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GLOBALLY RENOWNED REALIST PAINTER, ART
HISTORIAN, TEACHER AND CONNOISSEUR NELSON SHANKS
WILL CONDUCT A LIVE PAINTING DEMONSTRATION AT THE
WORLD OF ART SHOWCASE

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The Pennsylvania-Based Artist, Who Has Completed
Commissioned Works of Presidents Reagan and Clinton,
Princess Diana, Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II,
Is a Featured Exhibitor at World of Art Showcase, a Celebration of
The Visual Arts at The Wynn Las Vegas December 20-22, 2012

The ever-growing roster of internationally celebrated artists at the World of Art Showcase (www.worldofartshowcase.com) now includes Nelson Shanks, a Pennsylvania-based realist painter who is one of only two American artists ever to be invited by the Russian Academy of Art in Moscow to stage an exhibition. His work, including portraits of Princess Diana, President Bill Clinton and the last portrait of Maestro Mstislav Rostropovich painted before his death, was simultaneously featured in 2011 at the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.

Shanks is also a world renowned art historian, art teacher, connoisseur and collector.  Aside from portraits, he is especially well known for exquisite figure paintings as well as complicated aesthetic still life. In 2006, Governor Edward G. Rendell presented Nelson with the Governor’s Distinguished Arts Award, which recognizes a Pennsylvania artist of international fame or renown whose creations and contributions enrich the Commonwealth. Among those contributions noted were his lifelong commitment to teaching and his establishment of Studio Incamminati, founded by Nelson and his wife, Leona Shanks, The studio provides a place where artists devoted to realism can study painting and acquire other skills necessary for successful artistic careers.

Other significant commissions Shanks has received include Luciano Pavarotti for the Metropolitan Opera and Denyce Graves for the National Portrait Gallery. His work has been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide, including the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Kensington Palace in London, and Fortezza Firmafede in Sarzana, Italy.  One of his more recent commissions is a large painting of the four women of the U.S. Supreme Court which will be unveiled in Washington, D.C. in October.

“At the World of Art Showcase, while not only highlighting great visual art and artists, we are helping educate collectors with how, when and why to purchase paintings as investments as well as for aesthetic reasons,” says World of Art Showcase Executive Director Mario Parga. “From his American and European education and faculty positions at major art institutes to his high profile work as a realist and the founding of Studio Incamminati, Nelson’s dedication and contributions to both the art world and realism genre are unparalleled. We are proud to feature him at our event and look forward to his painting demonstration for our esteemed patrons.”

Nelson Shanks was born in Rochester, New York in 1937 and studied at the University of Kansas, the Kansas City Art Institute, the National Academy of Design, the Art Students League in New York, and privately with John Koch and Henry Hensche. When Shanks set out to become a painter, he pieced together his own education and training from the limited options available for the study of realist painting. His own remarkable progress soon earned him grants, including the most prestigious grants made to realist artists: the Greenshields Foundation (twice) and the Stacey Foundation (three times), that enabled him to study in Florence with the legendary Pietro Annigoni and at the Accademia di Belle Arti. While in Europe, he traveled extensively to study the works of Renaissance and Baroque masters.

Throughout his career, he has painted nearly every day of the year—landscape, still life, the figure, and portraits.

“In the early days of my career, maybe even my student days,” he says, “I recall wondering how I might create my own style. But I never made any conscious decisions to be one type of artist or another. I did what I liked and what meant something to me, letting that passion guide my depth level, color level, compositional schemes and ideas – all the elements that went into my early works. I’m sure my style evolved from the knowledge I was accumulating as I studied other artists and began creating, but ultimately everything came from my thoughts and aesthetic, not from emulating any style or particular artist.”

Addressing his bold decision to become a realist painter, he adds, “It takes guts to be a realist painter. It takes guts to paint the human figure with delicacy and subtlety. It takes guts to convey sensitive emotions, personality, feelings with power and refinement. But only then can painters speak the truth. The realist painting must be nothing less than a meditation on the nature of being and the individual.  It must create likeness with the power to kindle the observer’s imagination and awaken memories. In the words of Baudelaire, a good portrait must be a ‘dramatized biography.’”

Shanks says that no matter the subject matter of any particular work, there is always a spiritual quality driving him. “Ideas often bubble in my mind for a long time because I may be immersed and committed to another project,” he says. “As I start thinking more about a concept, more ideas start forming with a certain amount of precision. The key is finding the time to focus and make an idea work. A lot of things inspire me. I am a music freak, particularly fond of classical music, chamber music, vocal and opera. I think sometimes the emotion I get from that affects the emotion in my painting…whether in the subtleties or the strength and power of it.”

His European education completed, Shanks secured various teaching positions in Memphis, Chicago and ultimately Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where he has maintained a studio for more than three decades. Nelson has taught on the faculty of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Art Students League, National Academy of Design, The George Washington University, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, among others. He also established an apprentice program at his Bucks County home and studio, where artists received room, board and instruction at no cost.

In the late 1990s, Shanks launched a successful series of workshops in response to the growing need for serious art instruction. The need for students to immerse themselves deeply in his teaching principles was made clear by the high demand and extensive oversubscriptions to these workshops, which led to the decision to open a full time atelier program, aptly named Studio Incamminati, which can be translated from Italian as “those who are progressing.” Nelson sacrifices painting time to teach at Studio Incamminati as part of his total commitment to changing the world’s view of art. The studio is located in Central Philadelphia.

“As early as the late 60s, I would put up apprentices in my large house and give them free board and room, lessons, use of paint and models,” he says. “We started Studio Incamminati because I had so many people wanting me to either teach them or find a good place to learn. I eventually decided to open a cooperative studio to help them out. I expected a dozen students to show up the first day but there were 40! Over the years, we’ve been fortunate to have 40-45 full time students and 200-400 part time students at any given time. Our greatest sense of pride is that we are producing wonderfully educated painters and artists, all of whom leave with a spirit of giving and teaching. Part of our program is learning to reach out to people whose talents need to be nurtured.”

The groundbreaking vision of David Goldstein, COO of Jerry’s Artarama—the world’s most loved art material supply company—the World of Art Showcase is very much a cause to reestablish the arts to their rightful place within society. It is an exclusive show for professional artists from across the U.S. and around the world to sell their art and make important personal connections with art buyers, collectors and galleries.

Fashioned as a harmonized presentation of the finest original contemporary paintings, the exhibition is fast establishing itself as a world class cultural event. Its primary goal is to promote the most talented contemporary painters, with work ranging from classical to modern.

Tickets are now available online for the event, including discount hotel rates at www.worldofartshowcase.com.