Portrait Gallery - Part Two

The 'Australia Now' gallery features those of current importance, figures in leadership, business, sport, science, medicine, literature, performing arts, film arts, and visual arts.



Fred Hollows by Kerrie Lester

Fred Hollows' portrait by Kerrie Lester is a fabulous image of oil on hand-stitched canvas. The bold, cheerful colours and sharp creases befit someone so instrumental in the treatment of eye disease and improvement of sight.

Jane Campion by Peter Brew-Bevan

The photograph of Jane Campion by Peter Brew-Bevan (1969) really stands out as she sits in front of a bookcase, and her image is reflected in a shiny table, looking at us twice over.

Keith Urban by Peter Brew-Bevan



Peter Brew-Bevan is also responsible for the 2007 photograph of Keith Urban. This is another classic, depicting him slouching against the wall, hands in pockets and looking down as though slightly self-conscious by the celebrity side of musicianship.

David Campese II by Paul Newton

In contrast, Paul Newton's portrait of David Campese (2000) is astonishingly direct. Also dressed in casual black shirt and jeans, he leans against a wall with his arms folded. It's a similar pose to the one adopted tby Keith Urban, but he looks straight at the viewer and, although not arrogant, he seems very confident and comfortable.



Neil Armfield by Adam Cullen

 In Adam Cullen's portrait of Neil Armfield (2010) the theatre, film and opera director is rendered in vibrant oils against a sage green canvas. The vivid colours of his bright pink flesh, blue jacket and yellow dog drip down the canvas as though anxious to escape their artistic confines. Although they are both sitting, it is not comfortably.

Angry Anderson by Sally Robinson

Angry Anderson by Sally Robinson (2006) is an intriguing acrylic on canvas. Although wearing a black singlet and covered in tatoos, he is smiling and looks far from angry. His flesh (both the painted/ inked variety and his naked bald pate) is comprised of coloured dots like an example of pointillism or a pixellated version of an identity-supressed subject, while conversely featuring him in microscopic detail.

Robert Drewe (In the Swell) by Nicholas Harding

Robert Drewe in the Swell by Nicholas Harding (2006) is a fantastic work of oil on Belgium linen. The author is painted in slithers of pastel paints like gelato, looking good enough to lick.

Glen McGrath by Sally Robinson

Glen McGrath by Sally Robinson (2003) is made up of stripes and dashes of synthetic polymer paint on canvas conveying an attitude of movement and deceptive motion as he strokes the ball almost imperceptibly with two long fingers.

Cathy Freeman by Kerrie Lester

Cathy Freeman's portrait by Kerrie Lester (1999), rendered in oil on harnd-stitched canvas, is almost naïf art in style with the black outlinesserving to enhance the power and the strength in the long limbs. Smiling and stretching against a chain-link fence, there is a suggestion of explosive speed and wild spirit wild spirit about to be unleashed.

Eddie Mabo by Gordon Bennet

Newspaper print and aboriginal symbols against a skyline of modern buildings make the perfect background for Eddie Mabo's portrait by Gordon Bennet. The passion of the land rights decision with all its inherent shame, hurt and justice is evident in this synthetic polymer paint on canvas.

Senator Neville Bonner by Robert Campbell Junior

Senator Neville Bonner was Australia's first indigenous parliamentary member. In this 1990 portrait by Robert Campbell Junior, he is surrounded by stylistic depictions of animals with the red, black and gold flag of the aboriginal people.



Patrick White by Brett Whitley

The 'star' of the show is a featured exhibition of portraits of author Patrick White by artist Brett Whiteley to coincide with the one-hundredth anniversary of White's birth. There was an artistic and ideological stoush between the pair, which gives this exhibition a particular edge.