Robert Masla

New works by Robert Masla

December 1-December 31, 2017.

Artist reception: Friday December 8, 2017, 6-8pm

In conjunction with Northampton’s Arts Night Out

Around the Corner: Paintings inspired by Ashfield, the Pioneer Valley, New England and Upstate New York

Fruit Trees and Florals

And Beyond…Inspired from Mexico and the Western U.S.

See more of Masla’s work here.

Robert Masla – Artist’s Statement

In the span of the last 20+ years, Robert Masla’s painting has shifted to focus primarily on the landscape. Working to uncover the universal language contained within the natural world, Masla portrays what he terms “Spiritrealism.” He coined the term in the 1970’s to describe how the spiritual can manifest itself in the so-called “mundane” realities of everyday life. His definition of Spiritrealism has evolved conjointly with his art over the years, from concrete & clearly defined to the more ambiguous and universal.

I know much less than I thought I did. What I’ve come to understand as Spiritrealsim is the process of experiencing my place in the universe as a part of creation and that I as an artist and a human being have the opportunity to participate in the creation. We’re given the opportunity to participate in creation every day of our lives. To experience connection with life, with nature, our very Selves, all the awesome power, the horror, the beauty, and the sublime. For me, creating art is a form of worship, a form of spirituality born through creative living.

For Masla, Spiritrealism is a way of life. The artist achieves his goals in painting through the suggestion of other worldly experiences, so the transcendental can manifest right before us. By painting the common daily setting filled with an energy, an aura and light of mystical divinity and the connection to Beauty that he experiences in nature, the work communicates that energy to the viewer. Painting the landscape around him brings Masla joy because it allows him to “take things that we might pass by every day and bring them into focus – to see them again as if for the first time.”
With an exhibition history extending over 40 years, Robert Masla is an award winning artist whose work is in many discerning collections. His work has appeared in various books and publications such as: The Artist and the American Landscape, Changing Prospects, The Artists Magazine, Art New England, PleinAir Today & Outdoor Painter. His work can be found in numerous public and private collections throughout the United States and in Mexico and has been featured in many solo and group exhibitions in both countries. R. Michelson Galleries has represented Mr. Masla since 1988.
During the course of his professional career Masla has also remained dedicated to art as an educator, having lectured and taught painting, drawing and art history at several colleges and institutions. He continues to conduct workshops from his Studios North at his home in rural Ashfield, Massachusetts, and various venues in the U.S. – “I see my teaching as another way of giving back some of the gifts I’ve been blessed with, to share my enthusiasm and joy for painting and the creative process”. Expanding on his desire to touch peoples lives through art and creative expression, in 2005 Masla and his wife Monica Levine founded Casa de los Artistas, Inc. Establishing ArtWorkshopVacations.com they built a home and his Studios South in the charming fishing village of Boca de Tomatlan, 10 miles South of Puerto Vallarta, located on the gorgeous Pacific Coast of Mexico. It is here at the idyllic setting of “The Casa”, Masla, along with numerous other invited prominent artist/instructor colleagues, teach workshops during the winter months.