Twenty members and friends made their way to Geelong Gallery on Monday to view the finalists in the Archibald Prize – Australia’s famous portrait painting competition. I think our hairstyles were too short and our clothing not “out there” enough for us to be looked upon as serious art critics – but we gave it a good go.
An entry condition is that the subjects must be famous people or people from the art world itself. This is why many of the faces are instantly recognisable – but many are not. There are certainly some very alternative art styles on display alongside more conventional poses. Bruce Smith was convinced that one very yellow entry had been dropped off from a kindergarten that morning. Amanda Hough went pale when she saw a painting that was a direct copy of a work she completed in primary school and won a prize in a competition for children run by “The Sun” newspaper. John Weber had his head on one side and then the other as he demanded to know what criteria the judges use.
There were definitely some interesting pieces. One painting was done with a toothbrush, another by finger painting and one included a full size aboriginal spear. One artist had injured her right hand rendering it useless for painting, so she challenged herself to do a self portrait with her left hand. It was excellent. There was another self portrait with the subject breast feeding her baby. How the hell do you paint something like this?
Eventually the bell rang at 5pm, we assembled on the street, and walked down to Mav’s Greek Restaurant where we enjoyed keftedes, dolmades, tzatziki, gyros and other unpronounceable greek delights. An evening to remember
