The Archibald 2017

With the later part of July done and dusted, the fine art loving folks at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW; pronounced however you like), have just crowned the winner of one of Australia’s top art awards, the Archibald.

This year there were 200+ entries, which was whittled down to 40 of the best.

The Archi celebrates portraits ‘preferentially of some man or woman distinguished in art, letters, science or politics, painted by any artist resident in Australasia’.

Take that as a hot tip to get the pastels out and get your rendition of George Brandis or Kerri Anne at the ready for next year.

As it is an open competition, there are a bunch of standouts from the finalists that should grab a mention before we discuss the winner piece by Mitch Cairns.

Check out this farewell piece from the Boys of Sydney Grammar Edgecliff Preparatory School. A portrait of the outgoing principal after 18 years, Dr John Vallance. The piece is titled Goodbye, Sir!, with 11,000 blocks, the piece was created by 301 students ranging from five to twelve years old.

When you mess about with oils on linen, this is what you can produce. Just be sure to mix in a life of art and skill. Skill is the real winner here. This piece from Irish born Jonathan Dalton is of Sydney artists Lotti and James. It’s so damn real.

Anh Do is a talented soul. His comedy is tight, he can act better than most and his art work makes you feel things. His piece of Jack Charles is nothing sort of exactly that. In his bio, Anh tells of the first time he heard about Jack, it was in a newspaper and described him as ‘esteemed actor, former heroin addict and jailbird, member of the stolen generation, gay man and latter-day Indigenous activist‘. This piece aims to play with the character of the Jack. Something it does well.

Then lastly, finally, we have Mitch Cairns with his abstract piece of his wife, Agatha Gothe-Snape, a fellow artist. This piece is beautiful. The lines to the edges, to softness. The colouring is fantastic and the structure is just damn tasty. Ignore the critics, this is a must see.

The Archibald is exhibiting now until October 22 at AGNSW and is totally worth the admission. More details HERE