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An Archibald Prize portrait of UNSW SMaRT Centre Director, Professor Veena Sahajwalla, has been featured in a special exhibition by the National Trust in Sydney.
The portrait, by award winning artist Tony Costa, was submitted to the Archibald Prize competition and, of those not shortlisted, is among the 'best of the rest' displayed at the Salon des Refusés exhibition.
Hosted by the S.H. Ervin Gallery, the exhibition picked the best non-finalists, showing off some of the incredible works that didn’t make the official cut with many famous faces on show.
On 19 September, the David Roche Foundation hosted a discussion with Tony Costa about his portrait of Veena (pictured in full below).
This is the second portrait of Veena to be submitted to the Archibalds and feature in a Salon des Refusés exhibition; the first by award winning artist Sally Robinson.
David Roche Foundation Costa/Veena event webpage
From the National Trust's the S.H. Ervin Gallery:
The alternative Archibald and Wynne Prize selection
The Salon des Refusés was initiated by the S.H. Ervin Gallery in 1992 in response to the large number of works entered into the Archibald Prize which were not selected for display in the official exhibition. The Archibald Prize is one of Australia’s most high profile and respected awards which attracts hundreds of entries each year and the S.H. Ervin Gallery’s ‘alternative’ selection has become a much-anticipated feature of the Sydney scene.
Each year our panel is invited to go behind the scenes of the judging process for the annual Archibald Prize for portraiture and Wynne Prize for landscape painting and figure sculpture at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, to select an exhibition from the many hundreds of works entered in both prizes but not chosen for the official award exhibition.
The Salon des Refusés exhibition at the S.H. Ervin Gallery has established an excellent reputation that rivals the selections in the ‘official’ exhibition, with works selected for quality, diversity, humour and experimentation, and which examine contemporary art practices, different approaches to portraiture and responses to the landscape.
This year’s selectors were Brad Hammond, director Orange Regional Gallery and Jane Watters, director, S.H. Ervin Gallery.
MEDIA
John McDonald – Do we care about the Archibald too much? – The Sydney Morning Herald 29 June
Nick Galvin – The ‘reject’ show that artists love to be seen in – The Sydney Morning Herald
Free with Gallery admission
Salon Archibald Selection
DAVID BEAUMONT The Whisper: Portrait of Dr David Brumley OAM oil on linen 150 x 120 cm
SHARON BILLINGE Celeste (Celeste Chandler, artist) oil on wood 22.5 x 15.5 cm
JOANNA BRAITHWAITE Memory Lane (Self-portrait) oil on canvas 110 x 210 cm
CYNTHIA BREUSCH Portrait of artist Christopher McVinish acrylic on board 122.5 x 122 cm
CARMEL FRANCESCA BYRNE Sarah (Sarah Greenwood, actor) oil on canvas 183 x 137 cm
TOM CARMENT James Scanlon, Gates Avenue oil on linen 51 x 41 cm
JUN CHEN Michael Wardell (Michael Wardell, gallery director) oil on canvas 188 x 132 cm
MELISSA CLEMENTS My Grandfather Died Today (Self-portrait) oil on paper 10 x 7.5 cm
TONY COSTA Professor Veena Sahajwalla oil on canvas 182 x152 cm
SINEAD DAVIES Heather Ewart oil on canvas 94 x 94 cm
AMANDA DAVIES Self-Portrait with a lazy eye and satin gloves oil on linen 52.5cm x 42 cm
GRAEME DRENDEL Portrait of Rick (Rick Amor, artist) oil on canvas 41 x 31 cm
DAVID EASTWOOD Verso (Self-portrait) acrylic on polyester 61 × 71 cm
KATHERINE EDNEY Lynda dreaming in pink and blue (Lynda Draper, artist) oil on birch panel, enamel and glazed ceramics 84 x 61 cm
NICOLETTE EISDELL Larry, at home in Leura (Larry Buttrose) oil on stretched canvas 40 x 61 cm
ANDY FACKRELL Self-Portrait oil on canvas 30 x 25 cm
ELIZA GOSSE Emma and Norby on holiday (Emma Mulholland) oil on birch plywood 180 x 115 cm
SAMANTHA GROENESTYN Addiction (Self-portrait) oil on linen 34 x 21.5 cm
MICHELLE HISCOCK The Director (Samuel Lucas Allen, writer/director) oil on canvas 45.5 x 35.5 cm
ZAI KUANG Back to Medieval oil on board, 22.5 x 20.3 cm
MARIE MANSFIELD Caroline Zilinsky (Artist), oil on board, 60 x 50 cm
ANNE MCCAUGHEY Blight (Self-portrait) oil on board, 25.5 x 20 cm
PAUL MILLER I am Still (Self-Portrait) varnished egg tempera on wooden panel, 60 cm x 2.5c
LEWIS MILLER Portrait of Graeme Drendel II, oil on Belgian linen, 172 cm x 82 cm
HEATHER MILLER “though I have closed myself as fingers” (Self-portrait) oil on clay board, 63 x 48
ELIZABETH NELSON Self-Portrait, oil on canvas, 69 x 59 cm
PAUL NEWTON Self-Portrait – 2024, oil on linen canvas, 41 cm x 36 cm
LORI PENSINI Free Bird (Self-portrait) oil on linen, 55 x 50 cm
RODNEY POPLE High as a kite (Self-portrait) oil on linen, 159 x 136 cm
IMOGEN EVE ROWE Pop watercolour on yupo 79 x 109 cm
JACK RUBIN & PIP EDWARDS COLLABORATION Louis Roller OAM, canvas, 62 x 50 cm
EVAN SALMON Studio interior, reflection (self-portrait), oil on linen, 122.5 x 137.5 cm
WENDY SHARPE Self-Portrait with Improbable Beings, oil on canvas, 76 x 61 cm
ALISON SMITH Face XXXVI (self) oil on paper 76 x 56 cm
PHOEBE STONE Self-Portrait. Crying in the bathroom again. oil on board 64 x 49 cm
LIZ STUTE Revolving door (Self-Portrait) oil on canvas 101 x 76 cm
TRISH TAIT Me Myself I (Self-portrait) oil on board 30cm x 30 cm
NOEL THURGATE Portrait of Ann Thomson oil, acrylic and collage on hardboard 155 x 120 cm