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THE WORLD OF ART SHOWCASE WELCOMES
A WHIMSICAL ‘ETERNAL CHILD’ TO ITS
ROSTER WITH VENEZUELAN PORTRAIT PAINTER JOTA LEAL,
WHO TAPS INTO THE WORLD’S LOVE OF POP CULTURE WITH
A REVOLUTIONARY APPROACH TO CLASSIC CARICATURE
HE CALLS ‘TRANSFORMATIVE PORTRAITURE’

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The former Caricaturist Of The Year Award Winner­­—
Who Is Represented by Fellow Participant Morpheus
Fine Art­­—Will Showcase His Fascinating Works at
The Celebration of The Visual Arts
At The Wynn Las Vegas December 20-22

Fans of unique, revolutionary art forms and historical and pop culture icons attending the first annual World of Art Showcase (www.worldofartshowcse.com) at the Wynn Las Vegas December 20-22, 2012 will be instantly fascinated by the works of Jota Leal (http://jotaleal.com/), a Venezuelan born and based painter who calls his dynamic renderings by a phrase as intriguing as his style: “Transformative Portraiture.”

His works include amazing portraits of everyone from Johnny Depp and Babe Ruth to The Beatles, Marilyn Monroe, Jimi Hendrix, John Malkovich, Sylvester Stallone, Clint Eastwood and Al Pacino as “Scarface.”

Leal’s inimitable approach to the art of caricature results in a powerful synergy of remarkable painting skill and a probing sense of the subject’s essence, often tweaked with a remarkable sense of humor. He works with pencil on paper, acrylic on board, and acrylic on canvas to achieve his imaginative images, painting the inner soul of his subjects and manifesting this as their outer persona. Long renowned as an interpreter of the subconscious, translating with his pencils and brushes, his amazing portraits—which draw inspiration from icons of music, movies, literature, politics and history, the Wild West, sports and other areas—are treasured by collectors as classics of their kind.

Leal (whose first name is pronounced HOTA) is represented by Morpheus Fine Art, a Las Vegas based virtual gallery that is also a World of Art Showcase exhibitor. He has a coffee table art book scheduled for mass market international release in fall 2013.

“One of our criteria for inviting artists to participate at the World of Art Showcase is distinctiveness and originality, and Jota is an incredibly successful embodiment of the power of the artistic imagination,” says the event’s Executive Director Mario Parga. “His exciting, one of a kind paintings of some of the greatest icons of the last century add an important contemporary pop culture flair to our multi-faceted event, and we’re very excited to see the work that he chooses to showcase here. His skill in capturing his subject’s personality and nuances combined with his incredible technique is what makes Jota’s work stand out and command attention.”

Speaking frankly about his somewhat radical approach as an artist, Leal says, “Although it seems strange, yes, this kind of portraiture always has been the premise of my art work, but not as a specific idea in a result, because there is no method, only the intention to express what unconsciously I think I perceive. Pictorially talking, if there is an evolution from other styles, it’s probably from the classic portrait, surrealism, and of course…why not say it…from the caricature itself, putting all of them in a weird mix. We aren’t just a visual species, but a sensitive one who is always feeding from life: nature, music, everything around is a spice in the broth.

“I basically paint people who inspire me,” he adds. “It is like trying to express with your own words their magnificence, so when you are putting those ideas together, all the images play in your mind and your soul fills up in the process. As an eternal child who always wants to get that action figure, or that poster of his favorite star, I paint people and scenes that give me that feeling, the nostalgia for my childhood, or maybe a more recently perfect time in life. Also as with the old masters—and I’m not saying I’m one of them— the artist needs an assignment in order to get busy. So in a less poetic way of seeing things, a lot of my work comes for commissions. But I always find in those the way to get myself deeply involved in my subjects.”

Leal, 36, was born in a humble small town in eastern Venezuela, where he began drawing and painting at a very young age—though he never studied fine art. A colorful early anecdote explains how he found his ultimate niche:  At age 6, he attempted to sit in an art class, but ran away after being forced to paint plastic fruit and empty bottles. Even at that age, he knew he wanted to paint people, and more particularly, people’s faces.

His family roots include being the second of three brothers of different unique talents, with parents who worked in the oil fields. One of Leal’s first memories is of drawing some lines for his amazed parents, as a baby. His subsequent birthday and Christmas gifts were an array of pencils, crayons, and drawing materials. Surrounded his whole life by engineers and others with “real” jobs, Leal went on to study electrical engineering and graduated with honors. He likes to say that no one in his family knows how he accomplished this, as he was so obsessed with drawing and painting. But it didn’t take long for his circuits to become lines, his numbers to become colors, and those physics theories to evolve (metaphorically speaking) into paintbrushes.

Leal attributes his obsession to his supportive parents: “They made me believe it was something I was good at. I have not stopped painting since.” In 2001, he traveled to Spain and lived there for a time, immersing himself in the history and technique of art. “Spain was an ‘awaking time,’ not just once but twice, in different moments of my life. We are eternal seekers. That’s our course. We are never satisfied about we do, and for me, those journeys of wondering and looking for answers were in Spain, where I found this big signs of directions that hit me in the face. But I have to be fair and speak about not only Spain but the breath and feel of the whole Old Continent, where all these great masters lived and created.

“Besides the ‘meeting’ with all the masters and the magic of those marvelous and romantic places, there was the conversations I had with the colleagues, those that now I called friends, which were ultimately words from wise guides who have been walking longer. These lighted the lamp posts along my way. Travel per se, opens your mind and gives you a more open perspective of life…period.”

After his time in Spain, Leal returned to his hometown in Venezuela, where he received the Caricaturist of the Year Award for 2003. His art now follows the grand tradition of the great portrait painters of the past, as well as the more recent caricature masters—owing as much to French caricaturist and sculptor Honore’ Daumier and the unique and grotesque works of German born Otto Dix as to the delicate whimsy of a Max Beerbohn or Al Hirschfeld, only with a more fully rendered painting style.

“People sometimes mistakenly have this closed idea about caricature,” says Leal, referring to that cartoon or quick sketch done to mock in classes, parties and theme parks, and with respect to all colleagues involved in this difficult task they deserve, it is a hard work of course and has its merit. But that’s a small part of this beautiful art. Caricature in essence does not base itself just on exaggerated traits, ‘but to subtract, from the rest that no add that much.’ The caricature does not look to make fun, but to represent what is there that we really don’t see, and it seems to bring joy simple because it is magical. I think people respond positively to my works because they are the most accurate representation of an individual, going beyond the face to a person’s essence. It’s something people can’t fully understand and that is why they enjoy it.”

Leal is looking forward to participating in the World of Art Showcase because it is an opportunity to showcase his works for the collectors and patrons who attend, as well as a chance to meet and connect with many of his colleagues in the art world. He is also expected to conduct a live demonstration at the show.  “Aside from the moment the painting comes alive,” he says, “there is nothing more rewarding for an artist than to share with people who ‘get it.’ That’s the real joy of artistic expression and communication.”

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Taking place December 20-22, 2012 at The Wynn Las Vegas, the World of Art Showcase is an exclusive event for professional artists to sell their art and make important connections with art buyers, collectors and galleries. The focus of the show is to promote the arts and explain how, why and when to purchase paintings and sculptures for both pleasure and investment purposes.  To learn more about the World of Art Showcase or for more information on exhibiting, visit www.worldofartshowcase.com