in my twenties I once said, that growing up was a big slap in the face. But I have learned that if we can retain the hope of youth, the belief that if I put my hand out a bird will land on it, magical ideas, then we can see the good in the storyline of our lives. I have had a lifelong love affair with portraiture. Most artists who do find 19th-century portraiture the pinnacle of expertise in this genre. The staged storytelling, the familiarity of great storybook illustration. I like to bring these elements into my pictures. If they inspire, transport you or bring a hopeful outlook then I have achieved one of my goals. My other goal is to do this all with colored pencils. I still work like the painter I was trained as. Layering, color-mixing, even changing whole areas mid-painting or letting the piece evolve as I work. As I strive for excellence in my work, I have come to believe there is nothing I could do in oils that I can’t do in colored pencils. And maybe better.