The Maui News

A Maui artist has won the popular vote in the Schaefer Portrait Challenge 2022 for his oil painting of a nisei veteran, the Maui Arts & Cultural Center announced Tuesday.

Kirk Kurokawa, a painter, muralist and artist, received the Gene & Ruth Freedman People’s Choice Award and a $5,000 cash prize, which was presented by Rick Freedman and his sister Penny at a recent reception in the MACC’s Schaefer International Gallery.

His portrait, entitled “Uncle Masa,” was an oil on panel artwork depicting Masa Motooka, who was born in Hana and later served as a corporal in the Military Intelligence Service during World War II.

“Kirk’s realistic style of painting as seen in ‘Uncle Masa’ appeals to many people,” Gallery Director Neida Bangerter said in a news release. “He gives us a story with carefully thought out compositions, as seen in the Japanese style chabudai table with Uncle Masa’s juice, Kleenex box and back scratcher. The soft worn leather chair and the sparkle in his eye endears his subject to viewers as if we are right there listening. His use of pigment and glazing techniques render a perfect play of light on his subject, including a faint grisaille gray background with the Nisei Veterans Medallion, acknowledging his service in the US Armed Forces during WWII.”

The Schaefer Portrait Challenge is a statewide juried competition featuring 48 portraits of the people of Hawaii. Visitors to the gallery between Jan. 11 and March 19 had the chance to cast their ballots for their favorite piece in the exhibit, which has drawn more than 3,000 visitors to the gallery.

The first runner-up for the People’s Choice Award was Maui artist Jon Hunt for his portrait, “Reyna With Aloha,” while second runner-up went to Kauai artist Natasha Young for “Daddy’s Girl.”

The exhibit will be open through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. Face masks are required while inside the gallery but proof of vaccination is not.