The 6th International Figure Painting Competition organized by the New Tang Dynasty (NTD) included creations by artists from Peru and Brazil as part of the finalists.
The exhibition of the finalists’ works, which were opened to the public between Jan. 8 and Jan. 19, were selected from among 60 paintings by artists from more than 20 countries, including two from South America.
With the mission of promoting pure beauty, goodness, and authenticity through traditional painting, the NTD competition called for artists to reflect in their works traditional values and positive ideals of beauty, compassion, and righteousness, according to the website of the event held at the Salmagundi Club in New York City.
“It’s a great surprise,” said Peruvian artist Pablo José Roque Almanza, author of the work “Origin,” an allegory of the creators of the Inca empire and Peru in a large-format oil painting displayed among the competition’s finalists.
“I truly was very excited, because it is a work that I am very fond of and because of all the time it took me to create it,” said the Peruvian artist in an interview with the Spanish edition of The Epoch Times.
Nowadays “everything happens very fast, and people run after emotions, immediate satisfaction and we don’t see the bottom of things, the essence of things—which is invisible, and everything starts from the inside,” he explained.
“The works reflect a little bit what is in that inner world, the values,” added the artist, who is participating for the second time in the NTD traditional painting competition.
The Peruvian artist pointed out that he proposed to work on this pictorial theme as a reference to his cultural roots, to counteract its oblivion and serve as a reminder of the origins of the great Inca empire, seeking to “revalue our Inca ancestors.”
To represent the grandeur of the Inca empire, which extended into what are now the countries of Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia, among others, the artist decided to paint in oil on a large canvas that would allow him to achieve the realism he sought to express, which meant a great artistic challenge.
He also invited art and culture lovers to visit the exhibition of the finalist works, to appreciate the diversity of themes and messages that the artists sought to convey with their creations. “It is a marvel for the senses, a wonderful experience,” he concluded.
Besides Mr. Almanza’s work, two oil paintings by Brazilian artist Clodoaldo Geovani Martins, “Time to Play” and “Bath Times,” were also exhibited among the finalists of this competition.
