Archibald Prize 2016 exhibition
19 May - 2 July 2017
‘Australia's most infamous prize for portraiture.’
Awarded to the best painting of a notable Australian, the Archibald Prize is a who’s who of Australian culture, from politicians and celebrities to sporting heroes and artists, and is Australia’s foremost portraiture prize , awarding the winning artist $100,000 in prize money.. In its 95th year, the Archibald Prize has been held annually since 1921. High profile, eagerly anticipated and often controversial, the Archibald Prize for portraiture dates back 95 years: it was established in 1921 from a bequest made by J.F. Archibald. An open competition, the Archibald Prize is judged by the trustees of the Art Gallery of NSW. Entries to the Archibald Prize must be painted in the past year from at least one live sitting.Finalists are exhibited at the Art Gallery of New South Wales before embarking on a year-long regional tour.
The annual exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW – widely referred to as “the Archibald Prize” – is a joint show of all finalists in the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes. Each year, the trustees of the Art Gallery of NSW judge the Archibald and Wynne Prizes, and invite an artist to judge the Sulman Prize. In 2016 the Sulman Prize judge is contemporary Australian artist Judy Watson.
This year one of the most popular exhibits is the portrait of Deng Adut by Nick Stathopoulos. Stathopoulos approached Adut after being moved by an advertisement he saw for Western Sydney University which told Adut's life story: conscripted at age six into the South Sudanese army, shot in the back as a boy, a chance meeting with an Australian couple who sponsored him and a brother to Sydney where he put himself through law school.
"I was so excited when he consented," said Stathopoulos, a five-times Archibald finalist. "He's an incredible, powerful and worthy subject for an artist." Of the eight artists who approached him, Adut selected Stathopoulos, who grew up not far from Blacktown, where Adut practices as a lawyer, to paint his portrait.
The Archibald Prize 2016 is toured by the Art Gallery of NSW.
Click here for more information.
In conjunction with the 2016 Archibald the Gallery organised to projects seen along side.
Portrait of a Mayor – Cr Mary Lyons-Buckett 28 June – 27 August 2017
On 28 June Mayor of Hawkesbury City Council, Cr Mary Lyons-Buckett sat for her portrait in the public spaces of the gallery. Portrait of a Mayor is an exhibition of the 12 portraits painted by artists from the Hawkesbury Region.
The Young Archie Portrait Competition 8 July 2017 - July 2018
A massive and impressive 569 students from the Hawkesbury entered our Young Archie portrait competition. This fantastic exhibition of young creative talent is on display in two locations in the Deerubbin Centre. Outside the Gallery on the Mezzanine and downstairs in the library.
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