Call for Artists: Passepartout Photography Prize, 2nd Edition

 

Il Varco invites you to join the second edition of the Passepartout Photography Prize, a photography contest born to promote and widen the exposure of emerging photographers.

"Our mission is to be your 'Passe-partout' – which means a master key and also a framing method to enhance the power of the artwork within."

Passepartout Photography Prize aims to support the development of talented photographers from all over the world by providing 1,000 euros in monetary award every year and exhibition opportunities in a prestigious venue in the heart of Rome, Italy. This is a perfect platform to start your career in contemporary art and photography industries on an international scale.

"Every year we will announce multiple calls for entries and select a winner of each edition who will be awarded 500 euros. Plus, all the finalists will have another chance to be selected for the Passepartout annual collective exhibition."

Photographic works of any kind of artistic style, size and technique (digital, film and experimental processes, digital collages and other mixed media) are accepted.

The application is open to both professional and amateur photographers from all over the world without any age limit.

Passepartout embraces innovative and original creativity in contemporary photography.

"We welcome various artistic languages applied to the photographic image, including, but not limited to, experimentation and fusion of different genres."

The first annual exhibition will take place in Rome (Italy) in 2021 for two weeks to be seen. The exhibition will be hosted by 28 Piazza di Pietra Gallery, an international fine art gallery specialized in contemporary art of both emerging and established international artists. The gallery is located in the historic center of Rome where local and international visitors and art collectors gather. This modern gallery beautifully integrated and built on the ancient ruin of the Hadrian Temple structure is an impeccable site to display artworks of many genres.

INFO

Entry Fee: 18 euros (for 3 photographs) – you can submit up to 7 photographs with additional 3 euros per piece.

Passepartout Photo Prize: 500 euros

Exhibition Prize: Participation in our collective exhibition in 2021

Sponsored Prizes

Large-format print of your work – sponsored by Fuori Gamut

Portfolio review and workshop – sponsored by CSF Adams

Submission Deadline: January 10th, 2021

Announcement of the Winners: End of January 2021

Passepartout Annual Exhibition: February/March 2021

Organized by: Il Varco Srls

Partner Gallery: 28 Piazza di Pietra – Fine Art Gallery (Rome, Italy)

Sponsors: Centro Sperimentale CSF Adams, Fuori Gamut – officina di stampa fine art, Greyout Studio, Rosini Cornici.

Deadline: January 10, 2021 / APPLY HERE

National Call for Artists: Martha's Vineyard Drawing Prize 2020

Martha's Vineyard Drawing Prize 2020

Artists are invited to submit entries for the Martha's Vineyard Drawing Prize. $500 first place, $350 second place, $150 third place. "This is a drawing competition on the theme of 'Fortitude'. The interpretation of that word is completely up to you. Fortitude can allude to: courage or bravery, strength of character, endurance (physical objects, buildings, as well as people, can fit this description), resilient, determined, and so on. We look forward to seeing how you take this theme and make it yours! Above all else, have some fun and enjoy your time drawing. Entries may be created using graphite, charcoal, Conté, silverpoint, pen & ink, colored pencil, chalk, or other suitable drawing media, on paper or board." The competition is open to artists 18 years and older who reside in the US or Canada. Up to 3 drawings for $10 total. Deadline: September 27, 2020. 

Apply Here

Email: mvdrawingprize@gmail.com

Call: (508)560-0083

Experience INK Miami Art Fair December 4-8, 2019 during Miami Art Week

INK Miami Art Fair is back December 4-8, 2019 for it's 14th Edition during Miami Art Week, transforming the historic Suites of Dorchester Hotel into distinctive art galleries, surrounded by a verdant and tranquil courtyard. Visitors are invited to explore the many galleries offering a wide range of works on paper including new and noteworthy editions! The INK Miami Art Fair is unique among Miami’s fairs for its focus on modern and contemporary works on paper by internationally renowned artists. The fair has distinguished itself by the quality of its works and exhibitors, as well as its lush open-air courtyard, with surrounding suites transformed into uniquely defined gallery spaces. INK Miami Art Fair is sponsored by the IFPDA, International Fine Print Dealers Association and exhibitors are selected for their outstanding ability to offer collectors a diverse survey of 20th century masterworks and just-published editions by leading contemporary artists. Since its founding in 2006, the Fair has attracted a loyal following among museum curators and committed collectors of works on paper.

For more information check out our event listing for dates, times and tickets.

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