“There is an inborn awe—an innate reverence when one feels they are looking at a real person or object standing before them that is, in truth, nothing but paint and canvas, graphite and paper, or even earthen minerals like clay or bronze transformed, as if by magic, into the real world,” says Kara Ross, co-chair and chief operating officer of the Art Renewal Center. Founded in 1999, the Art Renewal Center (ARC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to the advancement and appreciation of representational art as well as the preservation of traditional mediums and techniques.
Mary West, Buntings With Wildflowers, 2022, oil on panel, 16 x 12" (40 x 30 cm). ARC Staff Award, 16th ARC Salon.
“By having computer programs do this work,” Ross continues, “the fine arts would lose this magic and its intrinsic value, which exists because of the time, skill and personal creativity—in essence the human soul—that must go into each and every masterfully created work of traditional art. Humanity has always had an innate desire to tell stories. Even before recorded history, we know storytelling was used to pass knowledge from one generation to the next. It is a unique characteristic of our species, to tell stories…It is more important than ever that we hold on to this integral part of our humanity.”
Above: Donald Demers, Crossing the Gulf Stream, 2020, oil on linen, 44 x 58" (111 x 147 cm). Honorable Mention - Landscape Category, 16th ARC Salon.
Primarily an educational foundation and hub for visual arts, ARC also houses the largest online museum dedicated solely to realist art, including works by the Old Masters as well as 19th-, 20th- and 21st-century artists, plus articles, letters and other online resources. Ross adds that ARC is the foremost service for representational art schools, ensuring that the teaching curricula and quality of teacher and student work meet their strict standards to become “ARC Approved.” The organization currently has three classifications for ARC artists: ARC Living Artist, ARC Associate Living Master and ARC Living Master. Some of the most esteemed artists working today are affiliated with ARC—Kazakhstani artist Anara Abzhanova, Swiss artist Patrick Devonas, Japanese artist Hiroki Fukuda, Brazilian artist Gilberto Geraldo, Australian artist Stephen Jesic and Chinese artist Wang Kun, as well as preeminent American artists like Ed Copley, Jeremy Lipking, Paige Bradley, Julio Reyes, Jeff Hein and many others.
ARC also honors the realm of realist art by hosting the ARC Salon Competition, which has been running since 2004. [“This is] the world’s largest and most prestigious competition for contemporary realist artists working in painting, sculpting and drawing, receiving over 5,400 entries from 75 countries [during the] last competition,” says Ross. The competition is open to anyone who wishes to apply worldwide, and there is no limit to the number of works that may be submitted.
Mark Pugh, An Unsatisfying Ending, 2021, oil and ink on linen mounted panel, 36 x 24" (91 x 60 cm). Best in Show, 16th ARC Salon.
Categories include Figurative, Portraiture, Imaginative Realism, Landscape, Plein Air, Fully From Life, Animals, Sculpture, Drawing, Teens and Still Life. International Artist Publishing is a proud sponsor of the Still Life category for the 17th ARC Salon competition.
All winners, honorable mentions, finalists and semi-finalists are published on ARC’s website, which receives close to 2 million visitors a year. Artists also have the chance to win a large number of opportunities provided by various partnering organizations. For the 17th ARC Salon, International Artist and its sister publications American Art Collector, American Fine Art Magazine and Western Art Collector will each be selecting winners for their respective awards.
Annie Murphy-Robinson, Lucid Dreaming (Forward Back), 2022, charcoal on paper, 60 x 74" (152 x 187 cm). Second Place - Drawing Category, 16th ARC Salon.
The prestigious Best in Show award, selected by ARC, receives a $25,000 cash prize. Dozens of other honors are awarded as well. “Special opportunities are also being provided through Rehs Contemporary Galleries, who will be selecting a group of artists to create new works for an exhibition and sale at their New York City venue,” says Ross. “Fashion Week San Diego…will be selecting five artworks to pair with their designers who will create couture looks inspired by the art to be displayed on live models for a special event. Also participating is the European Museum of Modern Art, which will be selecting works to exhibit at their museum in Barcelona, and the Springville Museum of Art in Utah, which will be selecting an artist to display works in their founder’s gallery over the course of a year.”
Attendees view artwork at the 16th International ARC Salon Exhibition at Sotheby’s New York in July 2023.
The 17th ARC Salon is accepting entries through June 13, 2024, and will be publishing the results in January 2025. After that, the 18th ARC Salon will begin again on March 1, 2025, subsequently publishing awards in January 2026. ARC will then be holding a joint exhibition of nearly 100 of the best works from both the 17th and 18th salons as one combined show at Sotheby’s New York in the summer of 2026 at what is planned to be their new headquarters on Madison Avenue.
Melissa Breault, Gold Embrace, 2022, soft pastel, 31 x 23" (78 x 58 cm). International Artist Award, 16th ARC Salon.
“From ancient cave drawings to ancient Rome and the High Renaissance, humanity continues to create visual representations of the world. A record of time, place, culture and the human mind interpreted through individual human perspective,” says Ross. “This is an elevated form of primal communication, one that is protected and cherished in museums across the globe—universally recognized as some of humankind’s greatest achievements. The techniques used to create representational works, like those studied and used by the Old Masters, are part of what makes us human.”
To learn more about the Art Renewal Center and its competitions, scholarships and educational resources, visit artrenewal.org.