The Painterly Artist Exhibition
The Painterly Artist — Online Exhibition
Curated by Hunter Guise Gallery
The Painterly Artist 2026 is a curated online exhibition presented and sponsored by Hunter Guise Gallery. We invited artists working in traditional, hand-made media to share work that foregrounds the artist’s hand, material presence, and painterly expression.
Selected artists’ work is featured in our online exhibition running August 15 – September 30th, 2026, offering participating artists increased visibility and connection with new audiences.
Theme: "The Painterly Artist"
We asked artists to submit their most painterly work—pieces that celebrate expressive colour, bold mark-making, and interpretation over photographic realism.
For The Painterly Artist, Hunter Guise Gallery was looking for artwork that prioritized the language of paint—expressive colour, visible brushwork, and confident, intentional mark-making. We welcomed work that interpreted its subject through gesture, abstraction, and personal voice, creating emotional impact and a strong sense of presence when viewed online.
About the Exhibition
We are an online fine art gallery dedicated to showcasing exceptional contemporary work and building meaningful exposure for Canadian artists. After running the very successful Northern Beauty Juried Online Exhibition in September 2025, and our curated Northern Skies exhibition in May 2026, we’re continuing to expand opportunities that increase artists’ visibility online—connecting their work with collectors and art lovers through curated exhibitions, thoughtful promotion, and a professional digital platform.
Exhibition Dates
Exhibition Dates: August 15 – September 30, 2026
Awards
Awards are sponsored by Hunter Guise Gallery. Awards are non-transferable and not redeemable for cash unless specified. Curator’s Choice credits expire 6 months from the date issued. To ensure broad and meaningful recognition across the exhibition, each artist is eligible for one major award. Where an artist has multiple outstanding submissions, the highest-ranked work will be considered for major award placement.
First place: $100 cash
Second place: $50 cash
Third place: $25 cash
Honourable Mentions:
up to 2 Honourable Mentions
People's Choice Award:
1 artwork will be recognized in our People's Choice Awards.
Curator(s): Susan Hunter Guise of Hunter Guise Gallery has curated this show.
“‘Painterly’ refers to the technique of painting in a loose or less controlled manner, so you can see brush strokes in the final piece.
’Painterliness’ is a concept derived from the German term “malerisch” (painterly), introduced by Swiss art historian Heinrich Wölfflin (1864–1945) to standardise the terminology used by art historians in characterising artworks.
The term ‘Painterly’ is used to describe art created in a style that celebrates the specific medium it was made with, such as oil paint, acrylic paint, pastels, or watercolour. Painterly works embrace the texture and movement of the materials, resulting in visible brushstrokes, giving them a more textured and polished appearance. This style is favoured by many artists.
Painterliness is characterised by the application of paint in a loose and less controlled manner, leading to visible brushstrokes in the finished artwork. Prominent art movements associated with painterly styles include Impressionism, Fauvism, and Abstract Expressionism, with Impressionism being one of the most notable examples. Artists like Monet, Renoir, Manet, Degas, and Cézanne, among others, exemplify the painterly style in their works.”