Colors
Art Exhibition Winners
Below are the biographies and/or artist's statements along with the artist's websites or emails.
Please visit the Colors and contact the artists directly for purchase inquiries or to see more of their work.
Congratulations again to all the winners and thank you for sharing your talent with us.
Jay Johansen
First Place Winner
Born in 1946 and raised by his artist-father in Oakland, California, portrait artist Jay Johansen, began his journey into the art world at a very young age. His father, Melvin Johansen, was a respected artist who struggled to make ends meet, working tirelessly with little financial reward. Seeing that harsh reality left a lasting impression upon Jay who often joined his father in the studio to create his own work. The young Johansen honed his skills at such an astonishing rate that when he was an eighth-grader, his father asked if he wanted to be an artist. Clearly passionate about his talent, Jay briefly contemplated the idea. However, he’d been living through hard times with his father and decided to pursue an education. Jay graduated from Cal Berkeley at age 20 and went on to earn an MBA from San Francisco State University. He also served as an officer in the US Army. Jay landed a position with an insurance firm and rapidly rose in the ranks. At 26, he opened his own insurance agency and grew a successful enterprise within 6 years, allowing him to pursue the passion he’d come to know as a child. Working incessantly to perfect his skills, Jay mastered a hyper-photorealism style, which he thought of as the pinnacle that would earn him respect in the art world. Painting ballerinas, matadors, and Hawaiian dancers, Jay established an international collector base, which ultimately led to commissioned paintings of music icons, world dignitaries, as well as a long list of celebrity collectors. After a brief hiatus, Jay returned to painting full-time in his studio, creating figurative paintings that were difficult to distinguish from photographs. However, reflecting upon his childhood during the ‘50s and ‘60s in Oakland, he recalled many urban scenes that were painted on buildings—artwork that conveyed social messages, as well as other works that simply displayed the imagination of tremendously talented artists whom most will never know. Jay’s creative juices were sparked, leading him to study urban artists of the past as well as up-and-coming artists of today. Desiring to pay homage to these brilliant painters, Jay gave birth to his “Fusion Art” series, a new form of artistic interpretation that brought Jay back to his days in Berkeley. He was expressing an untethered technique vastly different from the exacting techniques of the past decades. Today, Jay enlivens monochromatic faces of women with vivid colors that seem to bring life to the canvas. Using broad strokes, as distinct from his previous style, Jay enjoys a freedom he’s never felt as a professional artist, imbued with an energy of renewal that allows him to create art as he did when he was a child in his father’s studio.
Danielle Rackowski
Second Place
In these series of self portraits, coexisting energies converge and coalesce. Vulnerability is visualized as a brave and bold intensity for healing and empowerment. Vibrant colors and floral textural elements are layered and abstracted to express a unified tension, and a spiritual harmony of inner growth. Intricate digital layering of still life floral paintings and floral images, transform the self into botanical beings. An intuitive connection with color and nature is awakened as an introspective and transcendent balance of flowing color vibrancies. Rackowski's artworks have been exhibited in New Jersey, New York, Miami, and California. Her artwork has also been exhibited by international online art galleries. Her art has been on view during Miami Art Week in 2020 and belongs in private and permanent art collections.
Telagio Baptista
Third Place
Telagio Baptista is a recent transplant to Omaha, Nebraska. Born and raised in California, he has lived in Northern California since 1985. For twenty years prior to that he owned and operated a graphic design studio in Hawaii. It was during this time that he toured the South Pacific as a golf pro, teaching private golf lessons as time permitted. However, throughout the years and despite the joys and rewards of his various careers, there remained his passion for the arts. Telagio’s interest in the arts began when his parents bought him a toy violin. When they saw he would not put it down, they enrolled him in private violin lessons. During his teen years, Telagio gave private concerts up and down the Northern California coast and performed, as well, as a member of a string quartet. By the age of 17, he was a concertmaster of a junior symphony. While developing his love of music, Telagio also continued his love for the visual arts. His high school paintings won national awards and he was awarded a scholarship to the San Francisco Art Institute. Telagio finished his education by earning a BFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts. Telagio Baptista is a portrait, figurative, and cityscape artist using various atmospheric painting techniques. He frequently utilizes negative space to give his images room to “breathe” and to express a specific feeling or mood. His paintings have won international art competitions in addition to awards received both regionally and nationally. 7 Telagio works solely with watercolor. He uses a limited palette, valuing simplicity and restful space. In his view, watercolor is magical, an exotic medium that has no boundaries. His images vary from the fully realistic, impressionism to the somewhat more abstract, allowing the viewer to relate directly to what is portrayed and emotionally suggested. With every picture, a story is being told. As an artist and as a person, Telagio is open to new ways of perceiving and understanding. He is continuously learning and embraces the notion that his best work is yet to come. Telagio’s watercolor paper of choice is Arches and Fabriano 140-300lb cold press to rough. Winsor Newton Professional Watercolor and Daniels Extra Fine is his primary choice of paints. Telagio Baptista conducts watercolor workshops in the Omaha area for both individuals and groups. Encouragement and support for each student characterize his teaching method. He brings his God-given and experienced painting skill along with his enthusiasm to each workshop, encouraging his students to speak "loud and clear" with their hearts and brushes.