2012 Pavel Jerdanowitch Painting Contest Results



The Losers of the 2012 contest are A.V. Artamonov and E.M. Borisova.


Nanavoi by A.V. Artamonov and E.M. Borisova

Badness: 0.64

Badness is the fraction of the voters which selected the painting as the worst. Each voter was shown five randomly selected paintings. Therefore the average badness is 0.2. The maximum possible badness is one and the minimum possible badness is zero.



Jerdanowitch Jr's choice is Anastasia Kislitzina for her daub, Orpheus and Eurydice.

This year (2012, for those inhaling toxic substances from their palettes who may have lost track), Pavel Jerdanowitch II, PhD, grandson of the originator of the school of Disumbrationism, has chosen Anastasia Kislitzina's dubious daub Orpheus and Eurydice as his choice for the Pavel Jerdanowitch Painting contest. It was a hard call. Anastasia also submitted an entry that showed the glimmerings of actual ability, which very nearly disqualified her. However, one halfway decent apple does not improve the quality of those that are rotten. Orpheus and Eurydice was so badly executed and incomprehensible, it clearly achieved the nadir of this year's entries.

As with last year's entries, all of this year's (still 2012, by the way) 67 entries exhibited the lack of talent so in keeping with my grandfather's work. In the memorable words of a close friend who actually possesses a great deal of painterly ability, "Dear God! Actually, they look a lot like most of the work one sees exhibited in international galleries. What has the art world come to?" My grandfather would be proud of all of those who attempt to answer that eternal question. Keep daubing!


Orpheus and Eurydice by Anastasia Kislitzina


Webmaster's choice is Semiotik Theorie by Joachim Pleachka


Semiotik Theorie by Joachim Pleachka.

It concerns the artist's quest for meaning in modern life. The mustache of the artist has an insect-like quality, bringing to mind antennae, reflecting our interconnectedness with nature. The uninhibited naturality of the mustache allows it to explore the depths of the mind. The mustache points towards a bottle of absinthe and a skull, which symbolizes Freudian thanatos impulses inherent in the human psyche. The sky-scraper on the side is a critique of the corporate world's dominance of our media. The ambiguous nature of meaning is symbolized by the cloud and the sun. The cloud is either is the process of uncovering the sun or of blotting out the sun. Much like the cloud, the monocle of the artist reflects the limits of our vision, only one eye has the power to focus. It also is a powerful inquiry into social paradigms, it exclaims "why should one eye be granted sight while the other languishes?" Overall, the entire work explores the intellectual richness of paradox, its "flat" aesthetic serves to raise a multi-layered analysis of the human condition.

View the rest of the 2012 contest entries

Famous or unknown artist?

Feedback   Discuss   RSS   Newsletter