| Archibald, Wynne, Sulman 2009, Art Gallery of New South Wales
The 2009 WINNER of the ARCHIBALD PRIZE is Guy Maestri for his portrait of blind, indigenous singer Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu. The singer who lives on Elcho Island in Arnhem Land and sings in his native Yolngu language became famous around the world for his extraordinary voice and beautiful album Gurrumul. He became something of cultural phenomenon over the last year and recently won two coveted ARIA Awards among others. He also was named NT Australian of the year for 2008 Guy Maestri the painter saw Gurrumul live on New Year’s Eve last year and says it was truly, an unforgettable experience. People really were moved to tears by this inspiring and amazing man who, what many said, would be an ideal subject for a portrait.
Maestri and Gurrumul were only able to meet for 40 minutes at the Sydney airport just before singers’ departure to New York. They were introduced by Michael Hohnen, his bass player, record producer and close friend, who was the person who explained the singer the purpose of his portrait for the Archibald competition. Maestri did lots of sketches and studied Gurrumul’s face intently. As he says “More importantly, I got a sense of his presence and this determined the nature of the portrait: quiet and strong. I usually work in a very liberal, gestural way but this time I built up the image quietly and slowly with many glazes in an attempt to capture the beautiful quality of his skin. I worked on it for over a month, mostly while listening to his music. I made sure to read the lyrics and understand the meaning of each song. The whole process became quite an emotional experience.”
Guy Maestri, the artist was born in Mudgee, NSW in 1974, and completed a Bachelor of Fine Art (Hons) in painting at the National Art School, Darlinghurst in 2003. He has had solo exhibitions at the Tim Olsen Gallery and was a finalist in the 2007 and 2008 Dobell Drawing Prize.
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu |
Wynne Prize Winner for 2009 is Lionel Bawden, for “The amorphous ones (the vast colony of our being)
The Trustees Watercolour Prize is Graham Fransella for “Shore Line”
Sulman Prize Winner is Ivan Durant for “Anzac Match, M.C.G.”
The exhibition will be open from 7 March to 24 May 2009, 7 days a week from 10am to 5pm and Wednesdays until 9pm. During the opening of the exhibition the Art Gallery of New South Wales offers Art After Hours on Wednesdays and also a Celebrity Talks, Guided Tours and Education Programs.
The Archibald, Wynne and Sulman exhibition is a tour exhibition and a few other Galleries around NSW have this opportunity to include this exhibition in their busy schedule.
Tour Dates:
30 May – 12 July 2009 Bendigo Art Gallery
25 July – 13 September 2009 Western Plains Cultural Centre
19 September – 25 October 2009 Cowra Art Gallery
6 November – 6 December 2009 Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery
14 January - 14 February 2010 Griffith Regional Gallery
19 February – 18 April 2010 Maitland Regional Art Gallery[]
For more information please contact AGNSW on
Telephone (02) 9225 1744 or
Nationwide toll-free 1800 679 278.
All of the finalist paintings, which were chosen this year, are very interesting. I am sure that you will enjoy your visit to the Art Gallery of New South Wales to see the exhibition.
Barbara Aleksandrowicz–Dabrowa
Conservator of Fine Arts,
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Award winning Guy Maestri. Photo by Tom Koprowski |
Photo Tom Koprowski |
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