KEY POINTS:
The artist who created a stir with his nude portrait of All Black Anton Oliver has won a lucrative international grant.
Dunedin artist Simon Richardson feels he has a Canadian fairy godmother whom he has never met.
The 33-year-old has won Canada's Elizabeth Greenshields Award, worth US$12,500 ($16,200). This is the third time he has won the grant, also receiving it in 1998 and 2005.
"They're like my fairy godmother on the other side of the world. It's not just the money - there's the feeling they are interested in what I'm doing and they back me," he says.
In 2006, seven of Richardson's works appeared at Auckland's Jonathan Grant Galleries, including the nude oil painting of Anton Oliver, Back Field, which fetched $16,750.
All Black great Colin Meads criticised Oliver for posing, saying: "We're meant to be the salt of the earth, down-to-earth, grassroots, and bloody good guys. You don't pose bloody nude, or get a painting of yourself in the nude."
Richardson's letter telling him of the grant reads: "The awarding of a third grant to an individual is not a common event at the foundation. In fact, since the creation of the foundation in 1955, only 49 artists, including yourself, have received a third grant. We hope this is the catalyst that will launch you into a long and successful career."
The foundation's website says grants are given to promote an appreciation of the traditional expression in painting, drawing, sculpture and the graphic arts.
Richardson has used past grants to view art in Europe and build an art studio. This time, he hopes to travel to America for research and to meet Canadian realist artist Alex Colville.
