NEWS

Face it: Portrait painting is cool

In the age of smartphone cameras and selfies, you would be forgiven in thinking that the art of portraiture was dead and gone.  The act of capturing the likeness of someone and their personality or ‘essence’ is one of the oldest art forms around (dating as far back as 5,000 years) and can take the shape of sculpture, drawing or photograph.  Despite the rapid rise of social media portraits, the production of portrait painting continues to flourish. One such biennial art exhibition which honours this practice is the Adam Portraiture Award which in 2018 awarded its top prize to 21-year old Auckland artist Logan Moffat, the youngest recipient of the award to date.

The Adam Portraiture Award highlights the power of portraiture and celebrates New Zealanders and the portrait painters who represent them.  It is New Zealand’s most prestigious portraiture competition which boasts a major cash prize of $20,000. The award is generously sponsored by the Adam Foundation and is one of the country’s longest running art prizes. This is the first time the finalist exhibition can be seen in Ashburton.

The Gallery is challenging you to come down and be inspired by this exhibition, and to capture this inspiration in the form of your own portrait.  In Your Likeness is our second exhibition opening this April that is an interactive portrait exhibition that will grow and develop as the exhibition unfolds.

In Your Likeness… your art, your exhibition, your gallery

Exhibitions on 18 April – 18 June 2019.