Timmins wins NZ Art Show’s Signature Piece Art Award

BEN TIMMINS WINS THE NEW ZEALAND ART SHOW’S SIGNATURE PIECE ART AWARD

Ben Timmins has won the New Zealand Art Show’s Signature Piece Art Award for the second year in a row. The Award worth $5,000 was decided by a public vote during this year’s show held in Wellington last weekend.

The New Zealand Art Show’s executive director Carla Russell says, “Ten artworks chosen by our selection panel were eligible for the Award, but the final decision was made by people who visited the Show voting for the work they thought was most deserving of the Award.”

Ben’s Paradigm Sunrise impressed the panel but more importantly won favour from more than 10,000 people who attended this year’s Show. It’s a powerful painting 1.6metre in diameter, Oil on poplar wood grain with a copper band frame. It depicts a Blue Heron overlooking a surging river, with a subtle Fibonacci inspired pattern integrated into and rising up through the wood grain itself.

Ben also scooped the $10,000 Winesale.co.nz Wine Label Art Award at the 2012 Show, firmly establishing the Paekakariki based artist as the star of this year’s New Zealand Art Show. He has exhibited at the Show since 2007 and last year picked up the Signature Piece Art Award, making him the first artist to have won the Award for a second year in succession.

His paintings are larger works of landscapes and bird studies, oil on natural wood grain panels and framed with his unique copper band. This symbiosis of realistic geographical form, wood grain and line have become indicative of Ben’s distinctive style as an acknowledged New Zealand painter.

Ben has previously exhibited at the New Zealand Art Show, at the NZ Academy of Fine Arts and also in a number of dealer galleries. Last year, the James Wallace Trust bought another Ben Timmins painting. The Auckland-based James Wallace Trust has some 5,000 original New Zealand artworks and is regarded as one of the country’s most prestigious art collections.

“Clearly, Ben Timmins has won not only public but also critical acclaim. We trust that this Award will provide further recognition of his undoubted ability and also help further his career.”

Ben Timmins said, “I’m thrilled to win this particular award two years running, it shows how well the public have responded to my work. I appreciate their ongoing interest and support.”

The objectives of the Signature Piece Art Award are to: recognise artistic excellence in the visual arts; highlight the work of promising artists for the future; encourage, develop and promote emerging artists to new artistic levels; and give the public a voice as to whom would they like to reward.

“This is the fourth year we have offered the Signature Piece Art Award. The Award provides yet another way in which the NZ Affordable Art Trust, the charitable trust behind the New Zealand Art Show, can assist and support artists and the arts community,” Carla Russell said.

ENDS

About the New Zealand Art Show

The New Zealand Art Show is an annual three-day art exhibition held each year in Wellington’s Events Centre on Queens Wharf. This year’s show was held between 3-5 August 2012.

Established in 2004 as the New Zealand Affordable Art Show, the Show has grown in size, reputation and quality. The annual exhibition now showcases 3,000+ artworks by more than 400 artists; it is the largest art exhibition in this country. Since its inception, it has sold over $7 million worth of art, returning some $6 million back to artists – making the show a significant contributor to New Zealand’s arts community.

The New Zealand Art Show is governed by the New Zealand Affordable Art Trust (NZAAT). Its vision is to promote New Zealand artists and help them access resources and opportunities to further their development, and to promote the appreciation of New Zealand art to the wider public.

The NZAAT is a registered charity (# CC28710) under the Charities Act 2005.

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