Last week Charles Esche awarded the 2014 Walters Prize to Luke Willis Thompson, the 7th artist to receive the $50,000 award. Along with the other finalists, he also received $5,000 from patron Dayle Mace when this year's lineup was announced.
The Walters Prize is the brainchild of Dame Jenny Gibbs and Erika and Robin Congreve, patrons who bring ideas as well as deep pockets to the arts. In 2010 Jenny Gibbs talked about the Prize and how it has been set up to keep the founders (and other patrons associated with it) at arms length, leaving it to the Auckland Art Gallery to appoint four New Zealand-based selectors to come up with a short list of four and the international judge to select the winner. You can view the video here.
Image: Dame Jenny Gibbs
