Vincenzo Cardarelli ~ Autunno veneziano/Venetian Autumn

L'alito freddo e umido m'assale
di Venezia autunnale,
Adesso che l'estate,
sudaticcia e sciroccosa,
d'incanto se n'è andata,
una rigida luna settembrina
risplende, piena di funesti presagi,
sulla città d'acque e di pietre
che rivela il suo volto di medusa
contagiosa e malefica.

Thomas Moran - Entrance to the Grand Canal, Venice

Valentin Rekunenko, 1955 | Fantasy painter

"Art is a world of fantasy, where everything is possible. Once I visited it, I understood that it is my house" - Valentin Rekunenko.

Ukrainian painter Валентин Рекуненко was born in Tokmak, Zaporozhzhya region, Ukraine.

Graduated from the Dnepropetrovsk Art College in 1974.

Member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine since 1987. Participated in many national and all-union art exhibitions.

Talk Triennale of Painting in Kiev in 1998 and 2001.

His works are in private galleries in Poland, Yugoslavia, Germany, Russia, the United States.

Hazel Soan, 1954 | British Watercolor painter

British painter Hazel Soan grew up in the UK and graduated with a BA hons in Fine Art after studying painting at Camberwell and Leicester Art Colleges.She was awarded the Holbrook Trust Prize from Nottingham Museum and Art Gallery in 1976 and within a year of her graduation, she was earning a living by her paintings, and her watercolors sold out within the first hour of her first exhibition in London. Hazel has since held over 20 solo exhibitions, heeding the advice of one of her college professors- ‘Always have an exhibition on the horizon’. She has held exhibitions from as far afield as the Namibia, Venezuela, South Africa and Zimbabawe to closer to home in the UK. She took advice from the same lecturer when he told her to have a studio of her own where she could work uninterrupted and also to travel in order to avoid getting in a rut. She now has a studio in West London and another in Cape Town.

Jean-Pierre Augier, 1950 | Metal sculptures

French sculptor Jean-Pierre Augier, was born in Nice, he lives and works in Saint-Antoine-de-Siga, between Levens and Saint-Blaise (Alpes-Maritimes, France).

As a child, he created with various materials. From 1963, he got interested in disused old tools and learned how to weld them. From that time on, he would only shape iron and then exhibit at «La Maison du Portal» in Levens, in several other French regions, but also in Paris, New York, Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland.

Girel Oleg ~ Minimalist portraits

These Minimalist portraits by artist Girel Oleg eliminate all but a few colors to tell their story. Each image (originally a photograph) was digitally remixed, removing layer upon layer of detail to leave just contour lines and patches of richly textured color. It’s a simple, yet effective effect.

Włodzimierz Czurawski ~ Belarusian painter

Belarusian painter Włodzimierz Czurawski has graduated from the A.K. Glebow National Art Academy in Minsk. He has exhibited his art multiple times in his home country of Belarus. His work is characterised by its subtlety and calm, dimmed colour scheme. The artist in his landscape art or paintings still life using his masterful skills is able to create an effect of a magical depth.

The Leshan Giant Buddha / Il Buddha gigante di Leshan

The Leshan Giant Buddha (乐山大佛) was built during the Tang Dynasty (618–907AD). It is carved out of a cliff face that lies at the confluence of the Minjiang, Dadu and Qingyi rivers in the southern part of Sichuan province in China, near the city of Leshan. The stone sculpture faces Mount Emei, with the rivers flowing below his feet. It is the largest stone Buddha in the world and it is by far the tallest pre-modern statue in the world.
The Mount Emei Scenic Area, including Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996. It was not damaged by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

Egidio Antonaccio, 1954 ~ Realistic Impressionist painter

Italian painter Egidio Antonaccio is a Realistic Impressionist whose oil paintings express his love of nature and a man gifted with a rare talent. Having studied with some of the great Italian masters of fine art, he has developed a brilliant and commanding style. Born in Castelluccio, Italy, Egidio Antonaccio graduated from the Institute of Fine Art in Castrovillari, Italy, in 1973. Then in 1978, he graduated with honors from the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, Italy.