Craig HillThe Archibald Prize Challenge
June 20th 2006 00:39
from www.morguefile.com
The Archibald Prize is a prestigious award given to the winner of a portraiture competition held each year at the Art Gallery of NSW. The artworks are a tribute to the most influential people in our culture and often depict actors, sports stars, entertainers and politicians. Sound pretty straightforward? Surprisingly, the competition is often shrouded in legal controversy...
The latest court case involved a claim made by an artist against the Art Gallery of NSW Trust that the 2004 Archibald Prize awarded to Craig Ruddy was in fact wrongly awarded. It was argued that Ruddy’s portrait of Aboriginal actor David Gulpilil should have been disqualified because it was a charcoal drawing rather than a painting and therefore not an artwork for the purposes of the competition.
Sure, I can see the guy’s point from a technical point of view. Charcoal is charcoal and paint is paint. But taking the matter to court! Doesn’t that just make him a sore loser? It’s a portraiture competition and at the end of the day, as long as some person’s head is represented, then that’s all that matters, right?
Absolutely. After days of determining the definition of what is considered an “artwork” and the differences between “drawings” and “paintings”, it was finally established by the NSW Supreme Court in a gloriously simple statement that art is a matter of interpretation.
Indeed, art is beyond definition. For that reason alone, there was no basis for excluding Ruddy’s portrait from the competition and the NSW Art Gallery Trust did not make a wrong decision in awarding him the Prize in 2004.
You can take a look at some of the charcoal pieces and learn more about Craig Ruddy at www.craigruddy.com.au
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Comment by Bunbury
Comment by Legally Brunette
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I wonder how the guy who sued feels. It must suck to not get the prize AND not win the court case AND have to pay for the costs of the case...
Comment by Bunbury
Yeah that piece was stunning. Did you like the winner this year? They had some controversy about how his theme is not original enough...blah blah....sore losers every year!
Comment by Legally Brunette
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For some reason, the painting of Li Ling Chin, that SBS newsreader, done a few years ago always sticks out in my mind. Have you ever seen it? It's pretty awesome...
Comment by Bunbury
I"ll definitely look it up some time.
I liked the Sulman Prize winner this year, that dreary one with Christ dead on the table. The artist is my mother's friend and he was ecstatic!
Comment by Stanley
Comment by Legally Brunette
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