Fremantlebiz - Paul's Letter from Australia

Archibald winner sucks in judges

I can't say I'm very enthusiastic about the winning painting in this year's Archibald competition. It reminds me of the pictures of pathetic, dewey-eyed kids which were reproduced in the millions for chain stores around the world twenty to thirty years ago and hung in countless Laminex kitchens. They gradually became replaced by fridge art.

The latest effort looks like some sort of passe feminist presentation. A hangover from the soul searching eighties. A hostile single mother with 'Ugly Betty glasses' girds her child-bearing loins around two pasty faced kids which look like they've been force fed on a vegan diet and exposed to some form of newly discovered eastern mysticism. The painting by Del Kathryn Barton was titled, 'You are what is most beautiful about me - A self portrait with Kell And Arella.' Del is of course an abbreviation of Delicatessen.

Yawn! Somehow self portraits always seem a bit of a cop out to me.

But that's just my humble opinion. Much better if you judge it for yourself by clicking here.

The portrait I thought which deserved more attention was one of the Western Australian actor Heath Ledger who sensationally succumbed to a fatal cocktail of pharmaceuticals in late January. I first mentioned his demise on the 24th of that month.

A thought provoking portrait of him was competed by a Perth artist Vincent Fantauzzo shortly before Mr Ledger's death. I think it clearly represented the fact that the actor was suffering from immense inner turmoil. Apparently the Archibald judges nearly gave it the top prize, but in the end they chickened out and went for the kitsch.

In the picture at the link above Mr Fantauzzo is pictured with his work. Reportedly he's going to present it to Mr Ledger's mother. I reckon it could be a bit depressing for a parent to have hanging on the lounge room wall all the time.

But living here in the West is not good for armchair Archibald critics. There are hundreds of excellent paintings submitted in the hope of winning Australia's premier art prize, but we only get a glimpse of one or two in the usual media. It's a long way to Sydney from here for mere mortals to visit the exhibition.

But all is not lost. There's a webpage with the finalists pictured at http://www.thearchibaldprize.com.au/finalists/archibald Maybe we should all have a go at knocking something up for next year? It looks pretty easy.

Reportedly, one of the entries this year was a self portrait of a bloke who painted it with his penis. That might not be so easy.

© MMVIII Paul R. Weaver.

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Original still photographs are stored online in a cache at my Panoramio website or my Picasa site. Most of them have a brief description and a link back to a relevant essay. Images on Panoramio can usually be enlarged several times by clicking them.

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Check out each month's subject index on the Calendar Page for my "common-man" monologues about survival in 21st century Australia – plus a little history occasionally. An original essay is added most days as part of an undertaking to write at least couple of million words. Zzzzzzzz!