‘Handsome and generous’ painting wins top portrait prize

Ask student Logan Moffat what he does when he’s not making art and he falters. The twenty-one year-old final-year Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons) student at Elam, has been painting, mostly portraits, since he was young.

His passion for the genre was rewarded, when he was named the recipient of this year’s Adam Portraiture Award, worth $20,000. At just 21, Logan is the youngest winner in the award’s 20 year history.

His portrait entitled Elam, features two of Logan’s fellow students, Jayden Plank and Harry Telfer, in their studio at Elam School of Fine Arts.

“I woke up with the idea and went into Elam and asked Jayden and Harry if they minded featuring in the work. Fortunately they were happy to be depicted,” says Logan.

The judge Angus Trumble, director of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia, described the work as ‘a rumination upon the creative process’ and said “the painting belonged to the long tradition in the academy arising from art students – surely friends – together and separately dreaming big dreams.”

It’s the third time Logan has entered the contest and in 2016 was the runner up with his painting called Stitch.

But the talented painter nearly missed this year’s awards ceremony, forgetting to RSVP.

“The organisers phoned me two days before the event to ensure I was attending,” he says. “My grandparents kindly flew me down to Wellington. Winning was a bit of shock.”

In announcing Elam as the winner, the judge said he was ‘impressed by the combination of affection and ennui, of clutter and spaciousness, of humour and seriousness that animate the work. The scale is handsome. The palette is high-keyed and generous’.
The large oil painting, which took Logan over 100 hours to complete, is on display at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery in Wellington until 27 May, before touring the country as part of the finalists’ exhibition. It will then join the NZ Portrait Gallery’s permanent collection.

Logan says “as both a fan and practitioner of portraits, I’m incredibly grateful to the Adam Foundation and the NZ Portrait Gallery for their on-going support of the genre.”

The public can see more of Logan’s work as part of the Elam Graduate Show at the end of the year.