The voting period for SHOWDOWN is over and we now have two winners to congratulate! 1st place and $1,000 goes to Barry Wilson for his work Bank Tube. Runner-up Elena Gallotta is awarded $500 for her work titled Womb. Both works will be exhibited at Saatchi Gallery in London.
Bank Tube by Barry Wilson
w o m b by Elena Gallotta
Participate in the next Showdown! www.saatchionline.com/showdown
Each week we visit a Saatchi Online artist to share a glimpse into their studio, a peek inside their...
Each week, we showcase an emerging artist from around the world who is already garnering attention for their...
"Blue has no dimensions; it is beyond dimensions, whereas the other colors are not... All colors arouse specific...
Each week, we showcase an emerging artist from around the world who is already garnering attention for their...
We’re thrilled to have interior designer and star of Bravo's "Million Dollar Decorators" Mary McDonald...
Congratulations Barry and Elena, it was a great Showdown!
Nice job Barry and Elena, looking for too long at Bank tube carries you away and w o m b is definitely eyecatching!
Brava Elena! Complimenti
Very long and boring showdown
These are both subtly layered, pleasing works, but oddly with very similar palettes! A nice pairing of the organic, curved and sinuous with the angular, flat, twisted shapes. I hope they will be hung next to each other, with ‘w o m b’ on the right.
It was a great Showdown, I totally disagree with that. It was tiring, frustrating and laborious to say the least. It just seemed to drag and drag and drag endlessly. I became completely immune to the voting system, due to the influx of crap that was out there, until I found something that validated my vote. If people don’t like what I have just said, then tough, because if you study it hard and carefully, you will then begin to realise that as an independent voter, there was nothing that there was hardly anything engaging that deserved an honest vote. I can’t believe how many I spent sifting through the selections thinking no, no, not to sure, oh I’ll just skip a matchup (oh can’t skip that because it won’t let me for some strange reason?) It became a complete joke, and actually quite annoying in the end. The setup for it was thin, and just bogstandard. Oh, and a question to anyone who competed; did any of you experience a freeze with your entry level? Because for at least a week, my piece that I blindly submitted was locked in the 1200 position, and harldy moved whatsoever?! It couldn’t have been the fact that no one did or didn’t vote for it, as the entry level would have made changes either way, so what the fuck was happening?! And that’s what has also pissed me off.
I also felt that I wasn’t really connected or ambitious with this Showdown, as the whole setup was hashed together to make it seem so ridiculously boring and stupid. I can see why the smarter people tend to avoid this dodgy competition, because they know what’s it like. And things on this site are going to get worse, before they get even more worse! Never will I touch this competition ever again, because let’s be perfectly honest, computer art, algorithm art and all of those categories don’t stand a fucking chance (good ones I mean, not bad ones). Choose your submission carefully when the apocalyptic Showdown Rapture occurs later in the competition. Everyone was positive of the long needed changes that were initiated Bruce and Saatchi for Showdown, but the sour remainders and ghost of ARTPARIS have haunted this version. Perhaps I should exorcise it… by never competiting again.
I shoudn’t never need to complain, but unfortunately, that seems to endemic of this site now. It shoudn’t be the case, but I bitch because I care, which seems to be the bigest problem I find on this site. People will no doubt disagree with me on this article, but believe me, I am sick and tired of this silly format we have now. I feel bored and constrained to what I can do on here, and Saatchi Showdown is an example of this concern I have. I feel it is only suitable for me to mention these issues because of the right place, but no doubt someone who is offended of my rheotric will somehow throw a spanner in the works. If on the contrary someone agrees me, that I will be enlightened to hear their concenrns also, and will not lonely in this issue.
Other than that, well done both Barry and Elena for your winning pieces. I wish you all the best and I hope doors will open to you because of this.
Goodbye….
