About the jury members
Nihat Özdal (TR)
Nihat Özdal is a poet based near Izmir and the founder/director of Kommagene Biennale.
Dr. habil Prof. István Erőss (HU)
István Erőss graduated from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in 1995 as a printmaker, attending other institutions such as the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and the University of Fine Arts in Marseille. He defended his DLA thesis about nature art in 2009. He has organized and exhibited in group shows all over the world, including Taiwan, Japan, China, India, Iran, Türkiye, South Africa, Mexico and Europe. He is the rector of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts since 2021, and continues to teach nature art in Eger at the Eszterházy Károly Catholic University.
Ri Eung-woo (KR)
Ri Eung-Woo graduated Gongju National University 1982. He is researching and creating nature art since 1981. He is a member of the Korean Nature Artists Association called YATOO. He was a co-organizer of the Geumgang Nature Art Biennale and was the director of the Global Nomadic Art Project (GNAP) between 2015 and 2018. He is traveling and working on site all around the world since 2000.
Dr. habil Prof. Kristaps Zariņš (LV)
Kristaps Zariņš studied painting at the Art Academy of Latvia, between 1980-1986, graduating with a diploma thesis under the supervision of Professor Imants Vecozols. He then studied at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris and at the Sorbonne. He has participated in group exhibitions in Latvia, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, Denmark, Italy, USA. His first solo exhibition was held in Paris in 1990, and later in Latvia and abroad, in Denmark and Norway. The artist’s works are in the collections of the Latvian National Museum of Art, the Museum of the Artists’ Union of Latvia, several collections in Moscow, private collections in Latvia, Switzerland, Norway, Germany, Denmark, France, Russia, USA, Great Britain, Japan, Italy. He is the rector of the Art Academy of Latvia since 2017.
Varol Topaç (TR)
Varol Topaç obtained his bachelor’s degree from Anadolu University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Sculpture Department, and his master’s degree from Dokuz Eylül University. He worked as a member of faculty in different universities between 1999–2012. He is member of the International Association of Plastic Arts and International Sculpture Symposium Alliance, as well as representative of the International Association for Monumental Sculpture Events on behalf of Türkiye. He is continuing his work as a sculptor and vice director of Minister of Culture and Tourism Izmir State Painting & Sculpture Museum.
He continues to do nature-earth-environmental art as a founder and member of the Patikaart group.
Dr. habil Prof. ASP Bogdan Achimescu (PL)
Polish-Romanian artist Bogdan Achimescu studied at the Ion Vidu Art Highscool in Timisoara, the Ion Andreescu Visual Art Institute in Cluj and graduated from the Fine Art Academy in Kraków in 1993. Achimescu is creating drawings, installations and mixed media art.
In 2001 he represented Romania at the Venice Biennale as part of the Context Network. Achimescu’s works are part of numeros collections worldwide including NY MOMA, Vienna’s Albertina, The Washington National Gallery, The Sao Paolo Museum of Art, The Uffizzi Galleries in Florence, the Alvar Aalto Museum in Jyväskylä.
Currently Bogdan Achimescu is the director of the Doctoral School of the Fine Arts Academy in Kraków.