Williamstown artist Peter Daverington is one of 20 finalists vying for the Archibald Prize, his entry a self-portrait showing China’s trade grip on Australia.
His work, titled The Patriot: self-portrait with Albino Joey, is among the finalists whittled down from 868 entries for ‘the face that stops the nation’.
“I wanted to make a painting which challenged the idea of what a portrait could be, or extend the idea of what a portrait could be,” Daverington said.
“I’ve included many other elements in the painting that are not specific to portraiture, such as landscape painting and a lot of symbolism in there.
“There’s a pink swaggie’s hat and there’s a Union Jack draped over my shoulders. There’s a pink tutu with the Australian coat of arms embroidered on it. And then the white Albino Joey; imagine he’s coming out of my pouch.
“All those things symbolise the iconography of Australian culture.
“And then the dragon is a reference to China and our overwhelming reliance on trade with China.
“We’re selling all our raw minerals to China and that’s why it’s got a grip on us, and you can see the claws are digging in.”
“As for the format of the picture, I was thinking of Soviet-era political posters where you’ve got the five-pointed star and the aesthetics behind creating images of power that have come from icon paintings from the Byzantine era all the way through to those Russian communist posters . . . like North Korea’s methods of superimposing an image of their dear leader over a landscape.
The winner of the $75,000 prize will be revealed on Friday.
■An exhibition of Peter Daverington’s landscape work, From the Future with Love, is open at Arc One Gallery, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, until April 6.
