Here's Something You Didn't Know the 2017 Golden Globe Winners Won

NEW YORK - Jan. 16, 2017 - PRLog -- The 2017 Golden Globe Awards kicked off this year's awards season, with an average of twenty million viewers tuning in, according to Nielsen. Audiences heard the speeches and applause, the music and the laughter, they saw the celebrities decked out in tuxedos and ball gowns.

But what the audiences didn't see, was how the nominees were presented with delightful gifts worthy of royalty.

Earlier, in the privacy of their hotel rooms, Meryl Streep, Casey Affleck, Hugh Grant and Jessica Chastain, among others, were treated to exclusive "Red Carpet" gift boxes filled with luxury items as congratulatory gifts honoring them from the five-star Beverly Hills hotel where they were guests.

Among the international array of high-ticket goodies included in the box featuring fashion, fine wine and jewelry, one gift in particular has a rather unique history. It's for a portrait from artist-photographer G.E. Masana, who regularly commands commissions $5,000 and upwards for his work.

Masana, who grew up in the 60's - 70's, trained in NYC art schools studying painting and illustration under some of New York City's most notable exhibiting painters as a teenager. With a career in commercial illustration as a goal, some of his teachers harkened back to the original "Mad Men" of commercial artists whose work graced the covers of Colliers and Harper's Magazine, and iconic advertising campaigns.

"It was a classic era of craftsmanship," notes Masana. "Those artists created masterful illustration with technique so honed it seemed a modern day incarnation of sixteenth century Italian Renaissance painters. Walking through the halls of the Society of Illustrators as a kid was as inspiring to me as walking through any art museum in the city."

Masana is a living link to that Golden Age of Artists.

Though celebrities have been in front of his camera before, he'd love to see who else calls on him for a portrait. "I've already imagined photographing Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling," says Masana. "These stars have all been photographed numerous times as celebrities. What's different is I'm visualizing crafting an art piece for them and their family to enjoy on a quiet, personal level."

Masana's signature mix of dramatic photography with painterly touches is influenced by works of the classic Masters of Art through the ages he's studied, such as Vermeer, Rembrandt, Caravaggio, John William Waterhouse, among others. So, Amy Adams, Viola Davis, Jeff Bridges... note this. "It's like owning a Rembrandt, but better," quips Masana with a wink. "You actually know the person in it."

G.E. Masana's website is http://www.gemasana.com