Grand Prize Winner Matthew Krawcheck

Three Self-Portraits © Matthew Krawcheck Coral Gables, Florida Grand Prize Awardee $10,000 Age 19

Three Self-Portraits, mixed media on illustration board (39" x 16") "I live in a world in which spoken language is muted and indistinct. As a child, I discovered that pictures allowed me to experience what I could not hear, my own drawings allowed me to express what I could not say. Visual art gave me the freedom to communicate with an intensity and precision that broke through the frustration of acquiring language." Matthew Krawcheck, who has Asperger's syndrome, attended public school magnet art programs since the fifth grade. Slow at processing oral and written language, he learned to turn this challenge into an advantage. The extra time that he spends on a problem, whether practical, academic, or within his art, gives him the freedom to explore unexpected connections that might be missed by someone who absorbs information more quickly. A few years ago, he began to incorporate unique textures and found objects to add depth and intensity to his pieces. As a result, his paintings emerge in layers beginning with the choice of canvas (an old car door, a pegboard left in a trash pile, etc.) and progress through the base coat and textures to painted images. Of this technique, he articulates, "This mirrors the way talents and skills, relationships, and experiences, are continually overlaid to create an understanding of the world, each new layer enriching, but never completely eclipsing what came before." Matthew recently graduated from the New World School of the Arts in Miami, Florida and will continue his studies at the Kansas City Art Institute this fall.