Dubai: The world’s No. 1 watercolourist Alvaro Castagnet will soon be in Dubai to kick off a four-day Watercolour Festival from February 22, to be followed by a painting tour from February 26.
To be organised by the International Watercolour Society (IWS) and the Cartoon Art Gallery, the region’s largest art festival dedicated to water colours will be attended by more than 600 artists from 50 countries.
The festival, which will open at the American University of Dubai, will feature live watercolour demonstrations by Castagnet and other masters after which an exhibition will be inaugurated at the Cartoon Art Gallery. On the second and third days of the festival, artists will be invited to join Plein Air at the Al Fahidi historic district and Deira Spice where the IWS will paint and create the longest watercolour painting of the UAE. On the fourth day of the festival, artists will head to Dubai Marina for another Plein Air session along with live demonstrations by visiting masters at the Cartoon Art Gallery.
Artist line-up
Besides Castagnet, the master artists coming to the festival include Atanur Dogan, Amit Kapoor, Agus Buditanto, Dr Amer Hassan, Lafe, Nader Mohazabnia, Besnik Xhemaili Ali Sajid, Jansen Chow, Kauser Hossain Masud, Helidon, Alexandrya Bryksa, Mohammed A Wahab, Selama Todorova, Galina Gomzina, Vikrant Shitole, Sadhu Aliyur, G.N. Madhu, Faisal Abdul Qader Al Bastaki, Fatma Al Hamadi, Anna Galea and Bonny Mathew.
Atanur Dogan, IWS founder and president, said IWS, which was launched in 2012, has 80 branches all over the world. “Art brings people together despite race, religion, culture and distance. We will continue the IWS theme of peace, harmony, love and understanding, all which we aim to reflect in our festivals, contests and exhibitions.”
Mrinmay Sebastian, Cartoon Art Gallery manager and IWS UAE country head, said, “This event is not to be missed as over 600 artists from 50 countries will participate and for the first time we also have celebrity artist Alvaro Castagnet.”
