The Archies season is underway with actor Meyne Wyatt awarded the Packing Room Prize for his self-portrait, on a day that also saw the unveiling of the 55 finalists for this year's prestigious Archibald Prize.
Actor Meyne Wyatt has won the Archibald Prize's Packing Room Prize for his self-portrait.
Cuthbertson, who has made no secret of his preference for celebrity portraits since he took on the head packer role in 2018, told the ABC he was a bit worried when this year's Archibald entries started rolling in — with a preponderance of self-portraits.
The surge in productivity was compounded by an extension of the deadline from April until August, after the exhibition's original opening date of May was postponed due to COVID-19.Cuthbertson said many of this year's entries showed people wearing face masks, and many depicted firefighters and other key figures from the summer's bushfires.
Works are generally delivered by courier or the artists themselves — some travelling from Queensland or Victoria to hand-deliver their works. "This year we had people stationed out [front] on the dock, getting people to sign in as they came in one-by-one. Everyone was masked, everyone wore gloves. We had the dock marked out with crosses so that if there was a line-up, people had to stand apart."Cuthbertson's team had to wear gloves and masks not only while dealing with artists and couriers, but in order to unpack hundreds of works — including many from Victoria.
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