Martinec scoops triple artwork prize
Published on: 06-Sep-2007
Czech artist Hynek Martinec claimed three prizes at the BP Portrait Art awards.The 27-year-old became the first winner of the BP Portrait Award Visitor's Choice and was also able to claim the BP Portrait Award and the inaugural Young Artist Award - both of which were awarded by a panel of judges.
His piece, Zuzana, which is close up of his girlfriends face painted in microscopic accuracy, received almost 500 votes from impressed members of the public.
And he has already been commissioned to produce a painting after knocking on the wrong door.
Martinec told the Guardian: "Just before he directed me to the address I was looking for, he asked what I had in the plastic bag.
"I told him it was a painting to sell to the man I was trying to find. I was already late so I just gave him a postcard of Zuzana in the Paris Studio. When he realised I had painted it, he asked if I could come next week because he wanted me to paint his wife."
This year has been the most popular year for the awards at the National Portrait Gallery with 150,000 attending so far.
Can't find art to match your decor? You can now...
