I just can't believe the Fantauzzo portrait of Heath didn't win the Archibald. I saw Edmund Capon, the Director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, interviewed on television tonight and he said he has never seen such a close contest before, where the judges couldn't decide between a shortlist of 2 paintings, the portrait of Heath and the painting that went on to win the Archibald (?instantly forgettable?).
Vincent Fantauzzo was also interviewed on this evening's television news. He is very young (cute too), so he'll have plenty of other opportunities to have many more attempts at winning the Archibald in future. And it must be remembered that of the thousands of entries, only about 40 paintings were chosen to be hung, which is a great honour in its own right.
However, having said all that, I simply can't believe the judges chose such a trite, inane work (it looks like a vacuous Hallmark greeting card illustration IMHO) over the truly inspired masterpiece by Fantauzzo. But that's just me. I hope to be able to visit the exhibition tomorrow and will be taking my camera with me. Watch this space for my photos.