| The winner of the first announced award within annual Archibald Award Competition was proclaimed yesterday in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
The $500 Packing Room Prize, awarded by the gallery staffs who handle the entries, went to New Zealand artist, Martin Ball for his portrait of Neil Finn, the frontman of very popular band Crowded House.
"It's a very good picture and it's very Neil Finn," said the gallery's head storeman, Steve Peters. "I have no idea [about art], but I know what I like, and I think this is a pretty good one."
The Archibald Prize, which was first awarded in 1921, has a reputation for controversy, and this year's exhibition is no exception with a several works, which stretch the traditional boundaries of portraiture. They are not painted the same way as they were in the past.
The gallery's board of trustees has chosen 40 finalists from this year 693 entries.
The Art Gallery’s Director Edmund Capon says competition for the $50,000 prize, to be announced on March 7, will be tough. "We've got tiny exquisite images, and we've got huge expressive paintings," he says. "That's the thing about the Archibald - it comes around every year, but we always see something new."
The Archibald, Wynne and Sulman winners will be announced on March 7 and the exhibition will be opened to the public from March 8 to May 18.
Barbara Aleksandrowicz-Dabrowa
Conservator of Fine Arts
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
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