Not everyone is a winner; and most definitely not when it comes to Australia’s most prestigious portraiture prize.
The winner and finalists of the 2017 Archibald Prize have been announced, and while all stunning, more than a few are a bit confused as to why the winning portrait by Sydney-based artist Mitch Cairns, took out first prize.
Cairns’s winning portrait of his partner and fellow artist Agatha Goth-Snape and has a seriously Matisse-esque quality.
Titled Agatha Goth-Snape, the portrait was his fourth entry in the $100,000 competition. However comments as to the deservedness of the prize have raised eyebrows, mainly coming from John Olsen, former-winner, three-time judge and subject of fellow entrant, Nicholas Harding.
Olsen did not hold back stating clearly that he believed the choice to be “the worst decision” he had seen.
“It’s entirely surface, the drawing is just not there, and the structure, which is a summation of what makes a thing good, isn’t there,” he said.
2011 Archibald winner Ben Quilty, stood tall beside Cairns, declaring Olsen’s attitude to be ‘ungracious’.
“It felt more than ungracious to do that to him. Yesterday I just felt it was the wrong day. Let him have his day, it’s not his fault he won the Archibald and he made a great painting in my opinion; by far the best painting in the show in my opinion.”
You can see some of the Archibald 2017 entries below. See the full story here.
[via SMH]
