Tag: Archibald Prize
Archie 100
Tuesday, June 29th, 2021 Sydney Morning Herald Column,Over the past few years there have been times when the Art Gallery of NSW was so empty of visitors it gave the impression someone had just shouted “Fire!”. Right now the opposite applies: the joint is packed to the rafters, with people waiting patiently in queues to see the Archibald Prize. For many this […]
Archibald Prize 2021
Tuesday, June 15th, 2021 Sydney Morning Herald Column,It’s now history that Peter Wegner has won the centenary Archibald Prize with a portrait of centenarian artist, Guy Warren. Wegner wasn’t the ony one to have that idea – by Guy’s reckoning he sat for “four or five” portraits in the lead-up to this year’s prizes, but here’s little doubt the Archibald winner was […]
Salon des Refusés 2021
Friday, June 11th, 2021 Blog,When the Art Gallery of NSW moved the opening of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes from September to June, it was bound to have consequences for the quality of the exhibitions. The 2021 Archibald season kicks off this weekend, less than five months after the closure of last year’s shows on 10 January. This […]
Archibald of Archibalds
Friday, June 11th, 2021 Blog,If we imagine the history of the Archbald Prize for portraiture as one big competition featuring every winner from 1921 to the present, which painting would emerge on top? It may sound tantalising but as with most of the competitions I’ve seen, it’s quite easy to pick. For sheer painterly bravura, for a unique blend […]
Archibald & Others: The results are in
Tuesday, June 8th, 2021 Blog,It’s tempting to say justice was done this year with Peter Wegner’s portrait of 100-year-old artist, Guy Warren, taking out the 100th Archibald, but it was a virtual inevitability. Had the Trustees of the Art Gallery of NSW decided to do something daring and different they may have been lynched by an angry mob of […]
Packing Room Prize & more
Monday, May 31st, 2021 Blog,In this ever changin’ world in which we’re livin’, as Paul McCartney sang, it’s reassuring that some things remain the same. One of those fixed points is the annual Archibald Prize for portraiture which comes around with mind-numbing regularity, sometimes looking a little better, sometimes a little worse. Godzilla has a son and so too […]
Archibald Prize 2020: A Trilogy
Tuesday, October 6th, 2020 Sydney Morning Herald Column,The Archibald Prize 2020: A First Look Scomo is out, but Albo is in. And so is Jacinda Adern. If the Art Gallery of NSW were not a steadfastly apolitical institution, one might imagine there is some comment intended in the selection of finalists for the 2020 Archibald Prize. In olden days a portrait […]
Salon des Refusés 2019
Friday, June 7th, 2019 Sydney Morning Herald Column,If Friedrich Nietzsche hadn’t come up with his theory of the Eternal Return in the late 19th century, a few visits to the Salon des Refusés at the S.H.Ervin Gallery would have planted the idea in the mind of any latter-day philosopher. For Nietzsche the thought that everything in life would repeat on an endless cycle was […]
Newsletter 288
Monday, May 27th, 2019 Newsletter,In last week’s newsletter I wondered: does Jesus really want Scott Morrison to be Prime Minister? It seems the answer is ‘Yes’. After his grandstanding election victory, Scummo announced he has always believed in miracles, and has just delivered one. It was a pretty clear confirmation that he imagines God is in his corner. Now […]
Archibald Prize 2019
Thursday, May 23rd, 2019 Sydney Morning Herald Column,May has been the month of miracles. This was the way our highly devout Prime Minister described his election victory, which arrived on the back of three years of dysfunctional government and a campaign devoid of policies. It was also the way Tony Costa responded to his victory in this year’s Archibald Prize, for a […]