When they are not exhibiting their artwork at Agora Gallery, our artists are working hard to promote their craft around the world through art fairs, collections, and award ceremonies. We are happy to give our readers a little taste of what our artists have been up to when not in the gallery! Read more to hear about our Agora artist awards and recognitions!

Ilgar Talibov at Art Expo New York 2016

Ilgar Talibov, who displayed his work as part of our Emerging Visions exhibition in December of 2015, was featured in the international art book that was presented at this year’s Art Expo New York. Talibov has also exhibited internationally in Iran, Poland, London, and Azerbaijan, where the artist is from. Inspired by the work of the Futurist and the Cubists, Talibov creates a unique dynamic in all of his paintings, using form and gradient coloring to express movement and versatility.

The Tokyo International Art Fair

A number of Agora artists have been selected to present their work in the Tokyo International Art Fair in Tokyo, Japan from May 13-14, 2016. These artists include:

James Falciano, whose paintings are inspired by the nature, architecture, and history of New York City, his home and his muse. Having exhibited in Florida, New Jersey, and throughout New York, the Tokyo International Art Fair will be the artist’s first international showing of work.

Egyptian-born, Canada-based artist Ayda Mansour‘s paintings are large-scale abstract works layered with thick and vibrant colors for an entrancing and super-saturated look. Having grown up in an artistic surrounding with world renowned relations, Mansour is taking a variety of influences to make her own international statement.

Self-taught artist Esther Gracia Marques discovered the raw emotion and expressive qualities of the human body when she created her first oil painting. Time has not only given her the additional practice to realistically render skin tone, the structure, and texture of the body or the life in the human eye, but it has also allowed her to create a deeper bond with her subjects and bring forth those buried emotions.

Dentist and sculptor German Arzate creates dynamic sculptures that share a universal concept – the duality of human existence: pleasure-pain, happiness-sadness, man-woman, sun-moon, love-heartbreak, seduction-betrayal, companionship-loneliness, and life-death. With works that comment on human existence but have an atmosphere of mystic, Arzate has brought life to his “fantastic realism” style.

Jieting Chen incorporates traditional Chinese painting techniques with a feminine perspective to create contemplative and sensitive depictions of women. Her skilled use of watercolor deliberately blends and bleeds contrasting hues with a calculated employ of water and pigment to toy with the representation of space and form. Also a filmmaker, Chen has been acknowledged internationally for her work in animation and fine art.

Born on the Moluccas island of Indonesia, photographer Steven Anggrek has a fond appreciation for nature and anything he finds beautiful. Before digitally altering his images, Anggrek sketches his ideas, creating photography that also acts as a “handcraft”. His careful consideration pre and post image capture shows his engagement with each aspect of the artistic process and results in works that are uniquely his own.

A master of Single Stroke Painting, Michael Lam embraces the challenge of creating the perfect line on the first try. Without a formal education in painting, Lam has learned the characteristics of paper, ink and brush, which are instrumental to his process. Through a skilled understanding of the properties of ink, he is able to create variation by the kind of stroke he makes, adding a fresh breath to each piece. Lam’s works have been collected and recognized internationally, including in NYC, Australia, and Florence.

Mark James Ford, whose seemingly endless series of work touch upon a variety of natural subjects including macro-shots of the trees or flowers in his backyard or the incredible flowing forms of water and ice, brings new life to landscape photography. As a reference photographer for Sigma Deutschland and having shown his work internationally, the Tokyo International Art Fair is just one of the next steps for the world-renowned photographer.

Trent Altman’s artworks and the resulting cakes from Sugar Art 4 Autism

Sugar Art 4 Autism is a collaboration of nearly 100 sugar artists from 21 countries who create cakes inspired by artwork. Trent Altman, an Agora artist, had three works selected by three different world renown pastry chefs to recreate in cakes. Besides creating beautiful cakes, the organization seeks to raise awareness for autism and gather funds for the National Autism Association and the Global Autism Project. Trent’s work will be showing at Agora Gallery this summer as part of our Pathway to Abstraction exhibition, opening on June 19.

German photographer Florian Mueller was honored with multiple awards at the International Color Awards in Los Angeles last month. He won first place in the category of Professional Still Life, third place in the category of Professional Architecture, and honorable mentions in the categories of Professional Architecture and Professional Abstract. One of his honorable mention pieces, “Multivision Hong Kong III,” is a part of his Agora Gallery portfolio. Some of his works will be on view at the gallery this November in our exhibition Illumination: An Exhibition of Fine Art Photography.

Riya Sharma, a fine art and travel photographer, was nominated for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts for the Asian Awards in London. A graduate of the New York Institute of Photography, Riya captures strong, graphic images that highlight the subtleties in every day life. She aims to capture the overall essence of a scene in her work and not just one particular subject. Her photographs will be on view at our upcoming exhibition Illumination: An Exhibition of Fine Art Photography, opening on April 26, 2016.

Bettina Caro’s portrait of her great grandmother, “Mama Gimol”

Another artist who was featured in our Emerging Visions exhibition this past December, Bettina Caro, created a portrait of her great grandmother, “Mama Gimol,” that was accepted into the permanent collection at the Ben Uri Gallery in London. Founded in 1915 by the Russian emigre artist Lazar Berson, the gallery houses over 1300 works by nearly 400 artists primarily of European Jewish descent, including major works by Frank Auerbach, David Bomberg, and Mark Gertler.