Strong visual identity. Lived life. Be an interesting musician. These were 2013 Archibald Prize finalist Michael Vale’s selection criteria for a portrait subject.
Warren Ellis fit the bill perfectly as a Bad Seed, member of Grinderman and one of the Dirty Three.
“He has a degree of flamboyance and could have been painted in any century, as a Spanish King or pirate,” Vale says.
Warren Ellis by Michael Vale
Due to Paris-based Ellis’s touring schedule with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, he could only sit for Vale on one occasion.
This presented a challenge for the artist, but he made the most of the opportunity by taking photos and doing a series of small drawings.
From their first meeting Vale and Ellis were on the same page: “I explained the dark and melancholy atmosphere I wanted to achieve and Warren liked and understood the concept immediately.”
This is Vale’s second time as a finalist, with his portrait of musicians Dave Graney and Clare Moore making the cut last year.
Night of the Wolverine: a portrait of Dave Graney and Clare Moore by Michael Vale
Vale listens to music by the people he is painting “obsessively” throughout the process, and albums by the Bad Seeds, Dirty Three and film scores Ellis composed with Cave helped him “go to that place”.
“The music is beautiful, melancholy and wild, and reminds me of gothic landscapes from the 19th Century.”
Vale believes an artist is temporarily possessed by their subject and enters a creative zone where they step into another person’s identity.
Art critic and academic Dr Robert Nelson says: “Apart from being a good painting, a good portrait should either look like the person or have sufficient attributes that the sitter’s identity and preferably personality are tellingly revealed. The figure should be well drawn and evoke the carnal presence of the sitter.”
Among the 39 finalists this year, there are a larger number of young, contemporary artists who are helping to “rejuvenate” the Archibald said a spokesperson from the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
There are no portraits of politicians, which is an illuminating contrast to previous years when political figures have dominated the entry pool.
This asks the question of whether we respect our current politicians, said the spokesperson, and finalists this year include artists painting other artists, actors and musicians.
Dr Nelson says our culture has a long-standing interest in celebrities “which the prize encourages and one could argue that this bias delivers humanity at its most superficial”.
At the Art Gallery of NSW alone, 150 000 people visit the exhibition before it tours regional galleries around Australia.
The portrait of Ellis incorporates Vale’s love of traditional painting with rock ‘n’ roll, indeed proving the two can be complimentary.
The artist plans on painting an exhibition of rock star portraits, but in the meantime, he must find a subject for the 2014 Archibald who meets his exclusive criteria.
The Archibald Prize finalists will be on show at the Art Gallery of NSW until June 2, 2013 before beginning a regional tour.
