An Indian-origin artist in New Zealand has won the top award from one of the country's leading art galleries for his painting.
Prakash Patel, from Wanganui in New Zealand's North Island, scooped the top award in the Sarjeant Gallery Arts Review with his acrylic on canvas work, Astronaut.
"It's actually part of a series I did for a show in Auckland, but I already had enough paintings for that. So I left it out of the show and entered it for the Arts Review instead," Patel was quoted by the Wanganui Chronicle as saying.
Patel is no stranger to winning art awards. This is the fourth time he's won the Arts Review. "I've entered it every single year, but it's 12 years since I last won it," he said.
The award comes with a prize money of 1,000 New Zealand dollars.
Patel grew up in Wanganui, studied art at the Eastern Institute of Technology in Napier and moved back to Wanganui in 1993 after he had finished his studies.
The gallery is named after Henry Sarjeant (1830-1912), who had immigrated to New Zealand from England around 1860 and settled in the Wanganui region.
The gallery's website says that after Sarjeant's death, his wife Ellen consolidated her husband's interest in the arts, which had been generously provided for in his will.
