The good, the bad, the ugly: the Archibald Prize in 10 paintings | John McDonald
No fewer than 816 works were entered in this year’s Archibald Prize, with 52 being selected as finalists. I should be used to it by now, but I’m still amazed that so many artists plunge in, year after year, in the forlorn hope of making it into the charmed circle that hangs at the Art Gallery of NSW. There is a small, informal club that seems to be included almost every time, but for most entrants it’s a lottery.
There is a strong bloc of so-called traditional portraits in this year’s hang, but for sheer consistency, Robert Hannaford stands out. He has been one of Australia’s leading portraitists for decades, a finalist on 27 occasions but never a winner.Hannaford has been used as a kind of ‘token trad’ – too good to omit, but too conventional to sway the trustees from their perennial search for novelty and controversy.
The buried reference is to an aunt who was a psychic, but there are ‘ghosts’ to be found in every self-portrait. While Sharpe is one of the few artists bold enough to take on a mural-sized painting in front of an audience, she’s at her best on this smaller scale where the details are made to count.Avraham Vofsi, John Safran as David and Goliath, oil on linen, 125.8 x 100 cmFrom the veteran to the newcomer.