FED:Famous faces dominate 2011Archibald prize

AAP General News (Australia)
04-08-2011
FED:Famous faces dominate 2011Archibald prize

SYDNEY, April 8 AAP - Famous faces are dominating this year's Archibald prize finalists,
with portraits of actors, TV personalities and even teen sailor Jessica Watson among the
chosen entries.

Model Gemma Ward, actors Cate Blanchett, Richard Roxburgh and Robyn Nevin, celebrity
chef Matt Moran and Olympic champion Cathy Freeman all feature in the 2011 Archibald prize
finalist selections, unveiled in Sydney on Friday.

A portrait of Blanchett surrounded by her three children, `Mother (a portrait of Cate)'
is in the same distinctive style that won its painter, Del Kathryn Barton, the 2008 Archibald
prize.

The 2004 prize-winner Craig Ruddy chose Freeman as his latest subject, while 2000 Archibald
winner Adam Cullen also made the final 41 with `Charlie'.

Ward's distinctive features shine from Matthew Doust's `White Cocoon'; Watson looks
typically windswept in Thomas Macbeth's `Jessica' and Governor-General Quentin Bryce is
immortalised in Barbara Tyson's `The Country's Woman'.

Some artists have chosen to portray their colleagues, with Giles Alexander's painting
of Sam Leach, Deidre But-Husaim's of Roy Ananda and Ben Quilty's of Margaret Olley all
making the cut.

Meanwhile, last year's winner of the Sulman painting prize, Michael Lindeman's `Portrait
of Wilfred' also is in the running.

There were 798 entries to the Archibald prize this year, but for the gallery's packing
room workers, who unpacked them all, the winner of the 20th annual Packing Room prize
was a "no-brainer".

A portrait of celebrity chef Matt Moran wielding a butcher's knife in front of a meat
carcass was the clear favourite, head storeman Steve Peters said.

"For me it was a no-brainer," he said.

"It was by far the best picture we've seen during the week.

"It was getting a little depressing for a while and this one came in and it sort of
hit you. Beauty."

The Packing Room prize winner has never gone on to win the Archibald, but this year
Mr Peters is convinced the curse will be reversed.

"Usually it's the kiss of bloody death, but I just think it's a fantastic picture,"

he said, advising reporters to place bets on it.

The winning artist, Vincent Fantauzzo, certainly wasn't cast down by the $1000 prize
and said the curse "should be broken".

Melbourne-based Fantauzzo, who won the People's Choice Award in 2008 and 2009 for portraits
of actor Heath Ledger and `Australia' child actor Bandon Walters, said the standard of
the entries this year was "amazing".

Fantauzzo is good friends with Moran and said creating the work had been easy.

"I know Matt really well and I know his face really well. I've looked at his head way
too much recently," he joked.

Moran said some people might find the portrait a bit "gruesome".

"But to be honest it's what I do every day, it's not foreign to me," he said.

The winner of the 90th annual Archibald Prize will be announced in Sydney on Friday,
April 15, with the exhibition of all the finalists open to the public on April 16.

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