Many congratulations to Marcus Tudge, a Chase de Vere Paraplanner based in our Leeds office, who created a piece of artwork which was selected for The Biennale Chianciano 2022 Art Competition and exhibited at the Chianciano Art Museum between Saturday 6 and Sunday 28 August 2022.
This is one of the most dynamic art competitions in the world and unites the best of established and emerging artists of contemporary art under a single umbrella.
Marcus’s story
“I have no artistic background and never pursued art beyond my ‘O’ level exam. I’ve never entered any art competitions before.
“At the start of the year, I was under orders to get things tidy in my garage. I had so much old computer equipment, which I’d accumulated over the years, and so instead of purchasing some wall art for the house, I decided to create my very first sculpture piece from those computer parts. I thought I would do my bit for the planet and recycle the components and not just send them to landfill.
“From the very start I was under strict guidelines from my wife, if it turned out to be rubbish, it would not make the living room wall. The challenge was on.
“While building the ‘tek citi’, I became aware of the competition in Italy, but forgot about the closing date. Then one evening something made me go and check the deadline for submissions. The closing date was 31 May, that evening!
“I nearly missed it. I then thought about the dilemma of getting the artwork over to Italy if I was selected. Could I organise this without the item getting lost or stuck in customs? I did hover over that submit button for a long time.
“To my amazement I found out that my artwork was selected as a finalist, and I was one of only 150 artists from around the world to be selected.
“The sculpture was then transported to a warehouse just outside Rome, waiting to be called forward by the museum.”
Attending the exhibition
“I was in two minds whether to go and see my work in the gallery, but quickly realised that this will probably never happen to me again in my lifetime. So, I flew out on Saturday morning, 6 August, to attend the inauguration night when the galleries open to the public.
“It was a fabulous experience, meeting all the international artists who had been creating many works of art over the years and some taking years to get selected. Everybody I spoke with said they loved my work and that they had not seen anything like it before.
“I did have to do an emergency repair job when I got there because it was broken in transit. I had to get it fixed quickly, on my hands and knees, and had just 30 minutes to spare before the doors opened to the public.
“It was such a wonderful experience and I’m now thinking about what artworks I can create next.”