I do believe that a jury should select which pictures get into showdown first, and right off eliminate the ridiculous junk some call art today which seems to say that anything and everything qualifies to be called art! But then that might put the jury in a spot as they are probably not quite sure themselves. As for me I cannot go through the boring task of going through 5000 pieces much of which is “gimme a break” stuff! Let the jury do that and let us see what they themselves consider worthy of the name “ART” This whole showdown thing has to change again…as said above the new showdown was boring, boring,boring and let me add stupid, stupid, stupid.. Let the jury pick first and eliminate, then the artists, and for god sakes don’t make one showdown last forever!
just to add what you said about your image being locked at 1200 position.
my image was locked at 300 position from the first day till i got knocked out.
I wallowed away in the high 3000′s and managed to climb all the way to 2800. I spent close to three hours clicking through match-ups just to vote on my own piece. When the top 300 was announced, there was a grand total of three entries that were three dimensional works. So out of nearly six thousand entries, three works that were not a painting, drawing, photograph, or computer generated were deemed worthy to move on. I guess the institutional bias towards 2D holds true in the online art world as well…
I missed seeing the top 30, but if it was as boring and homogenized as the top 300, I didn’t miss much.
My first showdown was the Saatchi 3 when I was encouraged to enter by a friend and art historian when he boldly claimed, “you and Saatchi were made for each other!” My entry was as high as #2 for a time and ultimately I ended up at #176 and out of the running. Until something changes that makes me feel like I might actually have a chance (more curation up front, media specific showdowns, etc.) I likely won’t be bothering to enter anymore. I’ve done three now and my placing has gotten worse with each one, Maybe I suck at art, but based on my accomplishments in the real world, I don’t think that is the case.
Congratulations to the winners. Barry’s painting isn’t to my taste, but I wish him (and Elena) nothing but the best and hopefully they can generate some additional success for themselves.
Oh, and also, for people who’s pieces didn’t advance through the Jury Stages, does your artwork in your Portfolio say that you can’t edit or delete it because it apparent stil thinks its in the Showdown competition?! I have contacted Saatchi through email to notify them about this situation and no reply whatsoever? I emailed them at least last Thursday? So what is going on here? I am getting annoyed here now about the silly aspects of this site. Also, what a piss – take, thinking its still in the competition – yeah I wish.Sort it out Saatchi, or I’m resigning definitely…
Come è possibile avere più di 3000 voti per tentissimi giorni, passare a 1300 fino a tre ore prima della fine e poi non farcela ??
Non ci capisco più niente !!!
Troppo lungo , la giuria deve essere solo dei critici , separare foto da pittura e da scultura … Non è possibile che i lavori più belli se ne vanno sempre al primo giro !!
First of all congratulations to all the winners.. congratulations to Top 30.
but as many people have said earlier… I, too, didnt like this new format. It is impractical to browse through almost 6000 entries and keep voting..what if in next showdown entries go to 10000… can one expect others to keep clicking and clicking and clicking?
Main changes need to be done at entry level.. after we get top 300 or 500..it wont be so herculean a task to genuinely VOTE.
though there was much fiasco about previous format, i still think that was a better one because it gives you power to vote specifically and more importantly to ask Vote from fellow artists. That was much like Democracy where you participate in a poll and ask for Votes…obviously voting or not voting on a particular piece is individuals choice and no one can force no one.
So better bring back the previous format back with some technical modifications (like one cant vote from a specific IP for more than, say, 3 times)..it can be easily done and doesnt need a Bill Gates to design the algorithm…perhaps it is readily available in the market…
or, as a friend suggested in some previous comment… Bring Jury at entry level to decide which works to go to next round… that is also a good idea…but less Democratic.
This new format will surely kill the excitement and hope Showdown generates…
Poorly designed competition and voting system….
love the painting and congrats, but saatchi are tight with the money, could have given bigger prize money
I agree this system is a SUPER FIASCO. hahaha.
To me, I like to know the portfolio of artists who vote, with time I made a few friends online, and a group of artists I like and who vote. This time I clik clik clik and I could only vote for an artist who usually vote. I could not vote for me, is absurd.
With regard to a vote po ip, does not seem important, many friends of mine I have voted from my pc, when we get together to cook at home. Nor do I believe that someone has 100 or 200 email accounts to vote for himself.