BE OPEN Art is happy to announce the Artist of the Year 2023, selected by the majority of votes among the monthly ratings. Our congratulations and the €1000 prize go to the gifted Jean D’amour Imanishimwe, a Rwandan visual artist.
Graduate of the Nyundo School of Arts, Jean is the co-founder of HUZA ARTS RWANDA gallery whose objective is to give a platform to young local artists to exhibit and sell their artworks. This is part of a more global objective to support young creatives, promote values of peace and love and preserve African artistic heritage.
Aiming to showcase young talents, every month of 2023 BE OPEN Art invited art enthusiasts to choose the best artist among those 20 exhibited in the gallery. The artist whose works gained the majority of votes throughout the year became the Artist of the Year.
To be featured in the gallery, BE OPEN Art selects artists at an early stage of their career who emphasize social consciousness, philosophical meaning and the aesthetical solutions for the wrongs of the contemporary world, such as inequality, lack of diversity, environmental issues, and consumerism. In a way, the project sees its mission in looking for the new influencers in the art scene, and invites everyone to contribute to this process.