For 23 years Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art has been celebrating imaginative works by creators from around the world. During a ceremony in New York City Saturday night, May 7th, the celebration continued with the presentation of Gold and Silver Awards for exemplary art from the previous year in eight categories: Advertising, Book, Comics, Concept Art, Dimensional, Editorial, Institutional, and Unpublished. The ceremony was held in the historic Society of Illustrators carriage house in midtown Manhattan and presided over by Spectrum’s Director and publisher, John Fleskes. Presenters included such luminaries of the art community as Soojin Buzelli, Vincent Di Fate, Donato Giancola, Rebecca Guay, Charlie Kochman, Lauren Panepinto, Victo Ngaio, Marc Scheff, and Bob Self. Spectrum co-founders Cathy and Arnie Fenner introduced a memorial video devoted to the creatives who had passed away in the previous year.
The 5 finalists and award-recipients in each category were selected by a blue-ribbon jury consisting of David Palumbo [artist], Cynthia Sheppard [artist/art director], Kirk Thatcher [director/producer/SFX artist], Charlie Wen [game designer], and Terryl Whitlatch [concept artist/film designer] from over 5000 artworks submitted to the twenty-third annual competition. Also presented at the ceremony were the Rising Star Award, created and presented by sculptors Kristine and Colin Poole and intended to encourage a young artist, and the Spectrum Grand Master Award which honors the career accomplishments of a living artist. This year’s recipient was legendary comics creator Mike Mignola, who was present to accept his award and say a few words to the audience.
The award-winning art will appear with nearly 500 other pieces selected by the judges in the Spectrum 23 book, which will be published by Flesk Publications in November.
Spectrum 23 Awards Recipients
2016 GRAND MASTER HONOREE
Mike Mignola
ADVERTISING
Silver Award
Joseph Qiu / “24 Hour Movie Marathon”
Gold Award
Nico Delort / “The Blessing of Athena”
Other nominees:
Bartosz Kosowski / “Discworld”
Colin Poole / “Vishnu’s Third Avatar”
Andrew Thompson / “Glitch”
BOOK
Silver Award
Karla Ortiz / “Sorcerer of the Wildeeps”
Gold Award
Rovina Cai / “Tom, Thom”
Other nominees:
Chris Ayers /”Munchasaurus Rex”
Annie Stegg Gerard / “Renard and the Strawberries”
Donato Giancola / “Vesuvius”
COMIC
Silver Award
Nic Klein / “Drifter”
Gold Award
Daren Bader / “Tribes of Kai, page 41”
Other nominees:
Gael Bertrand / “Island #4 cover”
Tyler Crook / “Harrow County #1 cover”
Paolo Rivera / “Hellboy 1953”
CONCEPT ART
Silver Award
Te Hu / “Journey to West”
Gold Award
Vance Kovacs / “King Louie’s Court”
Other nominees:
Mirko Failoni / “The Mushroom Forest”
Seth Rutledge / “Window View”
Bayard Wu / “Dragon Island”
DIMENSIONAL
Silver Award
Thomas Kuebler / “Adelpha and Her Sister”
Gold Award
Forest Rogers / “The Morrigan”
Other nominees:
Akihito / “Death Wings”
Patrick Masson / “The Blind Death”
Dug Stanat / “Meeting Master Jones”
EDITORIAL
Silver Award
Chris Seaman / “Family Portraithausen: A Tribute to Ray Harryhausen”
Gold Award
Tran Nguyen/”Traveling To a Distant Day”
Other nominees:
Donato Giancola / “Empathy”
Greg Ruth / “Finnegan’s Field”
Sam Weber / “The Language of Knives”
INSTITUTIONAL
Silver Award
Julie Bell / “Behind the Veil”
Gold Award
Tyler Jacobson / “Exalted Angel”
Other nominees:
Wesley Burt / “Natural Connection”
Bill Carman / “Medieval Batman”
Te Hu / “Offering”
UNPUBLISHED
Silver Award
Wayne Haag / “Dust Devil”
Gold Award
Rob Rey / “Bioluminescence”
Other nominees:
Dragan Bibin / “Pull”
Jaemin Kim / “King Under the Mountain”
Greg Opalinski / “Initiate”
RISING STAR AWARD
Victor Maury
Other nominees:
J.A.W. Cooper
Yoann Lossel
2016 GRAND MASTER HONOREE
Mike Mignola
Enjoy,
John
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Text and photos copyright © 2016 John Fleskes. Artwork © 2016 its respective artists. All Rights reserved.