Portraiture is a demanding genre for the artist, requiring a high level of technical skill and insight to capture and convey a subject's essence.

But when the person posing for the portrait is Tadashi Sato, one of Hawai'i's master artists, a mere paintbrush and palette seem inadequate.

"He was very particular; he wanted it a certain way. He wanted to keep it simple," said Kirk Kurokawa, whose oil painting of Sato won the $15,000 Jurors' Choice Award in the 2006 Schaefer Portrait Challenge.

"There was definitely more pressure than usual."

The statewide juried competition was held only once before, in 2003. Organizers said the event is meant "to showcase the people in the community who have distinguished themselves in some way and to revive interest in portraiture in Hawai'i."

The 2006 challenge attracted 158 entries, with 43 works selected for an exhibit at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center, including seven pieces from O'ahu, 23 from Maui, one each from Moloka'i and Lana'i, eight from the Big Island, and three from Kaua'i.

Center gallery director Darrell Orwig said the portrait approaches in the show are as varied as the people who painted and posed for them. Media include oil, acrylic, watercolor, bronze mesh, wood, bark, stoneware and pure silver. Artist Randy Ross created a mosaic of shells, sand and other bits of beach for a self-portrait, one of eight in the exhibition.

Other subjects include prominent Maui businessman Pundy Yokouchi by artist Jay Wilson; native plant specialist Rene Sylva by Lisa Kasprzycki; University of Hawai'i art professor Tom Klobe by Kloe Kang; Moloka'i waterman, carver and canoe builder Bill Kapuni by Stephen Garnin; and Pa'ia pool hall owner Auggie Quinsaat by Eddie Flotte.

"In this day and age of blitzkreig media and fast-lane lifestyles, something like this is very contemplative and humanizing," Orwig said. "It slows people down and gives them time not only to contemplate the human face and features, but the environment the person is presented in."

The winning artist said he didn't know his subject well before asking him to sit for a portrait. Sato is internationally recognized for his subtle abstract paintings and murals. His works include the large mosaic "Aquarius" that adorns the floor of the state Capitol rotunda.

Kurokawa, 31, is a Baldwin High School graduate who studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts and worked in commercial illustration before returning to Maui. He said he overcame initial apprehension about painting "the icon" by delving into their shared Japanese heritage and upbringing on Maui.

"Portraits are mostly about personality and getting to know the sitter. ... As soon as I met him there was an instant connection," Kurokawa said.

Sato, who died in June, did not get the chance to see the finished portrait, but Kurokawa thinks he achieved the sort of simplicity Sato would have appreciated.

"There's nothing there to take your attention away from Tadashi," he said.

The portrait is titled "The Real McCoy," and fellow Maui artist George Allan said Kurokawa and others selected for the portrait challenge are also the real deal.

Allan, 68, explained that a painting of a tree could be any old tree. "But a portrait has to look like something, otherwise everyone knows that it's amateur," he said.

The Schaefer Portrait Challenge brings "the academic crowd and the commercial crowd together so you can sort everything out and see who can do what," Allan said. "You can't miss with portraiture. Either you do it or you don't.

"It separates the people who rely on marketing from those who can really do something."

Allan is in a unique position to comment on the competition. His own work featuring his wife, Janet, was selected for the show, and Allan himself is the subject of two pieces, a distinction he finds "very flattering."

A work by Ronaldo Macedo shows Allan, his former mentor, in his Kula studio, and another by Kit Gentry has him aboard the Carthaginian, which Allan sailed to Maui in the early 1970s. The ship was recently sunk off Lahaina for use as an artificial reef.

Allan said he concurs with the jurors on the quality of Kuro-kawa's work.

"The painting shows a genuine rapport with Sato. The composition is flawless and it shows a real sense of light and painterliness," said Allan, who recalled Kurokawa's self-portrait in the 2003 challenge as a "showstopper."

"You watch Kirk," he said.

Visitors to the show can vote for their favorites to receive the $5,000 Marian Freeman People's Choice Award, to be announced Feb. 13. Balloting ends Feb. 5.

The prize is underwritten by Gage and Lettie Schubert. The Jurors' Choice Award was made possible by the support of Jack and Carolyn Schaefer Gray. Maui County and the state Tourism Authority also provided money for the event.

Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com.