High honor
Old masters shine in new splendor
Paul Szimak from Burgenland is the world's best "Art Photographer of the Year". What makes his work so exceptional?
Paul Szimak can look back on an excellent year in 2024: The Müllendorf native was runner-up in the World Photography Championship in spring, is one of the 45 best fine art photographers in Europe according to the jury and one of the top 3 digital artists in Austria. The 52-year-old has now received a special honor: he was awarded the title of Fine Art Photographer of the Year for his work "L'Agonie de Gaia". The award is regarded as the Oscar of the photography world and has been presented by the IPA International Photography Awards in Los Angeles for 21 years. Szimak's portrait laughed from the cover of a US trade magazine. "That's extraordinary for an Austrian photographer. And even more so for a Burgenland photographer," he says.
And what does this art consist of?
Take a Renaissance painting. By merging them with photographs and personal objects, the paintings take on new interpretations and meanings. "I get in touch with the Old Masters and place their works in a contemporary context," says Szimak. Technically speaking, these are classic Photoshop composings. "It's a process that takes weeks to months. Everything is done by hand. Artificial intelligence is not used for a second."
As far as Burgenland is concerned, the 52-year-old is fond of Darscho, where he used to splash around as a child. He travels to Seewinkel time and again to capture today's moods with his camera and then incorporate them into his works as a background.
The pictures are currently on display at the House of Lucie gallery in Athens. They will then travel on to the galleries of the Center of Photography in Los Angeles, Budapest, Kashan, Bangkok, Ostuni and Bologna.
This article has been automatically translated,
read the original article here.
Kommentare
Liebe Leserin, lieber Leser,
die Kommentarfunktion steht Ihnen ab 6 Uhr wieder wie gewohnt zur Verfügung.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
das krone.at-Team
User-Beiträge geben nicht notwendigerweise die Meinung des Betreibers/der Redaktion bzw. von Krone Multimedia (KMM) wieder. In diesem Sinne distanziert sich die Redaktion/der Betreiber von den Inhalten in diesem Diskussionsforum. KMM behält sich insbesondere vor, gegen geltendes Recht verstoßende, den guten Sitten oder der Netiquette widersprechende bzw. dem Ansehen von KMM zuwiderlaufende Beiträge zu löschen, diesbezüglichen Schadenersatz gegenüber dem betreffenden User geltend zu machen, die Nutzer-Daten zu Zwecken der Rechtsverfolgung zu verwenden und strafrechtlich relevante Beiträge zur Anzeige zu bringen (siehe auch AGB). Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren.