When it comes time to catch up with the official portraits of the rotating roster of Australian prime ministers over the past few years, the team at Parliament House could do worse than selecting Mark Tippett’s Unveiling to cover them all.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
As one of the entries in this year’s Bald Archy awards, Tippett has created a Frankenstein-ish conglomerate of Scott Morrison, Malcolm Turnbull, Tony Abbott, Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard.
Luckily for Gillard, her official portrait, by Vincent Fantauzzo, was unveiled in late 2018 - "luckily" because Tippett’s entry in this year’s most satirical art prize is rather frightening. Morrison’s ears, one side of Turnbull’s head, red speedos - and is that Rudd’s smirk? It’s hard to work out who is where, just like the politics itself in a way.
The ageless Peter Batey, now 85, first started the art prize in 1994. Ever the stirrer, he took aim at the Archibald Prize, and 26 exhibition years later he’s still bringing together some of Australia’s best artists who like to thumb their noses at the establishment alongside him.
This year 53 entries were received, and 43 made the cut to be hung in the exhibition which opens in Canberra on Friday, February 8.
“My only complaint this year is the artists seem to get stuck on politicians,” says Batey.
“I spend the year wondering who they’re going to paint, looking for opportunities, things that happen that they might pick up on.”
Politicians making an appearance this year include Julie Bishop, Abbott, Christopher Pyne menacingly wielding a baseball bat, Barnaby Joyce in a straight jacket, and Bill Shorten. Mr Shorten is making his Bald Archy debut, hitchhiking to “nowhere in particular”.
Notably this year there are several portraits referencing the ball tampering scandal surrounding the Australian cricket team.
Phil Meatchem’s Ball Tampering is a standout, a portrait of cricketer Cameron Bancroft who was banned for using sandpaper to tamper with a ball during a Test match. Meatchem’s portrait has been painted on sandpaper.
There’s also one of Steve Smith, Bancroft, and David Warner, lined up like those see-no-evil monkeys. Max Gerryn has titled it the WHAT … the HOW … and the WHY, which, when you consider the order of the cricketers, is a sharp insight into the dynamics of the event.
Tricia Ruest’s Back from Limbo also looks at the scandal, with captain Smith seemingly caught in a whirlpool coloured baggy green. Ruest uses newspaper clippings of headlines and headshots to describe the vortex that Australian cricket is yet to work its way out of.
For non-sport fans, there are portraits of comedian Dave Hughes and actors Margot Robbie and Samuel Johnson. Geoffrey Rush even makes an appearance, with two dark portraits referencing the harassment claims against him.
But this is what Batey wants the Bald Archy awards to do; to get people to think about how we view politicians and celebrities, how we interpret what we think we know about them, and how we make judgments.
“All good art makes people do that and the Bald Archy is no different," he says.
The winner will be announced in March.
The 2019 Bald Archy exhibition is on display at the Watson Arts Centre from February 8 to March 11.
