A Brooklyn painter with a passion for surfing caught his dream wave Friday when his oil painting of the ocean won him $250,000.
Williamsburg artist Ran Ortner’s 19-foot-long rendering of the swelling sea won first place in the ArtPrize competition in Michigan.
“I’ve been struggling month to month for the last 30 years,” said Ortner, 50. “It’s just so surreal … I’m still not believing it.”
Ortner’s masterpiece was chosen from 12,000 entries, which were whittled down to 1,262 works of art placed in public areas around Grand Rapids, Mich., for two weeks.
Nine finalists were chosen, and the public judged its favorite by voting online or by text.
His painting, “Open Water No. 24,” took 2-1/2 months to create.
“Water is just my muse,” said Ortner, who has been depicting the ocean in his work for decades.
“I see this thing that is so brutally overwhelming yet has the delicacy that we wash our babies with it.
“There’s transparency and sparkle, but also dark, tempestuous twists.”
Ortner’s painting is so realistic that some people who saw it chose to stand inches from the canvas to see the brush strokes.
Others were so struck they approached the artist afterward with tears streaming down their cheeks. “They said they didn’t know why it touched them so much, but it did,” he said.
Ortner hasn’t decided what to do with the money, although a surfing trip is definitely on the horizon.
“I’ve lived on the edge financially for all this time; it will be amazing not to have that anxiety during the last week of every month,” he said.
“I just worked so very hard, I’m thrilled,” he added.
The prize is sponsored by the family of the billionaire co-founder of Amway.
Second-place winner Tracy Van Duinen of Chicago received $100,000, and $50,000 went to third-place finisher Eric Daigh of Traverse City, Mich.
