The prestigious Adam Portraiture Award has announced its 37 finalists, with the winner set to receive a $20,000 cash prize in May. The finalists were chosen by Felicity Milburn, lead curator at Christchurch Art Gallery, and Wellington-based artist, Karl Maughan, from a pool of 451 submissions. The competition stipulates that both the artist and the subject of the portrait must be New Zealand residents or citizens, the portrait must be predominantly painted, and it must have been completed in the last two years. This year, materials such as aluminium steel, linen, and coffee-painted materials were used in the selected portraits.
Jaenine Parkinson, NZ Portrait Gallery director, said the 2024 entries offered a wide range of choice, creativity, skill, and uniqueness. The judges were looking for an ‘x-factor’ that set some artworks apart, such as the artist’s ability to capture not only a face, but also a subject’s attitude, or the way they portrayed more about an individual by considering their surroundings.
The Adam Portraiture Award, established in 2002, is a biennial competition and one of New Zealand’s longest-running art prizes. The works of the 2024 finalists will be displayed in a public exhibition at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata in Wellington. The winner will be announced on 22 May, with additional prizes of $2,500 each awarded to the runner-up and People’s Choice at the end of the exhibition. The exhibition will run from 23 May to 11 August.
