The Downriver Arts Council

Emerging Artist Exhibition
Juror Comments
by Robert Maniscalco

What is an Emerging Artist?

Dora Gonzales-Bagget, Julie Wistinghausen, Robert Maniscalco & Adelina Fuents Connelly at Downriver Emerging Artist Exhibit

I was very excited and humbled when asked to juror an emerging artist competition downriver. Number one, as an owner of a commercial gallery I am always on the prowl for new work, new ideas, fresh talent. Where better to look than from emerging artists. It is this delicate stage in an artists career I find most fascinating and exciting. These are the formative years, full of experimentation and exuberance. The scope of the exhibit was quite clear: artists beginning or returning to their careers. Many talented artists were eliminated on that basis alone. To find three artists with a unique talent and vision in the early stages of their careers was very exciting indeed. And truly, these three artists fit the bill, each in their own way. Though several genres are represented, from imaginary realism to expressionism, they all share an exoticism and a joy of painting that leaps out at the viewer. They communicate on many levels, they are fully resolved works, they have something to say about the world in which they (we) live. There is an attention to technique and craft combined with the wonder and abandonment to the moment of creation. The work expresses a point of view and an integrity on the part of the artists to do what is necessary to follow it through, i.e. training, a willingness to look "silly" and the guts for some real soul searching. These artists are following their muse and that's what it's all about. Bravo to Richard Green and the Downriver Council for the Arts for establishing this important exhibit. Clearly, this area is experiencing a cultural renaissance and the DCA is on the cutting edge! I encourage you, I urge you to enjoy the emergence of true talent, represented by the artists of this exhibit

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