Television and film star, not to mention Australian icon Bud Tingwell was my subject for this years (2006) Archibald Prize, It proved to be the most challenging subject to date.
It was the most difficult portrait I have done, I respect him so much as an individual – I wanted to do him justice, I just wanted the portrait to be right.
Bud is the fifth subject I painted for the Archibald Prize. My previous entries included race walker Nathan Deakes, Mathematician Robyn Arianrhod, newsreader Mal Walden and showbiz identity Roland Rocchiccioli.
My first meeting with bud took place at the 2007 Salon Des Refuses, Bud invited me to his place and we talked about love, war and the film industry.
It usually takes me anywhere between a few of days to a couple of weeks to complete a portrait, but Bud’s portrait took me, off and on six months. I got to the point where this is ridiculous, it’s not going to be perfect. I knew very little about Bud before I put paintbrush to canvas. Sometimes on-air personalities don’t match with the real-life person Sometimes you could pickup cues from one’s personality on the big screen. I thought Bud seemed to be a nice person but you can never really tell. It was lucky that Bud turned out to be as nice as he appeared to be on television and film. If I don’t like the subject I can’t paint them. Portrait painting is a very private process; you get up close and personal. I would describe Bud’s portrait as, honest. I asked him how he would describe him self, Bud replied, “A Slob” I think what he meant was, he was sick of being portrayed as a sophisticated gent. He wanted the portrait to say something different; he wanted it to have substance.
The day of the sitting I met at Bud’s home, I wanted to create an environmental portrait, almost like a family snap shot. This I felt, would give the painting a humanistic content, Bud would be surround by his personal objects, books tapes and even the several remotes placed on the lamp table. At the time he was preparing for the role of Winston Churchill in a TV film role, so the room was filled with references. So I used this as a narrative backdrop to the painting, because of the eclectic nature of the background this again adds to the family snap shot feel. I felt that this side of Bud’s persona was not to my knowledge, previously portrayed. I all of my portraits I try to make it a team effort, that of the sitter and the artist, some times sitters have strong input in the content of the paintings other times they don’t. I always start from the point of – “How do you see yourself” and extend from there. For the first time I was nervous about showing Bud the final product, Nine times out of ten the sitter may find the portrait confronting, I felt I captured a likeness, but I think first and foremost it must be a good painting and Bud really loved it as a ‘painting’. There is a degree of sadness and also a degree of happiness (in the painting). The previous paintings and images of Bud are only showing one persona, the polished gent. I thought, yes, he is that, but he’s more….one side a polished gent, and the other a vulnerable human being.
When I had finished the painting I invited Bud up for a bar-b-que and to view the painting, there’s that awkward moment, what if he didn’t like it, what do you say? Bud reply… he had not looked at it for an accurate representation, but its own intrinsic value as a work of art…. And as a work of art he loved it. He couldn’t have said a better statement
Remembering my mate Bud![82261[1]](http://peterbiramartist.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/822611.jpg "82261[1]")
When I heard of Buds passing I was greatly saddened, the magic about Bud was that he made everyone feel so welcome and special. He made feel like I’d known him for a very long time. I feel sadness at his loss because of the things that could have been.
MEDIA PRESS RELEASE
The Hidden Faces of the Archibald
Smart artZ Gallery, 2 Alfred Place, South Melbourne, June 17 – July 12. 9690 8872
One of Charles “Bud” Tingwell’s final roles was to sit for artist Peter Biram, aiming for the Archibald Prize wanted Bud as Bud, the portrait shows bud sitting at home.
The portrait is one of 51 soon to be hung in The Hidden Faces of the Archibald, the Victorian-only event that takes the best of the Archibald rejects.
This year’s show includes portraits of Frank Woodley, now starring in Optimism at the Malthouse; chef Karen Martini; Choir of Hard Knocks founder Jonathan Welsh; actor Ben Mendelsohn; former Australian Ballet artist Lisa Bolte; writer Barry Dickson; television host Wil Anderson; veteran comic actor Michael Veitch; ethics philosopher Peter Singer; and philanthropist Dame Elisabeth Murdoch.
All have gathered by curator Jacqueline Taylor, who keeps an eye on who is painting whom and tracks down the Victorian portraits that do not make the final.
The show runs in tandem with the official Archibald exhibition, which has opened at Bendigo Art Gallery. To see more visit - http://stevegray.com.au/blog/topics/archibald/
standing of the impact of human settlement and resource development across Australia is a fundamental requirement for the assessment of the condition and trend of land and water resources.
The background of the portrait of Robyn was born out of our long-term friendship and the professional respect I have for Robyn – this is my fourth year of entering the Archibald portrait competition, and being both a writer and a scientist, Robyn is a perfect subject under the Archibald rules.