Prestigious American Grant for Philip Trusttum

New Zealand contemporary colourist painter Philip Trusttum has been awarded a prestigious Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant – becoming only the second New Zealander to gain the award.

The grants are awarded after a committee of art professionals review submissions from world wide artists, painters, sculptors and other fine arts crafts people who have worked as professional artists over a significant period of time.

Since 1985 the Pollock – Krasner Foundation  has made nearly 2000 grants to artists from 57 countries, totally more than $US24 million. The purpose is to provide financial assistance to individual working artists of established ability. Auckland sculpture Christopher Braddock was the first New Zealand recipient in the 1980’s.

Philip said the avant-garde Jackson Pollock and his widow Lee Krasner, a leading abstract expressionist painter, had both been influential in his own development as a painter. He is planing to visit the Foundation in New York later in the year.

Philip felt honoured to gain the recognition, especially as he has been a solo professional artist for 30 years, working largely on his own. He has previously exhibited in New York and has been reviewed in “The New York Times”.