Moody Nightscape Exploring Homelessness Wins Top Art Prize

Moody Nightscape Exploring Homelessness Wins Top Art Prize
Wellington photographer roOm has won the coveted Brendan Foot Supersite Signature Piece Art Award with his piece “Less is Less 05”, a photographic lightbox depicting a surreal night scene.

His piece, one of 10 finalists vying for the $3,000 prize, was voted best in show by attendees to the 2017 NZ Art Show held in Wellington over Queen’s Birthday Weekend, June 2nd to 5th.

This is the second year that roOm has been selected as a finalist for this award.

“Every year, there are thousands of amazing artworks in the show and to be chosen as a finalist two years in a row is a reward in itself,” roOm says. “I’m blown away that people liked my piece enough to vote it as the winner.”

The winning artwork is from a photographic series that explores homelessness, a condition that roOm encounters a lot in his position as a firefighter.

“I’ve been working for the Fire Service for 22 years so my job entails helping people in bad situations,” roOm explained. “I’ve seen homelessness escalating enormously over the last ten years. Many of the locations and objects in this series reference the state of the homeless person.”

Carla Russell, Executive Director of the NZ Art Show, is delighted by roOm’s win.

“All the finalists were outstanding, and over the course of the weekend the voting was very close: it was not clearly obvious who was leading and I felt that voting could have gone any way,” Carla says.

“roOm’s piece is strangely evocative: there is an eerie mystery surrounding this work and it clearly resonated with the voters.”

The award is sponsored by Lower Hutt car dealership Brendan Foot Supersite who has been sponsoring the NZ Art Show for seven years and sponsoring the Signature Piece Art Award for two years.

"Sponsoring the Brendan Foot Supersite Signature Piece Art Award is something we’re thrilled to be able to do. The standard of art amongst the finalists is always very high and we think it’s great that the public get to make the final vote, "says Brendan Foot, managing Director of Brendan Foot Supersite.

“Art is a passion of ours and we are very proud to offer our on-going support to The NZ Art Show and local artists. It is always a rewarding weekend for us to see the exciting original art on display by New Zealand artists.”

The NZ Art Show is held annually in Wellington. More than 10,000 people attended this year’s NZ Art Show, resulting in record sales.
ENDS

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