The Archibald Prize 2016

By Niall Roeder.

Stop looking for Pokémon and listen up – the Archibald, our most important portraiture prize, has been awarded! Louise Hearman took out this year’s top nod for her portrait of Barry Humphries and with it, claims the $100K prize. Good on you, Lou.

A photo posted by Art Gallery of NSW (@artgalleryofnsw) on Jul 14, 2016 at 7:44pm PDT

Hearman’s depiction of Humphries, aka Dame Edna Everage, aka Sir Les Patterson, is raw, but seemingly shows a soft and almost endearing side in a nobody’s-perfect sort of way. It’s an intense stare to say the least.

‘I have admired Barry Humphries since I was a young girl,’ says Hearman. ‘I was enchanted by tales of thin slices of ham being surreptitiously interlarded in great piles of ladies’ flesh-tone control briefs in Myers’ bargain basement, of the derelict who would feast on champagne and chicken at select rubbish bins around Melbourne in front of astonished onlookers, and the long-haired, dapper phantom whom my mother would see on Collins Street when she was a young woman. That genius is now an international superstar.’

The Archibald prize is now in its 95th year and consistently produces a surplus of damn fine works. Besides Hearman’s entry, other finalists included Betina Fauvel-Ogden’s painting of MasterChef’s George Calombaris (winner of the Packing Room Prize), Benjamin Aitken’s portrait of mentor Jon Cattapan, David Griggs’ painting of “the G” Max Francois Germanos, Natasha Bieniek’s oil depiction of Wendy Whiteley and Carla Fletcher’s commanding portrayal of Linda Jackson.

A photo posted by Art Gallery of NSW (@artgalleryofnsw) on Jul 14, 2016 at 7:20pm PDT

Back to that $100K prize. The Archibald is open to any resident of Australia or New Zealand. Have another long hard look at Louise Hearman’s winning work. It’s good, real good. Gaze deep into the eyes of the cross dressing Barry and ask yourself if you have the minerals to produce something that good… surely it’s worth a crack?

The Archibald finalists will be exhibited at AGNSW from July 16 to October 9, 2016.

Image and quote: AGNSW Instagram and website.