Who goes there? 22/3/2013
Seems it’s a judging rule for the Archibald Prize that the winning portrait must bear only the faintest resemblance to the subject.
SYDNEY artist Del Kathryn Barton has won the 2013 Archibald Prize for her portrait of actor Hugo Weaving.
What a dreadful picture. Looks like 1970s wallpaper.
It’s a bit amateurish. I think there’s another rule at play at Archibald HQ, The same one at the root of Labor’s problem.. and I don’t mean too many unionists.
A key factor in who wins, and indeed who gets hung, is the political acceptability of the portrait’s subject. No portrait of Alan Jones or Keith Windshuttle, however brilliant, would ever get to first base in the Archibalds.
Weaving is OK because he’s an actor and therefore presumable soft left.
Have to disagree with this one Slatts. The caricature to express Mr Weaving as who he is is pretty good (ie he is not Elrond or Agent Smith when at home).
On other hand it is true a portrait of Murdoch or Bolta would be quite unlikely to win the Archibald. Hell might just freeze over before then. Artists have to be realistic, after all, since starvation is a health hazard peculiar to their profession.
Archibald Prize winners never seem to get better, they just get more outrageous. Perhaps the common sense requirements for entry (starting with 1. Basic likeness to the sitter in order that they be recognisable) might be a good start. The subject is not material but I have to agree with Chris Z – if you are de trop you are not going to be considered anyway.