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Resilience - IIAC 2023 #01 Juan Puchades / Spain

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Resilience is a project that was born thanks to a trip to Vivarium in the Netherlands. There I found a piece of wood that had multiple virtues: dynamism, uniqueness, natural beauty and a considerable size. I dedicated many hours to find similar pieces that could complement it. From that point on, the design had to strike the perfect balance between three elements: stone, wood and planting.

 

Resilience is the ability to adapt to adversity with positive facts, and this assembly helped me to overcome a moment in which the daily overload made me seriously consider the possibility of not competing this year. As fate would have it, that effort and dedication paid off and I thank all those who encouraged me to continue for another year. Winning IIAC has closed a chapter in my life that I never thought I would be able to achieve. Now I look back on fourteen years of dedication to the hobby and realize that the path a young boy started has reached the pinnacle of his hobby. That path has made aquascaping a cornerstone of my life. Thanks to all of you who are part of this journey in one way or another.

IIAC 2023 World Ranking Announcement - World Ranking 001 - Grand Prize

Resilience 

Author: Juan Puchades / Spain

Aquarium Size/W150 x D65 x H55 (cm)

Comments from Andrew M. Senske

Amazing hardscape flow, wood and rock are in harmony together working so well. A very strong but refined scape!

Comments from Dongliang

The one-way slop composition makes the works full of power and energy. The chosen of the water plant and the comprehensive of landscape matching is very strong. It is a very colorful and excellent work.

Comments from Diego Marinelli

Absolutely one of the best layouts I've seen in recent years. I think it represents my ideal vision of landscape, obtained with a perfect arrangement of wood capable of creating elegance and depth of the composition at the same time. We can only learn about the choice and use of aquatic plants. A particular congratulation for the photographic technique and the attention to light and contrasts with shadows.

Comments from Grygoriy Polishchuk

Skillfully created work. I liked the balance of hard scape forms. It is precisely such works that need to be carefully studied.

Comments from Fabian Kussakawa

The combination of 2 styles created a masterpiece. Note the exquisite work of this aquapaisagist. The shadow and lighting details helped a lot in the final composition. My caveat is for the fauna in its positioning. And also for the amount of snails and the otocinclus fish stuck to the glass. Congratulations on the job.

Comments from Noboru Nishimura

The eye tends to be drawn to the bold driftwood, but the stonework towards the back is wonderfully detailed, making it seem like you're looking at a landscape rather than an aquascape. The detailed planting, which uses many aquatic plants with fine leaves, and the transparency of the water create a sense of depth, demonstrating the artist's high level of layout and management ability.

Comments from Gary Wu

The left and right part hardscape well harmonized with vegetation naturally coverage. Hygrophila pinnatifida and Bucephalandra on the right side balance the shadow area. Well done.

Comments from Frederic Fuss

An exciting, aspiring synthesis of driftwood and stone in autumnal tones. The atmosphere is both energetic and slightly melancholic. Unfortunately, I can't quite place the title. What I can see is a very strict diagonal arrangement from bottom right to top left. Possibly a powerful rearing up despite the strains of many days should be expressed. All parts look like they are made of one piece, despite the filigree, small-part design. A very masterly approach becomes clear here. Both the material used and the planting fit together perfectly. The planting looks very balanced and healthy. The autumnal colors are optimally complemented by blue and green. The depth effect is mediocre, the vanishing point is almost exactly at the upper right focus point. The line of sight from the vanishing point is only indicated. The focus is on the towering branches, the diagonal angles run through the entire design. Although this doesn't normally seem essential to me, I could have imagined that the top edges of the side windows could have been covered by placing branches in front of it on the left and letting some plants sprout on the right. I don't think the choice of fish is optimal. I think their size actually fits very well, but I had to think of Hemigrammus rodwayi maybe. Overall, I have very little to complain about and I think it is a fantastically beautiful work. Congratulations!

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