Competition Winners

Laura Renner wins the Gallery&Studio Summer, Visions of the Future competition,
with her oil on wood painting “Waiting for a Connection.”

In the quiet solitude of the moment, a man looking out over a serene lake with a fishing pole stabilized under his foot, is waiting for a response. In time he might enjoy a catch and the fish may be on his dinner plate or perhaps it will be released to fight another day. In the meantime, he basks in this peaceful interlude between now and the vision of his future.

Throughout history, this ubiquitous image of a solitary fisher, now almost a cliché, has been seen in magazines, paintings, greeting cards and newspapers, promising imminent happiness in this very comforting and familiar story. This is a dream of a future in which the outcome is planned. It is an archetype image of the human need for happiness, persistence and comfort.

The runners-up have each presented images leading to ways to consider the meaning of the future.

Upward Quest by JP Fox tells a more intense story with his circular image. The foreground is dark, and above which could be sky, heaven or clouds are interlocked in colorful stripes. Is he telling us that the future is up for grabs, offering us options?

Marco Lando’s Alchemy presents a dark universe of rearranged buildings. Nothing is what it seems. Is he presenting another dimension which is no longer grounded in the physical world as we know it?

Teruhisa Takahara’s Dawn presents a layered futuristic vision. In the two top layers a stylized city stands under a dark starless sky; the buildings are mirrored below in orange and yellow. The bottom layer is equally puzzling. Black and white line drawings of figures within disconnected structures possibly indicate that life in the future will be unrecognizable.

Jenny Belin’s Headspace is a bouquet of feline faces, all expanding out from a central cat face showing how the future springs forth from genetic replication through the generations.

August Light by Stephanie Lempres reflects an orderly terrain in her simplified sections of color. showing the lay of the land in Autumn. The light of august indicates the winter to come.