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2026 FINALIST

Zack Zdrale

b.

1977

Neenah, Wisconsin, United States

Currently based  in

Madison, Wisconsin, United States

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Caleb Clark.jpg

Persuader, 2025
Oil on Aluminum Panel
32 x 28

Oil on Aluminum Panel

Zack Zdrale is a figurative artist who takes a traditional approach to his work, although his subjects, compositions and bold mark making place his work in the present. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, earning a Bachelor of Science-Art degree in 1999. His training culminated in a master’s degree in figurative painting from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. He graduated with honors and now teaches in the Graduate Fine Art Department. Zdrale is also full-time academic staff in the Department of Art and Design at the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater. He has previously taught for the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Gage Academy in Seattle.


Zdrale has been showing his work nationally and internationally since 2007, including as an exhibitor in the 2018 BP Portrait Award traveling exhibition. The work has garnered the attention of the art press, being featured in American Arts Quarterly, ZZVYA, Art News, American Artist, and the cover of American Art Collector. Zdrale is also featured in the book, Disrupted Realism: Paintings for a Distracted World.

32 x 28

Caleb Clark.jpg

Click artwork to view details (it may take a few seconds to load)

Persuader, 2025
Oil on Aluminum Panel
32 x 28

Zack Zdrale is a figurative artist who takes a traditional approach to his work, although his subjects, compositions and bold mark making place his work in the present. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, earning a Bachelor of Science-Art degree in 1999. His training culminated in a master’s degree in figurative painting from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. He graduated with honors and now teaches in the Graduate Fine Art Department. Zdrale is also full-time academic staff in the Department of Art and Design at the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater. He has previously taught for the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Gage Academy in Seattle.


Zdrale has been showing his work nationally and internationally since 2007, including as an exhibitor in the 2018 BP Portrait Award traveling exhibition. The work has garnered the attention of the art press, being featured in American Arts Quarterly, ZZVYA, Art News, American Artist, and the cover of American Art Collector. Zdrale is also featured in the book, Disrupted Realism: Paintings for a Distracted World.

32 x 28

Oil on Aluminum Panel

Caleb Clark.jpg

Click artwork to view details (it may take a few seconds to load)

Persuader, 2025
Oil on Aluminum Panel
32 x 28

Oil on Linen Mounted on Cradled Panel

25 x 30

Zack Zdrale is a figurative artist who takes a traditional approach to his work, although his subjects, compositions and bold mark making place his work in the present. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, earning a Bachelor of Science-Art degree in 1999. His training culminated in a master’s degree in figurative painting from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. He graduated with honors and now teaches in the Graduate Fine Art Department. Zdrale is also full-time academic staff in the Department of Art and Design at the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater. He has previously taught for the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Gage Academy in Seattle.


Zdrale has been showing his work nationally and internationally since 2007, including as an exhibitor in the 2018 BP Portrait Award traveling exhibition. The work has garnered the attention of the art press, being featured in American Arts Quarterly, ZZVYA, Art News, American Artist, and the cover of American Art Collector. Zdrale is also featured in the book, Disrupted Realism: Paintings for a Distracted World.

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