International Call for Artists: Expanded Substrates for Watermedia Entries

Expanded Substrates for Watermedia Entries

Northwest Watercolor Society's 80th International Open Exhibition will run online only from October 27, 2020 - January 1, 2021. Up to $10,000 in awards. Juror: Ron Stocke, Signature Member in AWS, NWS and NWWS. Society is now accepting entries on any appropriate two-dimensional watermedia substrate, natural or synthetic. Painting min. size 7 inches. Artists will receive 75% of the sales price and paintings are priced without framing. Open to international artists 18 years or older. Entry fee: $30 members; $40 non-members. Up to 3 entries with added fees. $30 members; $40 non-members. Deadline: August 16, 2020 6PM PST.

More info (PDF)./Apply Here

Email: create.art.allen@gmail.com

Call: (425)691-4498

International Call for Artists: Pennsylvania Watercolor Society's 41st International Juried Exhibition

Pennsylvania Watercolor Society's 41st International Juried Exhibition

The Pennsylvania Watercolor Society seeks entries for a juried art exhibition, September 26 - November 1, 2020 at the Banana Factory in Bethlehem, PA. Awards: $14,000+. Jurors: David R. Smith, Selection and Douglas Wiltraut, Awards. Open to all artists 18 or older, working with water media on paper. All work must be original, hand created, and completed within the past 3 years. Paintings previously accepted in any PWS Exhibition are not eligible, including the online PWS Members Show. Your source material must be your own design or your own photograph. Prints, copies, class work, photolithographic or computer generated artwork are not eligible. Collage elements must be less than 10% and comprised of water media on paper. No diptychs or triptychs. Maximum size is 36" (outside frame measurement any direction). Minimum image size is 8 x 10 inches. Members: $25 for 1 or 2 images; Non-members: $40 for 1 or 2 images. Deadline: June 30, 2020. 

More Info, Apply here.

Email: pwsjuriedshow@gmail.com

Alfonso Rendón, Known Across the Art World as “Masplata”

The great artist, just like the great illusionist conjures up the question by the viewer, “how did they do that?” What is the trick, how was it performed? How did they defy a reality, how can my eyes deceive me? The master painters of the past had a similar effect on the viewers of their work. Panamanian-born, American artist "Masplata", is blessed with this very same heavenly talent, turning 2-D flat surfaces into flowing planes of motion, evolving out of thin air, follicular-thin lines ooze from his fine-point pen drawn so perfectly, as if impossible without a straight edge, how an unguided hand can flow so effortlessly, seamlessly, the feat even greater, the final work even more extraordinary knowing there is absolutely no fore-direction when the artist’s pen tip meets with paper.

Alfonso Rendón, known in the art world as “Masplata,” is an eclectic visual artist recognized for his unique ink drawings and works on paper, with his ability to turn flat, two-dimensional surfaces into endless planes of motion. Masplata creates stunning pieces in a variety of mediums, praised equally for his innovative use of pen and ink, ethereal brushstrokes in watercolor and his bold oil paintings.

As the ballerina glides with effortless grace floating across the stage as a swan defying gravity, a single unchoreographed unrehearsed stroke of Masplata’s pen and perfect pointillist technique produces a symphony of images – a swirling vortex that magically gives way to a fractional cubist face, so simple, yet such complex geometric compositions, dripping with shades of Dali Surrealism, landscapes of Naturalism — plants, trees, flowers, fauna along with G-d’s creatures, birds and butterflies, including his signature image – doves, reprised repeatedly throughout his works. 

Humans yes, androgynous sometimes, animals yes, sometimes, stippled and cross-hatched vignettes along with an extraordinary use of negative space, give birth to these images, and others, some crystal clear, others concealed, encoded perhaps, Davinci-esqe or created through divine inspiration as he says, the artist, Masplata simply serving as a “radio receiver.” 

His pen, or brush, not just an extension of his hand, or his arm, his physical being even, but his heart and the energy that flows to him from an unknown place, finds itself as extraordinary unexplainable visages that virtually, instantly, automatically, demand notice by both the trained or untrained eye, but instantly commands collectability for its esthetic merit as much as for its investment potential.

MasPlata with Ai Weiwei

These exquisite tableaux’s leave the viewer asking only one question, the ultimate question: How did he do that? The work of Masplata, an outsider artist whose abstract impressionism works eerily reminiscent of the masters – Picasso, Lam and Dali, is assuredly one of the greatest unknown artists of our time, does remarkably achieve such affect.

MasPlata with Gloria Estefan

Masplata's works include pen on paper, pen/paper/watercolor, works and sketches on found materials, canvas. For inquiries, commissions, general information or to arrange a viewing, email miamiartscene@gmail.com