Born
in Cebu City, Philippines in a community
of artists, Romel de la Torre's artistic interest started at
a very young age. With the encouragement of his parents he began
sketching the world around him. He started getting awards and
recognition from school competitions and at age 10 appeared on
TV after receiving a medal for his painting.
In the late 70's Romel and his family migrated to the United
States where he began going to museums studying and learning
on his own; works of famous artists like Sargent, Sorolla, Fechin,
Mucha, and the American Impressionists. The exposure to these
masters' paintings laid a strong foundation to his belief of
what great art is.
He attended the American Academy of Art in Chicago, where he
was awarded the President's Foundation Award and the Union League
Scholarship Award. After graduating with a fine arts concentration,
Romel continued to paint in the Chicago area and joined The Palette
and Chisel Academy of Fine Arts, where he began painting with
nationally renowned artist Richard Schmid and a community of
other painters. It was a turning point of his creative and artistic
career.
"My painting is the world, channeled through my eyes, through
the prism of my own feeling, emotions and preferences. It is
a unity of the visual world and the internal, abstraction and
realism..." the artist's says. A consummate artist in all
media, Romel de la Torre is one of today's most highly regarded
artists. His figures, landscape, portraits, and still life paintings
display unparalleled technical skill, fluid style, and thorough
understanding of light, color, form and design. |
|
Romel
has been painting full time and currently instructs advanced
painting and portraiture at The Palette and Chisel Academy on
Fine Arts, Chicago.
He is a signature member of the Oil Painters of America &
the Portrait Society of America; his oils, pastels, watercolors,
and portraits are housed in private collections throughout the
United States and several foreign countries.
His paintings have been published in The Artists Magazine, Southwest
Art Magazine, U.S. Art Magazine and the American Art Collectors
Magazine.
Among his most important honors is the Oil Painters of America
National Exhibition/ Grand Prize and the Artists Magazine Portrait
Artist of the Year. His most recent award includes; 2007 Raymar
Fine Arts Competition, 2008 Gold Medal & the People's Choice
Award from the Palette & Chisel Academy of Fine Arts Gold
Medal show and one of the top finalist in the 2007 and 2008 International
Portrait Competition given by the prestigeous Portrait Society
of America. |
