On Thursday, October 7, ArtPrize announced the winner of the popular vote in the 2010 competition. The $250,000 first prize went to Grand Rapids artist Chris LaPorte. LaPorte teaches art at Aquinas College. The winning work, “Cavalry, American Officers, 1921” is a photorealistic pencil drawing of a gathering of World War I officers. It took LaPorte over 800 hours to complete the work, which measures 29 feet by 8 feet.
Here are my photos of the winning work.
Here is a 90-second interview of Chris LaPorte.