The Southern Nevada Museum of Fine Art proudly presents the International Contemporary Masters Exhibition, a comprehensive array of fine art by living artists from around the world. It is designed to be a showcase for what is being created in our time.

The inten is to help promote awareness and appreciation for the wide range of artistic styles of today's artists regardless of where they live, and to provide a visual experience that promotes a better understanding and enjoyment of fine art in general.

By making art accessible to both the residents of Las Vegas and the city's many visitors from around the world we hope to show that art is a universal language common to all.

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY MASTERS

It might seem an overly ambitious goal to present a image of contemporary art from all over the world in one show. Nevertheless, this is our intent. It is a selection of work by noteworthy artists. When I say noteworthy, I do not mean famous; some artists are well-known, others are not. It is my belief that by presenting the work of a cross-section of artists, each of whom has something substantial to present, an unexpected and delightful epiphany will emerge. On one hand, it is an ephemeral image, on the other, it is something that stays.

What do all these artists from all these countries have to say, is there a common element, if not of message, at least of approach, some single conclusion that could be drawn from such a huge diversity?

Surprisingly there is. It is the attempt to reach an underlying reality, an essence under the huge multiplicity of experiences and images that all human beings are exposed to every moment of their lives.

Through a variety of techniques and approaches, each artist is grappling not with the seen, but the unseen. The essence of each work is this struggle. What makes this wrestling with brute reality art is not the agony and the sweat - what makes it art is the agony transmuted. Expressed with a certain beauty and harmony which may not be immediately apparent, but is never absent from any art.

Despina Tunberg - Curator