All photos by Ben Apfelbaum.
Five-time Archibald finalists Yvette Coppersmith has won the 2018 Archibald Prize and a $100,000 for her work Self Portrait after George Lambert.
In the past 21 years, Coppersmith has experimented widely with style and subject matter but she keeps returning to the self portrait which she says allows her to work from life, with intrense absorption in the painting process.
Of her win, Coppersmith said, “Hearing of the win this morning my mind was scrambling to integrate the surreal news about something that has been twenty years in the ,making. I am still trying to fathom it!.”Coppersmith is only the tenth female artist to win the Archibald Prize.
Yukultji Napangati is the winner of the Wynne Prize worth $50,000.
About her work Untitled she said, “This painting is associated with Yunala, a rock hole and soakage water site amongst sandhills west of Kiwirrkura in Western Australia.
Kaylene Whiskey won the Sir John Sulman Prize worth $40,000.
Of her work Kaylene says, “This is my painting about two strong Kungkas (women), Cher and Dolly Parton…Kaylene TV is playing some good songs like Rage, and there is a big mingkulpa (local native tobacco) plant growing underneath the good boomerangs.
Highly commended in the Archibald Prize was Vincent Namatjira with hisd painting Studio- self portrait.
The highly commended Wynne Prize went to Paul Ryan for his work Kembla, Mt Kembla.
Philip Edwards won the Trustees’ watercolour prize for his painting Glory be water tree.
New to the Wynne Prize this year is the Roberts family’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Prize. This is an annual Prize to be awarded to an indigenous artist for a work entered in the Wynne Prize.
The inaugural winner Wawiriya Burton for Ngayuku ngura (my country).
To complement the Roberts Prize a new acquisition fund of $40,000 will be allocated towards the purchase of indigenous artworks from the Wynne Prize.
The Archibald, Young Archie, Wynne and Sulman Prizes exhibition runs until 9th September, 2018.
In further David Gonski announced that Michael Brand has been reappointed as Director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
For more information visit http://artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald
