A 34-year-old artist and University of Maryland graduate was awarded the $25,000 Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize on Saturday for two large canvases painted in peaceful hues of blue and white.
Ryan Hackett of Kensington was a finalist last year but lost out to a cooperative that produced a geodesic dome made from recycled materials and a version of a looming construction crane. Hackett was the only one of seven finalists from outside Baltimore.
"I'm flabbergasted," Hackett said, at a ceremony at the Baltimore Museum of Art. "I thought I had no chance of winning."
The prize is given yearly, with the winner chosen by a panel of three judges, two of whom are from New York and the other from Chicago. The event is held just before Artscape, which runs July 16 through 18.
Hackett is known for creating intricate installations and video. But for this competition he elected to use paint as his medium. In April, he told The Baltimore Sun: "It was the riskiest decision I could make."
On Saturday night, the artist described himself as a "hard-core painter" and said the work he submitted to the final round of judging was like a rest in music, "a withdrawn body of work" that instead of hitting his audience in the face, "asks a lot more of the viewer."
He said he wanted people "to come to their own conclusions, like looking through the fog at an object. You can't determine what it is, but your brain completes the process."
One of the judges, New York editor and art critic Robert Nickas, said Hackett wowed the panel by submitting work for the final round that differed from what he had created to get him through the first part of the competition.
"It was a complete surprise," Nickas said. "It was very brave."
Hackett said he has been at a standstill lately and that the prize, a $25,000 fellowship for career enhancement, will help him move forward. He said he wants to create an interactive art project with a hospital.
The finalists' works will be on display at the museum until Aug. 1.