Raumati artist Tracey-Lea Morgan has struck gold in the “People’s Choice” category of the Mahara Arts Review 2015.
Her acrylic, oil and glitter painting, Te Kihi, was inspired by the Austrian artist Gustav Klimt whose work featured in the successful 2015 film, Woman in Gold. It is a New Zealand take on the famous Klimt painting, The Kiss.
For Te Kihi, Tracey-Lea Morgan substituted glitter for the gold leaf Gustav Klimt used in his paintings during what’s known as the “golden period” of his career. One of these paintings, stolen during World War Two by the Nazis, became the subject of the 2015 film starring Helen Mirren which told the story of an elderly Jewish refugee’s fight to reclaim the painting by Klimt of her aunt, Adele-Bloch-Baur,
The painting received more support from the 1500 visitors to Mahara Gallery during the exhibition than any of the other 108 Arts Review works when votes were counted on 30 October.
The People’s Choice Award was the last of six awards presented as part of the Mahara Arts Review. The presentation was made at Mahara Gallery on Saturday (31 October) by award sponsor Warwick Halcrow of the Kāpiti Coffee Company.
The other six had been presented at the opening of the Mahara Arts Review Exhibition on 3 October.
