Dear beautiful bizarre friends,
The 36th issue of Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, with Mary Jane Ansell’s exquisite painting, “Floralia II” on the cover, is on sale now! Don’t miss this amazing issue – grab your today today via our website or one of our stockists worldwide.
I’m a little late publishing this, but Happy 2022! I hope you were able to spend time with friends and family over the festive season, and were not stuck in quarantine. I personally cannot believe that we are now into the third year of the COVID pandemic. I think we are all beginning to suffer from PTSD from the ongoing and unrelenting trauma… are you OK?
COVID cases here in Australia exploded with the onset of the Omicron variant late last year – our once relatively safe part of the world became as disrupted and dangerous as many other countries. So once again I felt the need to hermit at home and avoid the outside world. Luckily I have my job which I love, a beautiful garden that feeds my soul, and friends and family to hold and to cherish during this continued uncertainty. As I write this in April 2022 Australia has now pretty much removed all COVID precautions – I hope our government has made the right decision in this regard!
Of course, we now have another devastating situation, the war in Ukraine. What a nightmare for the 11 Million people who have fled the country and are now refugees. So many have lost their lives, their homes, all their possessions, and for what? The greed of Putin! I also feel for all the Russian people who are against this war and are trying to speak out, but are being silenced. Sadly Ukraine is not the only country who is suffering from the effects of war, terrorism, ethnic violence, civil war etc. It is truly heartbreaking to think the we as a species has not evolved past this violence.
Coming up
I am very grateful that Beautiful Bizarre Magazine continues to thrive despite the pandemic and global supply chain issues. This is all thanks to our print subscribers, for their continued support of our independent magazine!
This year will see a number of exciting milestones for our business: we will celebrate our 9th Anniversary with the release of the June issue which is now available for pre-order, plus the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize is giving away over US$57,000 in cash and prizes thanks to the generosity of this year’s sponsors! The Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize enables creatives from around the world to pursue a life and career in the arts and to help careers grow through funding and increased exposure of their work to galleries, collectors, and media globally.
My sincere thanks to our Silver and supporting sponsors for their generous donations, plus of course to our ongoing major sponsors INPRNT, iCanvas, RAYMAR and Yasha Young Projects for their continued support, and to our new major sponsor ArtStation who have chosen to support the very popular People’s Choice Award this year! It is through their generosity that we are able to provide the winners of each of the five Award categories: RAYMAR Traditional Art Award, INPRNT Photography Award, iCanvas Digital Art Award, Yasha Young Projects Sculpture Award, and the ArtStation People’s Choice Award with cash and product prizes to help support their practice, with the Grand Prize winner receiving US$13,500 cash this year! So if you haven’t yet entered, please do.
The Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize is also a brilliant opportunity to get your work in front of the person that curates each issue of Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, and all of Beautiful Bizarre’s exhibitions – me. So if you work in any static medium in any representational style or genre – this is your opportunity! I very much look forward to seeing your work. Please visit www.beautifulbizarreartprize.art for more information and to enter.
Beautiful Bizarre exhibitions
We also have two very exciting curated group exhibitions this year. ‘Interconnected’, our second Museum exhibition, and the first in my home country, opens in May at the New England Regional Art Museum in Armidale, NSW, Australia. This exhibition is the first in which we are exclusively exhibiting Australian artists. In November ‘Halcyon Days’ will open at Modern Eden Gallery, in San Francisco, CA, where the winners of this year’s Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize will also exhibit.
As always, thank you for your support of our independent magazine! I am deeply grateful. By purchasing the magazine and print subscriptions, you enable us to continue to support our global community of creatives and galleries, and our dedicated staff.
Until next time, please take care of yourself and those around you, and stay safe.
Much Love xo
Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief
Beautiful Bizarre Magazine
Top image by Issue 36 featured artist Stephanie Rew
