Personal Surveillance by Andrew ValkoWinnipeg artist Andrew Valko has won the $10,000 Kingston Prize for portraiture, a national award given by the City of Kingston, Ont.
Valko won Thursday night with his painting Personal Surveillance, an image of a young man turning a video camera on himself, apparently in a darkened room.
The jury hailed the work for its subtlety and intriguing qualities. The three jurors were Eliza Griffiths, an assistant professor at Concordia University in Montreal, Robert Enright, an art critic and professor at the University of Guelph, and Lily Koltun, former director of the Portrait Gallery of Canada.
Valko was one of 30 finalists selected in July from 471 entries.
Czech-born Valko trained at Red River College in Winnipeg and studied woodblock printing in Japan.
Valko is known for his photo-realist paintings, many of them dimly lit or night scenes, which make seemingly mundane scenes seem disquieting.
He often explores themes from contemporary culture, including motels and drive-in movies.
The jury also chose two paintings for honourable mention: Anuta in Blue by Allan MacKay of Kitchener, Ont. and Distraction by Fiona Ackerman of Vancouver.
Portraits created by the 30 finalists will be on display at the Grand Theatre in Kingston until Oct. 25 and will also have showings in Wolfville, N.S., Toronto and Calgary.
Source: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
please see:
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/artdesign/story/2009/10/09/kingston-prize.html
