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2008 Winner Hilton Owen, Self-Portrait with Cow near Richmond
There was a great feeling that came with being in a dry, dusty Richmond paddock next to a cow. My mood was one of happiness, excitement and curiosity. Without having access to this one particular photograph of me next to a cow, I would not have chosen to do a self-portrait. It was a rare moment that captures my personality, possible thoughts, expression and movement while also being a striking and unusual image. I chose to paint a self-portrait to satisfy my desire to reproduce a memorable moment of time in my life. As the subject of my painting, I was able to work with full knowledge of exactly how I wanted to come across in the work. Capturing facets of a person’s personality is essential in a portrait. I worked with a goal to portray my love for animals, nature and travel. On a day trip, my girlfriend and I were driving just outside Richmond. We drove past a paddock with several cows standing near a tree and I decided to stop to have a closer look at them. The majority ran but one stayed near me. A photo was then taken. I wanted the cow’s identity to be shown in the painting just as much as mine. It has as much relevance to the painting as I do. Even cows, which to us are all the same, have their own identity. Each spot of black or white on their body is unique from others. I painted the work in the same way it felt to be in that paddock. Fairly rough and exciting but also carefully thoughtful and reserved. I have been painting seriously for around three years, working almost every day. Since I began, portraiture has been my genre. |
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2008 Runner-up Susannah Hart, Self-Portrait
This piece presents the viewer with a less conventional interpretation of a portrait, intentionally veering away from the traditional emphasis and association between the face and portraiture. Within my practice I am currently exploring a process whereby I conceal my subject’s face. Portraiture to me is essentially about identity. To recognise someone does not necessarily mean that you truly identify him or her. I aim to convey an ambiguous portrait capturing personality, rather than a detailed reproduction of nose shape or eye colour. My work uses gesture to explore issues of femininity, sexuality, intimacy, defiance, but is often done so with inelegance and humour. These are issues I feel are relevant to youth culture. I have also refrained from placing my subject in a landscape or shrouding them with props as a way of enhancing the portrait. I believe this is often done with the vague intent of conveying the subject’s interests or profession. By stripping my subject of this I feel it enables multiple reading, allowing the viewer to build their own story and personally identify with the subject. Yet the viewer is still able to sense certain elements. When showing this to people who know me, they often feel that this piece accurately depicts certain elements that distinguish my personality. I have chosen to paint an everyday Tasmanian, dodging, once again, the traditional aristocratic idolatry of portraiture. |
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2008 Sponsors’ choice Jacob Leary, Self-Portrait with my Hand
The painting, Self-Portrait with My Hand, is part of a series I have been working on in the past few years. The paintings, which have been primarily portraits, are built up using household paint colour samples from the hardware store. Through the series, the works seek an exploration into the materiality of this paint source and connotations connected to this commercial and throw-away form of colour. The portraits, or the self-portrait, are a pondering on the constructed character of our identities, the buy, try, never content nature of our commercialised desires and the role new media and technology has in shaping and defining our existence in the world. |
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