Portrait of a Queer Father as Icon

by Jeremy Plint

SELECTORS COMMENTS

Plint’s self-portrait immediately stood out to me. It’s deeply personal, its challenging, and it’s also familiar. What comes to mind is the ‘mother and child’ imbedded in art history, juxtaposed with that exaggerated masculine character from the movies – the ‘bad guy’ sitting in the loungeroom with a gun.

He looks at the viewer defiantly, showing that these symbols – the tiara, the floral chair, the gun, the tattoos, don’t have to inherently belong to separate identities.

Plint’s work is strong technically, and it is also thought-provoking – it makes us want to know more about the sitter, but also makes us reflect on our own preconceptions about others, and how we construct and constrain identity.

Purple

by Purple Chang

SELECTORS COMMENTS

Purple Chang 

This self-portrait evidences a relentless intensity of looking and seeing. The viewer cannot help but gain a very real sense of the perceptiveness of the artist and thus the character of the subject. 

I see here a soul laid bare, achieved through masterly use of the medium. Colour harmony, composition and exposition of edge are so well-ordered that to change anything would be, in my view, to spoil the whole thing. I will say no more except to quote one of Australia’s best contemporary writers on art, Christopher Allen: 

“Talk is cheap in art, and the only ideas that have true weight in painting are those that have been fully assimilated and realized in the very handling of the subject matter and the shaping of the imaginary world, such insights reaching deep into the mind of the viewer.”

Congratulations Purple. 

Self-portrait in the Morning

by Leo Liu

SELECTORS COMMENTS

Shadowing, dripping washes of colour alongside heavier brushstrokes of thicker paint and a relatable facial feature of discerning one’s own creative work strike the viewer with a real sense of witnessing a realistic and at once exaggerated version of a studio environment. The skill and dedication of Zheng Liu’s creative practice are evident in the paint application, witnessed with the mix of expressive marks, controlled shadowing and the use of colour to sway the timbre of the work.
The self-portraiture genre is a sometimes damning and at once celebrated revelation of how an artist views themself; in this instance, the subject appears to be nonplussed with their creative results, looking upon their work with a critical but experienced view. A resigned stance, along with the title suggesting an early-rising and committed practising artist, adds volumes to the relatability of the piece for many viewers and artists alike.

Jamie

by Simon Brown