The Archibald Prize
The Archibald Portrait Prize is with us again and Stagenoise asked two participants in this year's Prize for their reactions to being part of it: subject (of Bill Leak's entry) the film critic PAUL LE PETIT and artist CHERRY HOOD, who won in 2002.
Paul Le Petit says: "Sitting for Bill Leak was not a difficult experience for me. The difficulties rested with Bill, a dear and close friend and a talent to boot.
"I had already sat for a portrait, a terribly good one too. Dana Lundmark sadly only achieved a silver star, as it were, for her efforts for the Portia Geach Award in 1994.
"In that case I was a rather elegant grey replete with a glass of champagne. But this time posing for Bill Leak at his studio in Hardys Bay I was less than replete.
Two weeks before I had been struck down suddenly with a severe case of clinical depression. It removed me from work, from reality, from many of the people I loved. I slept long hours, took pills, avoided stress and talked only to my family and two close friends, one of whom was Bill.
"He persuaded me to flee for a few days to his studio in Hardys Bay and then it was that, he invigorated and me disheartened, he decided to paint me. The Archibalds were far away and Bill, who has been a close friend of the Black Dog for too many years as well, was embarking on a new life style, a time when he could work on his cartoons for The Australian every day and paint as well.
"I was one of a few subjects he began his new life with. And he was a brilliant host for a depressive, making sandwiches which I scarcely ate and proffering glasses of wine to wash down the pills. Not quite the doctor's orders but they sufficed.
"When the day of the sitting began Bill had me stand against a plain wall in his studio and photographed me. The event slid by in my mind which was filled with darkness for the most part. I was like a marionette in his hands. I vaguely remember occasional stage directions: Fold your arms. Look towards me. Now look to the left.
He began the painting almost immediately but I was in no state to judge or contemplate.
[page]"A few weeks later I returned to Bill's with a mutual friend, whom Bill intended to paint too. This was to be a rather different type of portrait, a nude. I was in a better position to appreciate Bill's skill when he began working on our friend's painting (I must say he spent more time in front of the canvas with her reclining than with me) it was good to observe the process from a somewhat more removed perspective.
"This was a much happier time for me, but there was a constant dismal cloud that I could not immediately comprehend. It came from having my portrait, which captured my lowest moments perfectly, standing in the corner, seeming to watch us. I eventually asked Bill to move the canvas to another room: it reminded me too clearly of that bleak time, when darkness filled my life. I felt as though I was being haunted by a sadder self.
"That time, for now, is past. Looking at the portrait today I wonder at how quickly one's world can turn from dark to light. And how brilliantly Bill has captured the soul of a man persecuted by demons."
CHERRY HOOD won the Archibald in 2002 with her memorable, close-up and huge portrait: "Simon Tedeschi - unplugged". This year she's one of the 41 finalists and said in an email to stagenoise:
"Archibald is an amazing phenomenon. It belongs to the public, the public have ownership - because they can relate to the portrait so easily. It was fantastic to be part of it but it has taken me until now (I won in 2002) to have the courage to enter again.
"The publicity is incredible and overwhelming - every paper, radio, TV channel in Australia wants a story - people come out of the woodwork. People who I have not seen since my childhood contacted me, my school, my first time at art school, my first job, it was really amazing.
"People I did not know sent gifts, I got 300 hundred letters, the phone rang off its hook, emails flooded in. Every charity in town asked me for artworks. The first year I gave $60,000 worth to charity. Every week now I get some request to donate an artwork. The Archie certainly precipitated my move to country!"
The Archibald, Wynne & Sulman Prizes (winner announced Friday, March 3), Art Gallery of NSW, daily.
