AGAC 2023 1st Place Winner - Marco Kuhn - Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

1st Place Winner and People's Choice Award Winner in the AGAC 2023

- Artist: Marco Kuhn

- Name: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

- Size:  1260 mm x 900 mm

- Medium: Oil on Mosaic Tiles (Pasted onto rigid support)

- Price: R26,000

- Unframed

Marco is an established South African Artist and he has been awarded as the 1st Place Winner and People's Choice Award Winner in the ARTi Gallery Art Competition 2023!  

About this piece: 

For my re-imagined artwork inspiration, I wanted to go back to the early Renaissance artists. Sandro Botticelli's Primavera (3 graces) has always enamored me.

Their symbolism and depiction of esthetic beauty, joyfulness, elegance, and above all, creativity, all reflect my philosophy of beauty in art. Seeing as the '3 Graces' feature strongly throughout art history, dating back to early 2nd century BC to even our modern Era, they serve as a perfect subject to convey my vision. 

''The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be, and that which is done, is that which shall be done, there is no new thing under the sun. I decided to paint my artwork on mosaic tiles, this serves as symbolism as to how a clear interconnection of different times can be achieved, the seemingly separate can always be interconnected into a unified whole.

As the classical and modern can be seen as two separate times, they can also merge, through the correct placement of ideas into a unified singular image or thought, bridging the gap between eras. The magic of novelty in art isn't in finding something new, but by being true to oneself and filtering all the 'data' through our own persona or voice, and in doing so, transforming something of old by infusing it with our own vision into a novel, unique new.

About the Artist: 

My name is Marco Louis Kühn, and I was born in 1985 in Vredenburg.

At the age of 12 we emigrated to Namibia, only for me to return to SA in 2007. It was also at the age of 12 where I knew my passion was art and that that would be the road I would take for the rest of my life.

After school I went into the furniture business for 10 years, holding positions of stock clerk, financial manager and store manager, before quitting and taking the leap of faith to becoming a full-time artist.

In 2012 I started on my 2^nd life, founding the Marco’s Art Atelier in Klerksdorp, North West (where I’m still situated) and embarked on my journey in becoming a full-time artist and art teacher. In 2018 I also opened the Marco’s Art Emporium that focusses on selling art materials.

I am mostly a self taught artist, but have attended various workshops over the years, most notable being an intensive 2 week workshop held by the Grand Central Atelier of New York in 2014.

My artworks hang in various local and international private collections, I have been part of numerous group exhibitions over the past 10 years, winning several awards ranging from ‘best medium’ to ‘best on show’, placed top 15 in the Thami Mnyele competition, top 5 in SA Artist Magazine’s cover competition, and 3 consecutive Top 100 placings in the SPI (now Rust and Vrede) Portrait competition. I have also published 2 demos in SA Artist Magazine.

I am currently in the process of branching out into the Online Art teaching scene, and there is also a Portrait book on the horizon.

I can be found on my FB page: Marco Louis Kuhn and/or on Instagram: Marcolouisfineart