Daily Telegraph (
‘Crude' work wins prize.(Local)
Byline: ELIZABETH FORTESCUE
DULUX and Guinness made a winning formula for young Lilyfield artist Adam
Cullen, who yesterday grabbed the coveted Archibald Prize
with his portrait of
actor David Wenham.
And as usual, the controversial prize split opinion, with
some branding the
portrait simplistic.
Cullen's first sketches of Wenham were done over
half-a-dozen late sessions in
a deserted city bar, near where Wenham was appearing in the stage play ART.
Cullen, 34, invited Wenham to his studio for two formal
sittings, completing
his painting in Dulux house paints.
At yesterday's Archibald announcement at the Art Gallery of
NSW, Cullen said
house paint was ``rich, inexpensive, and bright''.
The charismatic Wenham is best-known for his role as the
laid-back Diver Dan
in the ABC's SeaChange.Gallery
di rector Edmund Capon said the portrait was a
breath of fresh air. ``It just
reaffirms the Archibald as a truly, madly,
idiotic, wonderful act of democracy,'' he said.
Joanna Mendelssohn, associate professor at the
``I think it's the only decent painting in there. It would
have been a crying
shame if it hadn't won,'' she said.
Elizabeth Ann Macgregor, director of the
painting was ``tremendous''.
But some people thought Cullen's painting was casual and undisciplined.
Writer Bob Ellis said the painting could have been done by a
kindergarten
child.
Art critic Giles Auty said it was superficial and crude.
``It looks a bit like David Wenham. It's funny -- but it
doesn't go far
enough,'' Auty
said. Auty predicted Cullen's win would spark a
fashion for
``the slap and dash portrait''.
But Cullen knocked back the criticisms.
``It's not how much time is spent, it's how much thought,
how much information
you can capture in a mark or an
inscriptive gesture.''