Emerging Me: Breaking the Ice - Contemporary Painting Prize, first edition

**Emerging art** is fresh and natural, unfiltered, and carries an enormous potential to impress a world hungry for new perspectives. Much like the black diamond, whose splendor is revealed under pressure and meticulous polishing, the works of emerging artists display freshness, depth, complexity, as well as new and unconventional approaches and perspectives that both the artistic community and the public must uncover.

**Contemporary and ultra-contemporary art** have redefined the boundaries of traditional practice, and young artists are at the forefront of these transformations. Emerging artworks are often disruptive—they question norms, embrace new media of expression, new technologies, and new ways of perceiving the world. These artists are not just the voices of today; they are the architects of tomorrow’s ethics and aesthetics, leaving their mark on the future of the art scene through innovative ideas and approaches.

**Eastern European emerging art** holds a particular uniqueness. The region’s rich ethnicity and complex history have always given rise to hybrid and unique perspectives, often shaped by the dichotomy between Eastern and Western outlooks on life, tradition, modernity, resilience, innovation, and evolution. The region is brimming with untold narratives waiting to be discovered, yet the Eastern European art market is not especially oriented towards emerging art.

Young emerging artists from this region carry not only their personal life stories and the immense cultural density of this transitional space but also the karma of the survivor. It takes great courage to break the ice and carve out a path, a career, in the vast and complex landscape of contemporary art—especially on a global stage governed by strict financial algorithms and fierce competition.

Through Emerging Me: Breaking the Ice, we aim to support these artists by offering them a platform to showcase their work and step into their own future of limitless possibilities.