WEST HOLLYWOOD—Thom Bierdz recurs as Phillip Chancellor III on “The Young and the Restless,” but he paints as his full time career. Thom just closed a deal with New Orleans’ respected Sutton Galleries earlier this week. He has figurative work hanging everywhere from Chicago to Beverly Hills. “Tommy, a bigger thrill for me is when I get other artists gallery representation,” Bierdz tells Canyon News. “I’d like to announce another successful year hosting the American Art Awards.”

This year, artists entered the online competition not only from America but from Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, Macedonia, Sweden, Belgium, Israel, Romania and Taiwan. Bierdz explains, “Artists from everywhere enter any of the 55 categories. I help them decide which categories their art fits into. Because I am the co-founder of this amazing opportunity, I am not allowed to enter my own art, and I also do not have a vote in who wins. The galleries are the only ones who vote, and that makes perfect sense to me.”

Visitors to Americanartawards.com can see the judges page highlighting 25 impressive galleries. “We try to get the best gallery in each state,” Thom says, enthused. “Park West, our Michigan gallery, has 63,000 square feet! Spanierman Gallery in New York, across from the Four Season Hotel has 12,000 square feet and presents exhibitions of the highest quality, including loans from other museums. Lewis Art Gallery in Nebraska has over 5,000 pieces of original art on display as well.”

Bierdz beams with pride when he explains that the galleries see every last piece of submitted art. “Do you know how hard it is to get galleries to see your work if you’re an unknown artist? It is almost impossible, but the artists who enter AAA get their work seen by the 25 galleries and I announce a winner in each category, a second place, third place, fourth place, fifth place and finalist. After the artist has an American Art award, they can easily use that to solicit their own neighborhood gallery, or to help sell their winning painting or photograph. The best part for me though is when the galleries, who are seeing art never seen before from across the globe, discover and launch one of my artists. This year, Park West expressed interest in representing landscapes of Walt Curlee, florals of Carolyn Edlund and pastel animals by Nancy Conant. New Jersey was crazy for iconic photographer David Vance. Maryland’s Divergence Gallery wants Manihoo Chang’s innovative pop art. I put Sunshine Gallery of Hawaii in contact with skyscape artist Kathy Buist and Orientalist Till Dehrmann. Miami’s City Loft Art is having an October exhibition for oil surrealist Divna Pesic, who I discovered on Facebook,” concluded a proud Thom.

Thom feels paternal toward unknown artists, whom he has faith in. The 2010 American Art Award Best of Show went to artist John Brigden of Australia for his large oil titled “Bolinger.”

Photograph of Thom Bierdz Courtesy: JPI Studios© West Hollywood and “Bolinger” painting courtesy American Art Awards