Diver Dan? Who's he? Never mind,
this is art
CAROLINE OVERINGTON
The Age
A portrait of the actor David Wenham has won this year's
Archibald Prize. This is despite the director of the
``I like the painting (by
Told that Wenham was widely regarded as thinking woman's
crumpet, Capon said: ``Really? Well, that didn't
influence the judges. Nothing to do with it. We're
into art here. In fact, I'll make a terrible admission. I didn't have the
foggiest idea who it was."
Didn't know Diver Dan? Hadn't seen The Boys, an AFI-award
winning film that inspired the work?
``I never see anything," Capon confessed. ``But despite
that, I actually agree with my wonderful, beloved board of trustees (the
judges). They made the decision I would have made."
The winning A Portrait of David Wenham, by Adam Cullen, was
conceived after Cullen saw Wenham in The Boys, rang his agent, then met the actor in a pub.
In accepting the $35,000 prize, Cullen credited ``Irish luck
on StPatrick's Day", then thanked the trustees,
his girlfriend, and dog Growler, who has ``pissed on several paintings, but not
this one, so I suppose I'll have to buy him a carcase
of something".
Cullen said he was incredibly pleased to have won, because
he could do with the prize money. ``I also think it's a fantastic picture. I
hope you do, too."
Asked what he thought, Wenham said: ``Thumbs up. Even though
it's a picture of me, it's a great picture." The actor said he enjoyed the
experience of being painted for the Archibald. ``It's not ego," he said.
``It's the mystery. I'm only good at stick figures. I can't draw at all. I'm in
wonder at the fact that somebody can do this. That's the appeal."
Wenham said he was curious to see how Cullen would interpret
him, particularly as first impressions were formed from The Boys, a bleak and
violent film.
``I was scared for a little while," he said. ``The
first time he sketched me, he put two horns on me. I didn't know where he was
going with that," he said.
It is the fourth year that Cullen has entered the Archibald.
Last year he was shortlisted for a portrait of his
cousin, the actor Max Cullen.
Works highly commended yesterday were Jenny Sages' Each
Morning When I Wake Up, I Put On My Mother's Face and
Garry Shead's Sasha Grishin.