MSU Art Gallery to Host Rendon Foundation Competition, Show

STARKVILLE, Miss. (Press Releas) –Starkville’s Del Rendon Foundation is inviting submissions to a 2015 art competition designed to continue “The Dead Entertainers” series the late artist created. Mississippi State’s Center for Student Activities is accepting the submissions through Feb 13.

Applications may be downloaded at www.union.msstate.edu/centerforstudentactivities/ or picked up at the university in Colvard Student Union, Suite 314.

The first-place prize is $1,000 and the winner will be announced March 5 during a 5-7 p.m. reception at the union’s second-floor art gallery.

Entrants must agree to have their works displayed Feb. 17 “March 19 in the “Before their Time: A Del Rendon Foundation Art Series” exhibition.

The foundation, whose website is www.delrendon.org, reserves the right to copy all entered original art and sell reproduced prints, posters and other items to support the MSU Endowed Del Rendon Art Scholarship, regardless of final sale or ownership of the paintings.

Participants also will have the option to include their work in a silent auction taking place during Del Fest, an annual performance of local musicians at Dave’s Dark Horse Tavern on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. As with other funds raised, auction proceeds will go to support the foundation.

Artists not wishing to participate in the silent auction may pick up their artwork March 21.

Completed by Rendon in the late 1990s, the four original “Dead Entertainers” pieces were commissioned to hang in downtown Starkville’s State Theater. Eventually, they were relocated to the Dark Horse Tavern and, after Rendon’s death, to a private residence.

The original 40-by-60-inch acrylic-on-cardboard paintings include figurative interpretations of entertainment icons Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley. Prints of those originals have been reproduced extensively and sold to support the scholarship fund.

Through the annual competition, the foundation seeks to continue the series with additional interpretations of other late entertainers of note. While scholarship fund-raising is essential, organization officials say the competition’s ultimate goal is to inspire the creation of art.

Though not wishing to limit or constrain artistic styles, the competition does require entrants to mirror the Rendon originals–that is, painted with acrylics or oils on 40-by-60-inch cardboard, wood or canvas. Entries must be accompanied by a brief narrative describing the design, creation and style of painting. Submitted pieces also should be ready for display with hanging mechanisms.

The Colvard Union Gallery regularly features student and museum shows, traveling exhibits, solo and group exhibitions by professional artists, and special events. For more information on the Rendon or other 2015 activities, visit www.union.msstate.edu or telephone 662-325-2930.

Complete details on Mississippi’s flagship research institution are found at www.msstate.edu.